Review · Ceramic tower
The budget end of the category usually means a dial and a shrug. This one has a digital thermostat, a timer and a remote — and still no child lock.
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The Lasko 5586 is a 29-inch, 1,500 W oscillating ceramic tower with a digital thermostat, two heat settings plus an auto mode, an 8-hour auto-off timer, a remote and a 3-year limited warranty. It covers about 150 sq ft and draws 12.5 A.
At this price the category norm is a two-position knob and an unmarked dial. The 5586 publishes a digital thermostat, an auto mode that holds a set temperature rather than running flat out, an 8-hour auto-off timer and a remote.
Those are not luxuries, they are the three levers that actually lower a heating bill. Nothing about an element makes a heater cheaper to run — but a thermostat that does not overshoot, an auto mode that cycles, and a timer that stops the thing at 1 a.m. all genuinely do. Getting all three at the budget end is unusual enough to be the story of this unit.
Lasko also publishes a 3-year limited warranty and a self-regulating ceramic element. The warranty is not evidence that the unit lasts — we have not owned one for three years and will not pretend otherwise — but it is a manufacturer pricing in the possibility, which is the only durability signal available to a publisher who does not run products for years.
Top pick · A large room on a budget
A long-running 1,500 W tower with a digital thermostat, an 8-hour timer and a remote — the cheap end of the category without the missing-safety-feature problem the cheap end usually has.
| Published specification | |
|---|---|
| Rated power | 1,500 W at 120 V |
| Maker's coverage claim | None published — listed as “for large rooms” |
| Controls | Digital thermostat, remote, 8-hour auto-off timer |
| Height | 29" |
| Safety | Cool-touch housing, overheat protection |
| Heat type | Ceramic (PTC) |
| Maker’s coverage claim | None published — the coverage figure above is ours |
| Safety listing | Lasko does not publish a listing mark on the Amazon listing text; check the unit's own rating plate for the UL or ETL mark before you use it. |
Who it is for
Someone heating one main room who wants a thermostat and a timer and is not willing to pay a premium for a metal cabinet.
What it is not for
A room with a toddler or a curious pet. Without a child lock, the controls are one press away from full output at floor height.
Sources for this entry
The listing sells this as a heater for large rooms. Lasko publishes no square-footage figure anywhere, so that phrase carries no information, and the arithmetic is the same as for every other 1,500 W unit: about 150 sq ft at 10 W per square foot with average insulation and an 8-foot ceiling.
| Room size | Watts needed | BTU/h | Plug-in heaters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 sq ft | 1,500 W | 5,118 | 1 |
| 200 sq ft | 2,000 W | 6,824 | 2 (different circuits) |
| 300 sq ft | 3,000 W | 10,236 | 2 (different circuits) |
| 400 sq ft | 4,000 W | 13,649 | 3 (different circuits) |
Computed as square feet x 10 W x insulation factor x (ceiling / 8 ft), for an average heated room — 10 W/sq ft, 8 ft ceiling. Heater count assumes the 1,500 W plug-in ceiling.
Read the highlighted rows: anything from 200 sq ft up needs more than one plug-in heater's worth of output. A tower's height and oscillation genuinely help distribute what it makes across a wider room — that is a real benefit and it is why towers suit living rooms — but distribution is not production. What actually happens in a large room.
| Wattage | 4 h/day | 8 h/day |
|---|---|---|
| 1,500 W | $33.01 | $66.02 |
Computed at 18.34¢/kWh — the U.S. residential average for June 2026 (EIA, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, released August 26, 2026). Your rate is on your own bill; substitute it and the arithmetic still holds. Monthly figures are 30-day months at full output; a thermostat that cycles will reduce them.
The auto mode is the figure-mover here. Those numbers assume full output for the whole period; a heater cycling on a thermostat in a correctly sized room typically runs at 40–60% duty once the room is warm, so a realistic month lands well below them.
No child lock. The controls are on top of a 29-inch tower — chest height for a toddler and eye-level for a determined cat. Combined with a tall, narrow, light chassis, that is the wrong shape for a room with small children or large animals. The nursery requirements and the pet-safe picks both start from features this unit does not publish.
No published listing mark. The Amazon listing text does not state UL or ETL. Check the rating plate on the unit itself when it arrives, and verify it in the laboratory's directory rather than trusting a logo in a marketing image.
A main living room or a bedroom in an adult household, where you want a real thermostat and a timer without paying for a metal cabinet. If the room is over about 200 sq ft, buy it knowing it will run near-continuously rather than expecting it to hold a setpoint alone.
And what we did not do: we have not tested these units, owned them, measured them or run them in a room. Everything above is compiled from published manufacturer specifications and live retail listings, with the electrical load, room coverage and running cost computed by us from the published wattage. The full method.
About 150 sq ft at the standard 10 W per square foot. Lasko markets it as a large-room heater but publishes no coverage figure — 1,500 W is 1,500 W regardless of the unit's height.
Yes — a digital thermostat with an auto mode that holds a set temperature, plus an 8-hour auto-off timer and a remote control. That combination is unusual at its price.
No. It publishes cool-touch housing and overheat protection, but no child lock, and its controls sit on top of a 29-inch tower within easy reach.
About 27.5 cents an hour at 1,500 W and the U.S. average rate of 18.34¢/kWh — the same as any other 1,500 W heater. Its auto mode reduces real consumption by cycling rather than running flat out.
The four units that get closest to a 300 sq ft room — and the two-heater arithmetic nobody publishes.
How a PTC element self-limits its temperature, and which rooms ceramic heaters actually suit.
All electric heaters are 100% efficient. These are picked on the three things that actually cut the bill.
Both marks mean the same standard was met. Here is how to check that a listing is real.
Cool-touch metal cabinet, both cutoffs published, digital thermostat and a 1-12 hour timer.
1,500 W, a published 300 sq ft claim that survives the arithmetic, and a thermostat with numbers.