You may have a good central heating system at home. Even then, there could be certain parts of the house that will not receive adequate heat. Yes, I am looking at the basement and sometimes the bathrooms. By bathrooms, I don't mean next to the bathtub or shower. I meant right outside the door. For a more economic option, I chose the Lasko Digital Ceramic heater.
Why?
For quick warmth. this space heater generates warmth so fast you'd be feeling toasty in a matter of seconds. For $50, it's affordable. I have had it for almost three years and it's working fine for the winter seasons.
Considerations
The downside of using a space heater is that it incurs extra electric cost. But, as long as you aren't using it as sole source of heat for your home, you'll be fine. This thing can jack up your electric bill if you are not careful about how much you are using it on regular basis.
This particular Lasko model has programmable settings. You could decide how much you'd want to heat the space. From my experience, the heater goes three degrees over your setting before stopping. (All measurements are in degrees Fahrenheit.)
If you don't care about having programmed settings, you could always let it run on high or low settings. The heater will continue to run until it's turned off. Or, you could always set a timer and let it go full blast under whichever strength you prefer.
From the product website.
To turn off, the manufacturer recommends to always unplug instead of the power button. It may seem like common sense, but that's not always the case. This is for your safety in case the buttons are not turning the heater off.
Common sense also dictates that you do not use this in hazardous areas or wet environments. I, for one, would never use this in the garage in a workshop. Alas, the manufacturer outlines it to save themselves some unwanted lawsuits.
Practical uses
As I mentioned in the beginning, I use them in the basement and outside of the bathrooms. This is not for me, per say, but for visitors and the little ones. This is especially true for bath time in the winter. Toddlers aren't always the most adept at getting dried and dressed out of the water. At the very least, they wouldn't be freezing out of the waters in the winter.
The product website mentions the kitchen. I can't, for the life of me, understand why you'd need a heater in the kitchen. Most of the times, my kitchen gets hot when I start cooking, so I'm not sure what's going on there.
Although missed opportunity, I would have loved this while in college. Imagine having a cozy room to yourself. The downside is, I can't trust those old plugs in those rundown college off-campus housing. And chances are, you might be driving the shared electric bill sky high.
For what it's worth, the Lasko Model CC13652 is a cheap and effective space heater for the cold parts of your home. For more information, please read the user manual.