Bionaire BFH261 > Reviews (1)

I bought this Bionaire fan heater to take on a camping trip to Cambridgeshire. We have an electric hook up to our tent, usually for the kettle and laptop but this year the weather forecast was for rain and chilly evenings. I was looking for something small and light so it didn’t take up much room in the car, but sturdy and safe. I also didn’t want to pay too much.

I found this one at Tesco for 19.99 but that may have been a special offer. It weighs about 5lbs and is 8 inches wide and 10 inches high. It is 1700 – 2000w. It has a trip on it which will turn it off if it falls over.

It is a pleasing ‘egg’ shape in white with grey controls on the top. It feels quite robust, and the egg swivels on its base from side to side but you can’t angle it up and down at all which means if you want the air flow higher, you have to stand it on something. Standing it on a cupboard or something solid isn’t really a problem, it looks nice enough to have on show.

It isn’t too noisy but you definitely hear it all the time, maybe need the TV up a little louder.

There are 2 controls, the speed one has 2 levels, and the heat one has three, cold, warm and hot. There is a little red light telling you it’s plugged in, it only goes off if you remove the power.

It gives off good heat, as with all fan heaters this is a very dry heat. It heated our tent up in the evening, removing the damp feeling before we climbed into our sleeping bags, it didn’t take very long. I will always pack it for camping now. But we do use it at home too now, those summer evenings where it’s a bit chilly last thing, but doesn’t warrant the heating being switched on. It heats up our smallish living room a treat.