I live in a tropical country so the need for outdoor (or even indoor) heaters is practically non-existent. But when I first experienced how cold it is outside when I traveled to places that have winter, I understood how important it was to have something to warm you up especially when you’re doing outdoor activities. Most of what I’ve seen are not necessarily aesthetic so there’s always room for well-designed heaters.
Designer: Yamaha Design Laboratory
Yamaha has been experimenting a lot lately with designs for various products that are not necessarily connected to Yamaha Motor or their other businesses. This includes creating design concepts for outdoor tools and one of those projects is for something called Bon-Flame, an outdoor heater attachment tool that combines the brand’s expertise in both mobility and their main product of musical instruments.
Basically this heater uses a bimetallic sheet that is made up of two metals that are glued together. The different metals have varying expansion rates so the sheet is able to change shape when heat is applied. There’s a small ball-shaped bimetal at the base which rotates when heated and then eventually opens up like a flower. The ending look is that of a large flame shape that gives you a pretty looking heater.
The concept also converts the flame of a single burner into far-infrared heat which is better for the environment as it has a lower carbon footprint. It’s still a design concept for now but it would be a great companion for outdoor activities especially if you’re going for an aesthetic look.
Since I live in a tropical country, the idea of outdoor heaters (even indoor, actually) is something totally foreign to me. But when I visited New Zealand during the winter season, I finally realized the importance of having this piece of appliance. You need to feel a bit of artificial warmth when you have to stay outdoors especially late at night. It helps a lot to have some sort of heater when you want to enjoy a cool night by the lake or in your backyard.
Designer: Yuhang Lei
This concept for an outdoor heater called Terra Hiker is meant to be placed in places like outdoor cafes, backyards, camping sites, etc. It can heat up to 30 square meters as it has a heating power of 16KW (55,000 BTU). The 13-kilogram propane tank that comes with it can burn up to 38 hours so you can enjoy heated temperature for several hours.
It actually looks like a machine from a sci-fi movie or show with its geometric cutting design and its capsule-like shape. I feel like a creature will arrive at any time but thankfully, heat is the only thing that will come out of it. It is made up of pre-assembled modes so you can assemble everything in around 15 minutes (providing you follow/understand the instructions).
The outdoor heater can be installed in two different ways so you get two height options which adjusts to your need and how you’ll use it. The prototype shows it’s easy to move around although it’s not really that portable because of the propane tank aspect. But it’s well-designed enough that it won’t be an eyesore to your outdoor space.
Natural disasters can take a heavy toll on life and property, even when we’ve prepared for the worst. Floods, earthquakes, fires, and volcanic eruptions can send people running to evacuation centers where they may be safe but are hardly intact both in the body and especially in the mind. These refuge centers are often only able to provide the bare necessities when it comes to shelter and food, with electric power and heating sometimes taking a lower priority. That’s not even considering the psychological pain that all evacuees experience during these dark times, which often take a backseat because of the state emergency. Of course, all of these are important factors to consider, and this concept for an add but cute robot tries to address them in its own little way to provide both physical and mental comfort to people who have been displaced by these calamities.
Designers: Taejeong Kim, Yeji Jeon
To be fair, such shelters have to focus on what human needs to survive, like food, clothing, and a stable roof over their heads. Electricity often isn’t even viable during natural disasters when power lines are down, but considering how much we rely on electric appliances and devices these days, it has become almost just as critical. Depending on the location and the nature of the disaster, keeping warm is also important, especially if the person is shivering from shock.
POWER HUG is a product design concept that tries to bring some of that on a personal level, just enough power and warmth to bring a little comfort and ease the worries of the person. It is pretty much a big power bank, one with outlets for both USB cables as well as typical power adapters. It also has a built-in warmer to keep the person toasty, especially at night when temperatures tend to drop drastically.
What makes the design notable, however, isn’t just the features but also its form. POWER HUG comes as a cylindrical robot with two soft, bendable tubes that wrap around each end like a wheel. It has a screen in the middle to show the robot’s face and deliver a more humane touch to the design. Unlike what you might expect from robots, however, this one is covered with a thin cushion and soft fabric so that you can wrap yours around it in an embrace. Paired with its heating capability, it can deliver much-needed warmth, comfort, and perhaps even peace to a troubled person.
Considering its use in emergency situations, it’s almost necessary for POWER HUG to be made accessible and sustainable materials. Its batteries can be sourced from unused electric vehicle batteries, while its fabric can be made from recycled materials. It’s definitely an interesting idea, even if the production of such a device might not be practical, as it emphasizes humans’ need for more than just food and shelter to survive a disaster.
