My disappointment in this product is nothing short of monumental.  Having done business many times in the past with Eheat, the distributor of this heater, I was eager with anticipation to receive the 2 units I ordered.

I purchased the 2 Envis during Eheat's introductory offer, which priced the units at $89.95 with free shipping.  I had bought several of their earlier flat-panel heaters in the past, and had previously been thrilled with their performance, and because of that, had recommended several happy customers to Eheat.  So, when they announced the new Envi heater, I jumped at the opportunity and ordered without a second thought.

Then they arrived and my feelings quickly changed.

Although the units installed as described (quite simple, in fact), their overall performance was dismal, at best.  The vague flow of heat from them did little to raise the overall room temperature. 

I installed my first unit on an inside wall of my guest bedroom, which measures roughly 10 x 12.  The unit installed easily and as described, and it looked quite attractive (for a heater, anyway).  I turned it on all the way and smelled the new-heater smell for about an hour.  I monitored the room temperature with a digital room thermometer.  Starting at a temperature of 60 degrees in the early evening, after 8 hours the temperature had only risen 2 degrees.  Meanwhile, my larger bedroom, which has one of the earlier heaters in it, stayed nice and toasty with an average temperature of 68 degrees (I don't go for super-hot bedrooms.)  I watched and tested the heater for a week, with outdoor temperatures fluctuating at night between 40 and 28 degrees.  I kept waiting to be impressed, thinking that perhaps using a fan to gently move the air in the room would help.  Nope.  Pffft.  Still not impressed.  It will be interesting to see if there is any increase in my electric use.  I find it hard to believe these things could make my bill go up any more than a bright light bulb would, so I'm not terribly worried that I might have a high electric bill.

The old units will heat a bedroom nicely, especially with the door shut.  The new heaters seem to have nothing to add to a closed room.

I installed the second unit in my living room and turned it on, setting it to the maximum setting.  Again, warm air rose slowly from the unit.  Granted, this unit was in a much larger room, but I never felt any significant warmth from it, unless I held my hand directly above it.  The old heaters in a room this size will at least provide a zone of warmth that is quite noticeable.

So there I was, disappointed and bummed, and only warm because of my earlier model and my furnace going full blast, and I emailed Eheat on a Saturday to complain.  Come Tuesday, there was no response, so I emailed again, changing the subject line to a more urgent tone.  I got a response from Josh, who wrote that he was sorry I was disappointed.  I could send the heaters back and get a refund, provided they did not have to "refurbish" the heaters, provided they were in their original boxes, and minus the amount of actual shipping, since it was a free shipping deal. 

I called their toll free number and got Josh on the line.  I explained that I was a once-loyal customer, had been responsible for them selling literally hundreds of dollars worth of heaters, and that I was not happy with my purchase.  He abruptly stated that their return policy is clearly stated on their website.  He never DID say how much "actual shipping" would be deducted from my refund, despite my asking more than once.

My options - I could send back the (probably 40+ pounds), have an unknown amount deducted, and possible have them tell me that they need to deduct even more money because I couldn't dig the wall-grips out of my walls (the aforementioned "refurbishing?").

Or, I could do nothing except learn from this experience.

I think I'll just put furniture in front of the lousy things.

This is not the company service I expect when I spend this amount of money.

UPDATE:  12/19/2009:
The company read my review and offered to replace my newer heaters for 2 of the older ones, which I have always liked very much.  I accepted their offer and, for a very nominal and reasonable shipping charge of $14, my heaters were promptly replaced.  I feel that this is a very fair resolution.

Recommended: No