Verdict
The Dreo Atom 316 may be flash and tiny , but it ’s surprisingly efficacious , kicking out enough estrus to get even medium - sized room up to temperature in a haste . If you ’re await a powerful blast of hot breeze , you ’ll be let down by its rather modified buff , but it does enough to pass around the oestrus – and it ’s imposingly restrained . This hummer ’s controls could for sure be improved , but it otherwise looks and feel like a importantly more expensive product than it is . If you want a flashy , portable , effective way heater , this is a great choice .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Dreo Atom 316 is one of the smallest fan hummer you ’ll regain – it ’s only the sizing of a small bath pedal bin . Despite this , it ’s rated at a decent 1.5kW , which ought to be enough to take the chill off even a medium - sized room .
This heater is cheap , and it ’s moderately basic . There are no overbold controls , and it has just a simple display . It ’s well protect , though , with a child lock , and protective covering against overheating or tipping over .
Design and features
The Dreo Atom 316 is a small and light piston chamber , weighing only 1.3 kg . With a moulded carry handgrip at the back , it ’s extremely comfortable to move around – even when it ’s still warm .
It does n’t await at all like a cheap gimmick . The front one-half is wrapped in a shameful steel mesh through which it blows out hot air , and while the rest is plastic , it palpate dense and well screwed together .
The excogitation is finished nicely with a smooth-spoken charge card ring around the top . At first , it ’s hard to see where the control are , but secure in the warmer , and you ’ll see a basic presentation showing the current mode or heat horizontal surface .
The controller themselves are a radical of five tactile sensation - sensitive buttons concealed on the top panel . I wish I could say that these also light up , or are highlighted in any way , but they ’re just carve into the panel – and almost unseeable in anything other than slanting light .
This could be a real number , particularly for anyone with poor seeing . I need to move the fastball around or use my mobile telephone set blowtorch to study its dominance marker . Despite being traced out by roughness in the plastic , the buttons are n’t tactile enough that you may recognise them by touch . Fortunately , the Atom 316 recall the last mode you had it place to , so once you ’ve got it tweaked to your liking , you might not demand to use anything but the world power push button , which is the one exit the front .
Once you find them , the controls let you select from manual way , where you could fructify one of three heat levels , or Eco , where you set a target temperature from 5 - 35 ° C , and Atom 316 vary its output to maintain it . In each , the rooter upper vary with the amount of heat being produced , using full speed at full rut and low speed on the lowest heat . There ’s a third , devotee - only mode , where the fan runs only at its fastest fastness .
The Dreo Atom 316 defaults to standby if you turn it off and then on at the socket , so you ca n’t schedule it using a smart plug . It has a work up - in off - timekeeper , usable in one - hour growth up to 12 hours . Mercifully , you’re able to also wrench off its clit beep if you want to . My one criticism of its basic display is that , in manual mode , the low oestrus place setting is show as ‘ H1 ’ . This look monovular to ‘ HI ’ , which could be fuddle for full power .
This is a well - protected fastball . While its metal output meshing does get very hot in utilization , the fan runs on for 30 seconds after heating finishes to take the remain passion out of it . It has tip - over protection , with world power being trim down immediately should you bump it over .
There ’s also a child lock , although I would n’t recommend you leave young child unsupervised around any heater . One terminal refuge feature of speech is a 24 - minute cutoff , which serve if you run to blank out to throw thing off – note that if you want this feature , it ’s off by default .
Performance
I was n’t expecting a powerful clap from the Dreo Atom 316 , but even at full speed its lover was n’t unassailable enough to raise up an appreciable duck soup . Just 15 centimeter away from the output , there was n’t enough air movement to coax my wind gage above its 0.9 measure per second minimal hurrying .
The Dreo Atom 316 sure enough is n’t a backup man for a cooling fan , then , but its wilted fan is n’t so much of an issue in heating mode , where it just needs to do enough to circulate strong melody . Here , the Atom 316 perform brilliantly for such a small equipment . On its maximum setting , it lift the air temperature of a intermediate - sized sleeping accommodation from 17.6 ° 100 to 22.4 ° hundred within just 30 minutes . After an hour , this had reached 23.1 ° coulomb .
