Review · Metal fan-forced
A cool-touch cabinet, both safety cutoffs and a metal inlet grill. It is the same 1,500 W as everything else — the money goes into the box around it.
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The Vornado VMHi600 is a 1,500 W metal-cabinet heater with two heat settings plus fan-only, a digital thermostat, a remote, a 1-12 hour timer, a cool-touch cabinet and automatic shut-off on both excess heat and tip-over. It covers about 150 sq ft and draws 12.5 A.
It does not buy heat. This is 1,500 W, the same ceiling as a budget tower, producing the same warmth at the same cost per hour. What it buys is the enclosure and the controls, and unusually for this category those are all published rather than implied:
Worth noting where those specifications came from: Vornado's own product page publishes far less than the retail listing does. Its site gives settings, warranty and general safety language; the Amazon listing gives the wattage, the cutoffs and the cool-touch claim. We report what is published, and we say which source published it.
Top pick · A metal cabinet and a real thermostat
The metal-cabinet version of the same 1,500 W: what you are buying is the inlet grill, the digital thermostat and the timer, not extra heat.
| Published specification | |
|---|---|
| Rated power | 1,500 W at 120 V |
| Heat settings | 2, plus fan-only |
| Controls | Digital thermostat, remote, 1–12 hour timer |
| Housing | Metal cabinet with a metal inlet grill |
| Safety | Cool-touch cabinet, auto shut-off on excess heat and on tip-over |
| Maker's coverage claim | None published |
| Heat type | Fan-forced |
| Maker’s coverage claim | None published — the coverage figure above is ours |
| Safety listing | No listing mark published in the listing text; check the rating plate for UL or ETL. |
Who it is for
A main living space where the heater is going to be visible and permanent, and where a timer and a real thermostat are worth paying for.
What it is not for
A nursery. Vornado publishes a cool-touch cabinet and both cutoffs, but no child lock — so the settings are one press away from anyone who can reach the panel.
Vornado's design pushes air to set up a circulation pattern in the room rather than aiming a hot jet at whatever is in front of it. The claim is about uniformity, not output — and that distinction decides whether this unit solves your problem.
If your complaint is *“one end of the room is warm and the other is cold,”* circulation is exactly the fix. If your complaint is *“the room never gets warm,”* it changes nothing: the room is larger than 1,500 W can hold, and the sizing calculator will tell you by how much.
| 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) |
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.
| Wattage | Per hour | 1 h | 4 h | 8 h |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,500 W | 27.5¢ | $0.28 | $1.10 | $2.20 |
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. Figures assume full output for the whole period.
Identical to every other 1,500 W heater on this site, because wattage and your electricity rate are the only two inputs. The auto-climate behavior lowers real consumption by cycling — that is a control saving, not an efficiency one.
A main living space where the heater is permanent and visible, where a timer and a real thermostat are worth paying for, and where a cool exterior matters because people and animals move past it. How it sits against the safest picks is mostly a question of how much the cabinet is worth to you — the heat is identical.
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.
Vornado states the cabinet remains cool to the touch even after hours of extended operation, and the unit uses a metal inlet grill. The air leaving the outlet is still hot, and the 3-foot clearance rule applies as it does to any heater.
Yes — the listing publishes automatic shut-off if excess heat is detected and if the unit is tipped over. It also has a 1-12 hour timer, so it can stop on a schedule.
1,500 W at 120 V, with two heat settings plus a fan-only option. That is the ceiling for any US plug-in heater, so it produces the same heat as any other 1,500 W unit.
About 150 sq ft at the standard 10 W per square foot. Vornado publishes no coverage figure. Its vortex circulation distributes that heat more evenly across a room but does not produce more of it.
Tip-over, overheat, child lock, cool-touch, wall mounting — what each mechanism actually prevents.
The four units that get closest to a 300 sq ft room — and the two-heater arithmetic nobody publishes.
Heating the air versus heating the things in it — the distinction under every other comparison.
Tip-over, overheat, cool-touch and child lock — four mechanisms, four different failures prevented.
Cool-touch, tip-over cutoff and a 5-year warranty — plus a maker that publishes settings, not specs.
Digital thermostat, 8-hour timer and a 3-year warranty at the budget end — and no child lock.