Compare portable heater brands in New Zealand at Canstar Blue. DeLonghi, Dyson, Goldair, Anko, Living & Co and Breville were compared on Overall Satisfaction, Appearance & Design, Effectiveness, Features, Quietness, Reliability and Value for Money.
See our Ratings Methodology.
DeLonghi’s portable heaters are the hot favourite with Kiwi consumers, winning Canstar Blue’s Portable Heaters Award.
Our review compares portable heaters on customer satisfaction, so you can discover what other Kiwis think about our compared portable heater brands before you go ahead and make a purchase. Think of it like asking hundreds of your friends which portable heater brand they think is best!
Canstar Blue surveyed 730 Kiwis who had bought a new portable heater over the past two years for their feedback on the heater they bought.
Respondents rate their satisfaction with their heater brands from zero to ten, where zero is extremely dissatisfied and ten is extremely satisfied. Brand satisfaction was rated by respondents on the following criteria:
The winning brand is the one that receives the highest Overall Satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall Satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included, so not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The brands rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.
Find more information on our Most Satisfied Customer methodology.
DeLonghiDeLonghi produced its first portable heater in 1974, and ever since the brand has been impressing customers with its innovative technology. And it’s clear that DeLonghi heaters certainly deliver on customer satisfaction, as well as providing warmth.
DeLonghi is the only brand to earn a top rating for Overall Satisfaction, and the only brand to earn multiple 5-Star ratings.
Across all categories it earns just two 4-Star ratings, for Value for Money and Appearance & Design
DeLonghi has a range of three types of portable heaters:
Oil column: oil column heaters range between 1500W, 2000W and 2400W – with prices ranging between $172 to $289.
Convection: heat setting range from 1600W to 2400W – with prices from around $81 to $499.
Fan heaters: DeLonghi’s range of fan heaters covers four models: 1800W ($69), 2000W ($149) 2200W ($159) and a 2400W tower heater with Silent Plus Function ($329).
Last year’s winner, Dyson comes in second in this year’s ratings. Earning a 4-Star rating for Overall Satisfaction, Dyson also scores highly for Features & Functionality and Appearance & Design, for which it earns 5-Stars.
Dyson’s portable heaters are more like air conditioners than conventional heaters, as the products in the range also act as air purifiers and can cool as well as heat. Because of this added functionality, they are also considerably more expensive than conventional portable electric heaters.
Prices start at $499 for the cheaper Hot + Cool Jet Focus. The Dyson Cool Tower Fan is the brad’s premium model, which starts at $649 and includes the following features:
Rewarded with a 4-Star Overall Satisfaction Rating by its customers, Goldair is one of the only brands in this year’s award ratings to earn a top 5-Star rating for Effectiveness.
Goldair has an impressive range portable electric heaters, ensuring there’s a perfect model for you, whatever your room size or budget. The Goldair portable heater range covers:
Anko is Kmart’s own brand. While it delivers solid 3-Star ratings across three categories, for Value for Money it earns a top 5-Star rating. The brand also scores highly for Overall Satisfaction and Effectiveness, earning 4-Star ratings for both categories.
During colder winter months, Kmart stocks a small, budget range of electric heaters. The range includes oil, radiant, ceramic and fan heaters sold under the Anko brand. Typically, all Kmart heaters have come with a safety tip-over switch, overheat protection and a 12-month manufacturer’s warranty.
Ratings ResultsThe Warehouse’s own brand Living & Co is known for its low-price appliances. However, as Living & Co earns just 3-Stars in each category rated, excluding Value for Money, it reveals that if a heater skimps on quality to deliver cheapness, it doesn’t equate to true value for consumers.
Living & Co keeps it simple and, in 2023 had just one heater in its range of heaters and fans. It was a 1000W 5-fin oil heater for the bargain price of $55.
The heater features three power settings: 400/600/1000W, an adjustable thermostat and safety thermal cut-off, overheat and tip-over protection. It’s a great heating option for a smaller room.
While the Warehouse doesn’t currently have any Living & Co heaters in stock, it is expected that they will begin to appear instore and online as winter draws closer.
Ratings ResultsDespite a bumper year in 2023, Breville’s range of 3-stars across almost all categories has seen it fall to the bottom of our ratings. However, it is important to keep in mind that a 3-Star rating means that Breville customers are still mostly satisfied with their appliances.
Breville only sells one standard portable heaters, predominantly selling air purifiers very much like those sold by Dyson, which also heat or cool at the same time, providing year-round comfort.
Breville’s standard portable heater, the 2200W Smart Heat Control Max Panel Heater is available for $429.95.
Its two multi-function purifiers are the 1800W AirRounder Connect, for smaller rooms, ($469.95) and the 2200W AirRounder Plus Connect for larger spaces ($679.95), both of which can be controlled by voice or via a smart phone app.
Not all brands in the market qualify for our ratings (based on minimum survey sample size), but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth considering. Here are more brands to check out before making a purchase decision.
ArlecBased in Australia, Arlec has been producing quality home and office accessories for over 75 years.
Its range is made up of eight portable heaters, including tower (2000W to 2400W), convection (2000W to 2400W), panel (2400W), micathermic (2400W) and oil-free heaters (2400W).