While it’s of course always a comfort to be working in a place with air conditioning, there are still times when it might be too cold for you. Or you may sometimes be working outdoors when the weather is a bit too cool / cold for comfort. Not all places have a heater for your convenience so a portable heater may just be the solution. But again, not all portable heaters are actually portable or convenient. This new one from DeLonghi may be the ideal one, and it’s also mindful of the environment.
Designer: Noi Creative for DeLonghi
The DeLonghi Capsule Desk Loop is a personal fan ceramic heater that you can place on your desk or wherever you are working so you can “work or relax in peace.” It has a special air grid design that brings you a convenient airflow speed and distribution when you need that soft warmth for your sedentary activities. The designers call the air grid the Flame pattern which actually creates an illusion of heat and flames from your heating source.
It looks like your typical heater but it’s small enough that you can carry it around with you and it’s also more stylishly designed. It is also more environmentally-friendly than most personal heaters as it uses 50% recycled plastic, a first for a DeLonghi product. It also uses 5.5 times lower energy consumption at just 360W, making it eco-friendly not just in the design but also in its function. It also is not as noisy as normal heaters as it just gives you a quiet 39dB operation so you can really work in peace without an annoying hum in the background.
Having a device that can create your very own micro-climate while working may not be a priority but it is pretty convenient to have especially if you work in places where you can get easily cold. That can solve some of the office arguments that can happen when there’s a mix of people who are either too cold or too warm.
Built-in basic thermostat for automatic temperature adjustment
Great safety features for households with children and pets
CONS:
Needs to be plugged directly into a wall socket
Touch buttons provide no tactile feedback
RATINGS:
AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
EDITOR'S QUOTE:
The GoveeLife Smart Space Heater Lite delivers quick, efficient, and safe heating wrapped in a compact and stylish package.
The holidays usually mean colder days, at least for those living in the northern part of the world, which also means rising costs in order to keep oneself warm and toasty. Fireplaces might sound and look romantic, but they’re not efficient, sustainable, or even safe. The same goes for gasoline-powered heaters, which also add an element of risk to people’s health. In this day and age, smart appliances play an important role in living a life of comfort without the downsides and expenses of traditional products, so it’s not really surprising that GoveeLife has launched a number of new smart space heaters for that very purpose. While Govee is probably best known for its smart lighting solutions, it established GoveeLife this year to focus on smart home appliances like heaters, humidifiers, smart kitchen appliances, and sensors, aiming to enhance convenience, optimize efficiency, and improve overall quality of life. In particular, the compact GoveeLife Smart Space Heater Lite piqued our interest, so we took it to the test to see if it’s really such a hot product or just hot air.
Air coolers, purifiers, and humidifiers have started to dress up and look more at home in our living spaces, taking on designs that blend well with the rest of the furniture or stand out in a pleasing way. Most space heaters, in comparison, look utilitarian and uninspired, making you think of them more like movable ovens or furnaces than a distinct class of their own. In that sense, the GoveeLife Smart Space Heater Lite sets itself apart with a design that is discreet and stylish, making it a fine addition to your room, no matter the motif you have going.
For starters, the smart space heater takes on a cylindrical shape with very minimal markings all around. The most distinctive part of the product is the silver grille in front where hot air blows out. It’s a perfect match for the black colorway, which is the review unit that we got, though the white version isn’t bad either, even if the grille does stand out more. The top holds the capacitive touch buttons and LED status indicators, though you might not look at those that much if you’ll be controlling the heater mostly through the Govee Home app.
The GoveeLife Smart Space Heater Lite, which is the smallest of its siblings, is only 9.1 inches tall and 5.9 inches in diameter. This compact size makes it ideal for any space, even in cramped corners or shelves. It’s also lightweight at only 3.63lbs, which means you can easily take it anywhere around the house. For bigger rooms and spaces, GoveeLife also offers the Smart Heater Pro and Smart Heater Pro Max. The only consideration you need to have is that the appliance has to be plugged in directly to a wall outlet, now through some power cord. That might be limiting for some, but the included 5ft power cable does address that issue to some extent.
Ergonomics
As mentioned above, the GoveeLife Smart Space Heater Lite is truly light on weight, so there will be no problem where you want to set it up. It doesn’t require a permanent installation either, so you can just lift it up and put it somewhere else if you’re not happy with the heat distribution. The integrated carrying handle on the back makes that easy, a clear sign that the heater isn’t meant to stay put in a single place forever. Of course, you’ll have to consider the airflow in the room and place the heater where it will have the best effect.
