There’s no fan in this model, but warm air rising causes air movement, which I measured at 0.52m/s. It’s enough of a breeze to gently warm a room through, even if it’s not immediately felt in the way that a fan heater’s directional blast is. Yes, infrared heaters are very energy-efficient, generally costing less to run than conventional fan heaters, most ceramic fan heaters, and even oil-filled radiators. In fact, very few infrared heaters draw more than 1.3kW, while some models such as the portable Princess model featured below are as low as 350 watts. Many professionally installed wall and ceiling-mounted models consume even less electricity – as low as 160 watts. Once you’ve settled on the best type of heater for your room and needs, there are a few extra things to consider.

Unlike fan heaters, which heat the air by using a lot of electricity (while also blowing dust around the home), infrared heaters have no moving parts and, just like the sun, the heat they emit cuts right through the air to alight on objects in the room – be that a living thing or a solid item. From the app, you can set the heat mode (high or low), temperature target and toggle standby mode. The app also gives you schedules, so you can set the Princess Glass Smart Panel Heater up to work much like a smart thermostat. Safety is paramount when it comes to using heated products. All the heaters we’ve featured below either have timers or auto cut-off features, which will turn them off if they get too hot. We’ve also highlighted whether they have handles, as this impacts their portability – many don’t, meaning you'll have to wait until they’ve cooled down before you can safely move them.

The best infrared heaters you can buy in 2023

With the power on, you have to use the standby button on the front to toggle the heat on and off. There are then controls to switch between the two heat modes, a timer and controls to set the thermostat, with the target temperature clearly displayed on the front LCD. How the electric heaters are used can also impact their safety, explains Giuseppe Capanna, Product Safety Engineer at the charity Electrical Safety First. “Some simple steps people can take to use their heaters safely are to avoid powering from an extension lead, as this can overload and cause fires, and to ensure they are at least a metre away from combustible materials such as clothes,” he says. They take longer to warm up, but they also continue to give out heat after they have been switched off. They are generally more economical to run than a fan heater or a convection heater. However, the fins still get quite hot so keep children from touching the radiators while they warm.” Convection heaters Out of the box, the panel heater can either be wall-mounted or it can have feet screwed into place so that it can be free-standing. With the latter, the feet are fiddly to screw into place and the instruction manual doesn’t tell you which way round they should go; it just says that if the heater is tilting, you’ve got them on incorrectly.

We would advise people to only use these devices when they are in attendance and awake. It’s important that you never leave them unattended or on overnight in case something happens. Alternatively, people could warm the room before going to bed.” What type of heater is best?The Princess is a great option that won’t break the bank – and, at just 350 watts, it’s cheap to run, too. While some heaters benefit from smart controls, I’m not fully convinced here. Princess has covered all the basics, but remember that this device is about heating people directly, rather than the room. There’s less point in, for example, scheduling it to come on before bedtime if it’s not going to result in a toasty bedroom when you retire for the night. I wonder if the Smart Infrared Heater might benefit more from a movement sensor similar to the one used by Meaco’s Motion Eye 1.8kW. This would allow it to detect when you’re near, and switch on for a predefined time. Performance Use it in conjunction with the Princess app and you can control it from wherever you are, or use the built-in thermostat and the tiny onboard LCD temperature screen to set the best temperature for your room. This model comes with two heat settings, 500W and 1,000W, a thermostat with a wide temperature range up to a maximum temperature of 65°C, and oscillation to spread the warmth far and wide around a room.