Vornado VH200 Heater review

Although the Vornado VH200 is small and has no fancy features, it’s more than capable of heating up a small room like a den or a second bedroom. In our tests, the no-frills Vornado VH200 heated evenly without getting hot itself or making a racket in the process.

With two small buttons and a thermostat dial, it’s very easy to operate. While it doesn’t oscillate, or come with more premium features, it’s still one of the best space heaters as you will see in our full Vornado VH200 review. 

Vornado VH200 Heater review: Price and availability

The Vornado VH200 Heater is available at The Home Depot for $70. It is only available in silver. 

Vornado VH200 Heater review: Design

The Vornado VH200 is about as big as a bookshelf speaker, measuring 10.4 x 9.2 x 10.6 inches. With its small size, silver-toned casing, and trapezoid shape, it has an unassuming appearance. It’s neither attractive nor is it an eye sore, but you can easily store it away if you’re not a fan.

The Vornado VH200 Heater has one rocker switch to turn it on and off and another to choose a low, medium, or high heat setting. The controls are slightly recessed on top so they’re not directly visible when the unit’s sitting in a room, which reduces visual clutter. Compact and lightweight at four pounds, the Vornado is easy to move around, although rather than a true handle it has a recess to grip under the controls. For safety, it will shut off automatically if it tips over or if it overheats. 

Vornado VH200 Heater review: Heating performance

In a small room measuring 10 x 15 feet, on its highest setting, the Vornado VH200 Heater was able to increase the temperature by about 6 degrees Fahrenheit and provide even heating across the room. If you place it right in front of you, you’ll feel warmer in about 30 seconds, which is impressive for such a compact design. The Vornado uses an average amount of energy in relation to other space heaters — an average of 0.26 kWH. It does come with a numbered thermostat though, which you can adjust to save energy. 

The surfaces on the Vornado reached temperatures ranging from 75°F to 76°F after it had been running for a half hour on its highest setting, so it won’t burn you. It also reached 45.5 decibels when operating on its highest heat setting with the fan blowing. It was the quietest space heater we tested and won’t interfere with conversation or a television show.

Vornado VH200 Whole Room Heater review: Ease of use

Although it’s simple to operate, the fact that the heat settings go from medium, to low, to high is unintuitive and can be a little confusing at first. This aside, the controls couldn’t be more straightforward — you don’t even need to refer to the manual. 

However, you do not get a remote control with this unit so you do have to get up to manually adjust the settings or turn it off. Periodically, this heater needs to be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner using the brush attachment, which is easy to do.

Vornado VH200 Heater review: Verdict

We think the Vornado VH200 is a great choice if you’re looking for a small, reasonably priced and unobtrusive space heater that still has the power to heat up a room. However, it doesn’t have as much heating prowess as our top choice, the Lasko FH500, which managed to heat the same room by 10 degrees Fahrenheit. If you have a very chilly or more sizable room,we’d recommend the Lasko heater instead, although it will cost you an extra $50. 

You’ll find the Vornado VH200 has fewer fancy features than other whole room heaters, but that makes it more straightforward to use. As it’s the quietest unit we tested, it’s a good choice for a room that’s used for conversation.