Vornado VH200 Review

The Vornado VH200 was a bit disappointing during our rigorous testing process. The main strength is that it's moderately efficient. Unfortunately, along with that efficiency comes a serious lack of heating performance. Unless you find a killer deal on this space heater, we recommend you go with a cheaper model, which offers a higher performance level.

Performance Comparison

Personal Heat

The first assessment we conducted was determining how well the Vornado could heat up a small area, which will relate to comfort. The fan speed on the VH200 is slow, and it takes a good minute or two to heat up. You can barely feel any hot air from five feet away, even when this model is running at full blast. We found that this model fits well underneath a desk. And, although it has a larger footprint, it is very short and somewhat compact.

Convenience

The Vornado doesn't have a setting for oscillation, and it also lacks a remote. It has a variety of heat settings, but unfortunately, the selectors are just generic switches. There is also no way of knowing the specific temperature of air this device is producing.

Small Room Heating

We found a lengthy list of things that we were not excited about regarding the Vornado's features and performance. However, following our experiments, we concluded that the Vornado does a decent job of heating up a small room.

After 20 minutes of running at full power, this device raised the temperature of a 161 square foot room from 66.5 degrees Fahrenheit up to 74 degrees. After another 40 minutes, it brought the temperature up to 77.7 degrees for an 11.2-degree rise over an hour.

Power Consumption

Another strong metric for the Vornado is energy costs. Running at a steady 1.27 kilowatts per hour, this model is one of the more efficient models we've tested. When we wrote this review, the national average price for a kilowatt-hour of power was about 13 cents. Using these figures, we can surmise that the Vornado will cost about $1.30 to run for 10 hours and $39 for 10 hours a day for 30 days. That may seem like a high cost, but these are 1500 watt devices that burn a ton of power — and given the high wattage, this is a fairly low operating cost.

Should You Buy the Vornado VH200?

To sum it up, we find it difficult to recommend the Vornado VH200. Its performance is unimpressive, it lacks any special features, and worst of all, it's much more expensive than models that offer all of the above.

What Other Space Heaters Should You Consider?

The value of the Vornado VH200 is very low; this space heater offers sub-par performance at a premium price. If you're shopping for a space heater on a budget, there's a good chance that you can find a model that works a lot better than this one that has a much lower price tag, like the Amazon Basics 1500W, or even the award-winning Lasko Ceramic Digital Tower.