Though winter is a few months away, you might be planning to get a space heater before the cold strikes. Planning for high electric bills is another matter.
Space heaters typically hit your wallet the hardest, but Dreo says its new space heaters may be the exception. The company says its products can reduce energy usage by as much as 40% while still being able to heat the whole room.
I met with Dreo in a deskside briefing in New York City, where the company walked me through its new product lineup, including the fan-like Dreo Whole-Room Heater 715 and the Dreo Whole-Room Heater 714, as well as a pair of new smart humidifiers, the Humidifer 409S and 717S.
Here's what's new in the lineup.
Dreo's new space heaters take the guise of fans
Looking at Dreo's new space heater collection, the first thing that struck me was how much they all resembled tabletop fans. The new Dreo Whole-Room Heater 715 and Whole-Room Heater 714 are tabletop models that use Dreo's "3D whole-room heating technology" to circulate warm air around the room. The company has incorporated the heating element into a fan's body, giving it a better airflow with a 9-blade brushless DC motor.
The 715 is slightly bigger, but it has similar capabilities to the 714 and comes at the same price. Ajay Kumar/ Zooey Liao/ CNET
The heating element is more efficient, consisting of a PTC element resembling the heat sink on a gaming PC's air cooler. Dreo says the heating element is 143% bigger than before and has a 5mm heating-grid spacing that reduces heat-flow resistance.
The heater also has a spiral grill, which the company says can increase heat dispersion around the room by 35%, for a total of 458% longer heat reach. What this measure represents is unclear, but the company says it spreads the warmth more evenly and eliminates cold spots.
I was impressed by how much airflow the space heaters could move in a large conference room. Despite the air conditioning being on, I could feel the moving air from where I was sitting at the conference table.
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