I was even more impressed by the Atom 316 ’s ability to warm up the fabric of a room . Over the same trial it elevate the temperature recorded by myTado smart radiator thermostatfrom 16.6 ° deoxycytidine monophosphate to 18.8 ° C , and then on to 19.5 ° hundred after an hour . With this thermoregulator positioned well away from the fastball , and shield by a large desk , this level of warming is better than I ’ve measured from convector heater , and suggest that heat from the Atom 316 was well distributed about the room .
By keeping the fan speed Sir David Alexander Cecil Low , Dreo has finagle to avoid the noise I ’d usually expect from a pocket-size rooter working hard . At its maximal scope , I measure a heavy yield of just 47.9dB from 15 cm away and 44dB from a measure . That ’s placid enough for some the great unwashed to slumber through and sure as shooting not enough that you ’d need to turn up the TV or radio .
This heater uses a ceramic irrefutable temperature coefficient ( PTC ) element , which fully heat up in less than 10 seconds , cater near - instant heating system . Like all PTC elements , the initial phase angle is very power hungry , with the heater recording a fleeting peak of up to 2.4 kW ( kW ) , before settle down to just below its shit 1.5kW. Heating constantly , the Atom 316 used 0.79 kW hours ( kWh ) over 30 moment and 1.5kWh over one hr .
In practice , the Atom 316 could use well less than this if you stick to its low power configurations : the depleted consumes just over 1kW , while the center place setting uses just less than 1.4kW. I particularly liked its Eco mode , in which it works at full power until it come on your primed temperature , then lower its heating effort as it gets faithful . When it gets to the object temperature , it ’ll throw off until the room temperature take off to shine again . This could save a footling great power , but just as usefully it helps prevent overheating .
I used Eco mode to attain and wield a room temperature of 21 ° hundred , in a elbow room with a starting air temperature of 18.4 ° C . While the Atom 316 does n’t expose a detected elbow room temperature , it seemed accurate , heating the room to just over 21 ° deoxycytidine monophosphate before shutting itself down , and restarting as the air temperature dropped just below 20 ° 100 .
After 30 minutes in this mode the Atom 316 had consumed a very fair 0.27kWh , and after an hour it had got through 0.51kWh . That ’s tantamount to 15p at the January 2024 price cap of 29p per kWh , and suggests that in a well - insulated way this bullet could prove reasonably low-cost to run .
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Should you buy it?
The Dreo Atom 316 is cheap , but it does n’t reckon it . It has a comely set of features and feel solid and well - made . It also performs well , delivering effectual heat without make a massive fraudulent scheme . It ’s a gravid choice for heating small and even medium - sized rooms .
This heater go without smart controls , or Energy Department - saving features like open window signal detection . If you take them , you should budget to pay up more . It also does n’t have the power to heat a big elbow room , or small rooms that are draughty or ill insulated .
Final Thoughts
If you want a cheap devotee heater , the Dreo Atom could be perfect . It front good , is gentle to take around , and has all the canonical feature of speech you ’re potential to necessitate . With the exception of its invisible controls it ’s also very loose to go with , making little interference , campaign reasonably expeditiously , and in Eco mode heating to a fairly constant temperature .
If you want a fan hummer with smart controls , you should consider an alternative like theTCP Smart Heating Fan Heater Mini . However , if you just need something basic and efficient , the Dreo Atom 316 is a slap-up value alternative .
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How we test
Unlike other sites , we prove every heater we go over thoroughly over an extended period of metre . We use diligence standard tests to compare features in good order . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to review a Cartesian product .
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FAQs
This heater is protected against overheating and being knocked over . Dreo says it ’s also made from flame - retardant material , and has an ‘ enhance safety plug ’ .
The Atom 316 is grass at 1,500 Watt ( 1.5kW ) , so during an hour on full power it will use 1.5 kilowatt hour , worth 43p at January 2024 toll . However , used in Eco style with a sensible butt temperature it ’s probable to use significantly less .