Editor’s NotesDimplex is a global brand that is based in Dublin, Ireland. It has a long history of making quality electrical products, and in NZ sells a wide range of portable electric heaters.
Its range includes nine column heaters, including micathermic, oil and oil-free models (1000W to 2000W); three convection heaters (2000W) and five ceramic tower heaters (1500W to 2400W).
NB: All prices approx and correct as of 14/02/2024. They should be used as a starter guide only and not considered an actual quote. Further information on pricing can be found at individual retailer websites.
There are many things to consider when choosing the right portable heater to match your home and budget. However, it’s essential to consider certain key factors when making your purchase.
Overall, for most consumers in our survey, Effectiveness is the key consideration. This is understandable, as a heater has one main job: to heat up a room.
And while Value for Money (20%) is the second most important factor, it doesn’t place much higher than Quietness (18%) or Reliability (15%).
Here is the full rundown of what the portable heater consumers in our survey said were the main things they considered when rating their purchases:
There are various types of electric portable heaters. Here’s an overview of each:
Like oil column heaters, convection heaters warm cold air by pulling it over heated elements. The air then rises and slowly circulates around the room. Most units including a fan to speed up the natural convection flow.
Fan heaters come in different shapes and sizes, but all have a fan that distributes heated air. The bigger the fan, the better the heat distribution. Small fan heaters, often featuring ceramic elements, can be a good option for personal heat – such as if you are the only one in a small room.
Oscillating tower fan heaters usually have a radiant heat source and a fan, and are designed to heat an entire room evenly. Models such as those offered by Dyson and Breville act as portable air conditioners, and can heat or cool air, as well as filter it for dust and pathogens.
Pros: Fan heaters provide fast heating and the larger, oscillating models distribute heated air evenly, so the hot air is not trapped up by the ceiling. Fan heaters can boost the performance of separate convection and oil heaters, helping to warm a room quickly. They are lightweight and portable, and small fan heaters are often cheap.
Micathermic heaters combine convection and reflective heating to quickly heat both the air and nearby surfaces. They are similar to an oil-column heater, but use sheets of thermal mineral mica instead of hot oil. They also provide radiant heating, rather than just the background warmth of an oil column heater.
Oil column heaters warm the air through metal fins that have hot oil circulating through them. The hot air rises and then slowly circulates around the room, providing background warmth.
Oil-free column heaters look like traditional oil column heaters, but instead of oil they have an element inside each fin and vents at the top to disperse the hot air. This makes them quicker to warm up and lighter to move around than a conventional oil heater.
A flat-panel heater draws in cold air over a large, heated ceramic surface, the heated air then rises. While often promoted as economical to run, low-watt panel heaters produce very little heat as a result.
Radiant heaters are bar heaters with glowing elements and a reflector. They heat objects and people rather than the air in a room, and are either free-standing or wall-mounted, so they can be fixed high out of reach of small children.
When shopping for an electric heater, consumers should also consider:
Even though portable heaters don’t come with a star rating, you can still work out how much electricity a model will use, and its running cost, by making an estimate based on the following factors:
For example a 2000W heater will use 2kW of electricity per hour when turned up to its highest setting.
So if you’re paying the average NZ price for your power, which is 33.7c per kW, this means that your heater will cost 67.4c per hour to run at max temp (2 x 33.7c).
When choosing the right portable electric heater for your home, always consider the unit’s wattage. The greater the wattage, the more heat the appliance will produce, and the more electricity it will use. And keep this in mind when setting your desired temperature, too!
If you’re spending a fortune on heating using an electric portable heater, it may be worthwhile considering investing in a heat pump. For although they are more expensive to purchase and install, they are considerably more energy efficient.
Heat pumps offer the best energy efficiency of any heating method. This is because a heat pump doesn’t create heat. It simply transfers heat from one place to another.
Even when it’s cold outside, there is warmth present in the atmosphere. Using the same compressor technology as a fridge or freezer, a heat pump collects heat from the outside air and transfers the heat to inside the home.
The process is incredibly energy efficient. This is clear from the coefficient of performance (COP) of a heat pump, which measures how much heat you get per kW of energy consumed.
While a regular electric heater has a COP of 1 (1kW of energy produces 1kW of heat), a heat pump typically has a COP of 2-5 (1kW of energy produces 2-5kW of heat).
About the editor of this pageThis page was written by Canstar Content Producer, Caitlin Bingham. Caitlin is an experienced writer whose passion for creativity led her to study communication and journalism. She began her career freelancing as a content writer, before joining the Canstar team.
We asked those in our survey a few more questions about their home-heating habits:
Only heat rooms used to save money: 70%
Think portable heaters are the most practical heating option: 32%
Use a portable heater because can’t afford heat pump: 20%
Canstar Blue surveyed 2502 New Zealand consumers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction, via ISO 26362 accredited research panels managed by Qualtrics. The outcomes reported are the results from customers who have purchased and used a domestic heat pump in the last two years. In this case, 730 New Zealanders. Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included. Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands receiving three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10. Not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The ratings table is first sorted by star ratings and then by mean overall satisfaction. A rated brand may receive a ‘N/A’ (Not Applicable) rating if it does not receive the minimum number of responses for that criterion.
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