Setting up the appliance is just as easy as well, and all you need to do is connect the Smart Space Heater Lite to your phone via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The Govee Home mobile app has all the functions you need to control the heater, some of which won’t be available via the physical controls. Those controls come in the form of very flat, capacitive buttons on the top of the device. This kind of control definitely looks elegant and minimalist, but it lacks the tactile haptic feedback that our fingers and brains need to register that we’ve pushed a button. That might throw a few people off, but not enough to make it a huge issue, especially if you’ll be using the mobile app or voice control most of the time anyway.
Performance
For such a small thing, the Smart Space Heater Lite packs quite a punch when it comes to heating. It uses a 1500W PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) ceramic heating element that only takes 2 seconds to rapidly heat an area. It works best for closed spaces under 200 square feet, so large living rooms might be a bit more difficult to heat up. The heater blasts hot air from the front, but its swivel feature allows that heat to spread across a wider range. You can even tilt the heater up so that it can reach higher areas.
Like air coolers, the GoveeLife Smart Space Heater Lite has four modes, five if you count “Auto.” These modes, which include fan, low, mid, and high, can easily be set with a single button that cycles through the modes or directly via the app. The more interesting mode, however, is “Auto,” which utilizes the heater’s built-in thermostat. To use it, you set the desired temperature in the app and the Smart Space Heater Lite will heat the room up to that temperature and then automatically switch off once it reaches that point. While you can switch to Auto mode using the heater’s buttons, you can only set the temperature through the app.
Since we’re dealing with heating elements and hot surfaces, it’s no surprise that GoveeLife loaded the heater with a lot of safety features, including a timer. For starters, the product itself is V-0 flame retardant to reduce the risks of fire and burning. There’s a control lock feature in the app that disables the on-device buttons, preventing anyone, especially children, from accidentally operating the heater. One of the best features, however, is the tip-over notification, which immediately alerts you through the app if the heater is knocked over by a person or a pet.
Of course, the Smart Space Heater Lite is “smart” for a reason, and it can integrate well with existing smart home platforms, including Apple Home, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa. That means convenient voice control, regardless of which platform you’re using. Not only that, but you can also add the heater to programmed scenes so that you can make sure your home is warm and toasty by the time you get home from work.
Sustainability
Unlike mobile devices and some gadgets, you’d expect appliances to be designed for the long haul. The choice of materials and their designs are made based on durability and longevity, though no device is immortal. Sooner or later, they get damaged or even broken beyond repair, which means a trip either to a service center or to a landfill. When this happens, the use of sustainable materials and the application of repairable designs play important roles in helping minimize their damage to the environment.
The GoveeLife Smart Space Heater Lite isn’t exactly an outlier in that regard, made from the typical mixture of plastics and metal. Self-repair is also out of the question, and you might find yourself striking out in finding a nearby service center, depending on where you live. Maybe the day will come when GoveeLife will be making easy-to-repair products that use recycled materials, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on this rapidly growing brand for that day.
Value
Space heaters are a bit less common than coolers and humidifiers, but they’re numbers are definitely rising. That’s especially true for smart heaters that are trying to ride on the smart home train. With so many to choose from, including from GoveeLife’s own catalogue, it’s only natural to ask what makes this Smart Space Heater Lite desirable enough to be worth your hard-earned cash.
In a nutshell, the GoveeLife Smart Space Heater Lite checks all the right boxes without going overboard with unnecessary features. The thermostat-driven Auto mode is a great money and power saver, and the rapid heating technology makes sure you get the desired warmth sooner rather than later. Its lightweight and attractive design makes it easy to place the appliance anywhere in the house, while excellent safety features ensure your kids and furry friends are out of harm’s way. Best of all, the $49.99 price tag isn’t too much to ask especially for something you’ll be using for a very long time.
Verdict
There has been a lot of focus on air coolers, purifiers, and humidifiers in the past year or so, but unpredictable weather and freak blizzards remind us that the other extreme is just as bad. Not many people give much thought to their heaters, at least until the electricity bill arrives. That’s when they need a smarter and more cost-efficient way to stay farm.
The GoveeLife Smart Space Heater Lite definitely fits the bill in that regard. It might not be sufficient for very large areas, but it’s more than enough for the majority of households and rooms. Smart and safety features take away most of the worry involved with appliances that generate heat, and integration with major smart home platforms means that you can be even more energy-efficient by only using the heater when it’s actually needed. More importantly, the Smart Space Heater Lite looks quite elegant in any setting, making it a potential centerpiece for your smart home decor.
