Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S review: if you need a space heater, get this one

Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S: five-minute review

As an apartment-dweller, space heaters have always been a sore spot for me. Most of them are designed to sit on your floor or your table, adding to your clutter or just getting in the way. They're also loud and can be extra obnoxious if you or a pet knock them down accidentally – I'm sure most of us have gotten a near-heart attack at the sound of a space heater falling on its side. And unless they come with a remote, you have to get up and turn them on yourself, adding to the inconvenience.

Keeping warm in the winter months should not be this troublesome, but unless you have central heating (a lot of us don't), you're left to put up with such a pesky appliance – that is until it starts to warm up again and then we have to worry about finding a place to store it.

Fortunately, Dreo is here to the rescue. Not to make this smart appliance company, which by the way is fast-establishing itself as a trusted name in the appliance world, some sort of a hero, but it's found ways to address those aforementioned concerns with simple solutions. And the end result is the Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S.

The Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S is a space heater by any other name, but it takes its job to a whole new level, again simply by solving some of the core issues of even the best space heaters. Want it out of the way? It's designed to be mounted on the wall. Tired of having to get up to turn it on/off or change settings? You can ask Alexa or Google Assistant to do it instead. Worried about where to store it during the warm months? It's got a fan setting, so you can use it year-round!

That latter part is especially important, because it's part of Dreo's ethos – to produce smart appliances and smart home devices that can do the job of two or three products. This idea is something I'll be exploring later in a separate piece, but it's still important to highlight it here, because it's also an ingenious (yet effortless) way of minimizing not just your carbon footprint but also the amount of appliances you have in your home. 

In a world where just about everyone is relying on so many electronic devices, and where brands just want to sell as many products as possible, regardless of whether or not there's a legitimate need for them, it's a valiant and admirable effort.

But the Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S is also more than all these things that it's trying to do – because it's also a fantastic product in its own right.

The WH719S has an unobtrusive silver-trimmings-on-white design that still looks appealing, as well as a relatively small frame, so that it doesn't dominate your home's aesthetic. If you're worried that it might ruin the look when placed on your wall, there's no need to fret – though bear in mind that you do have to drill four holes to mount and secure it. It's surprisingly lightweight – a friend of mine even commented on just how light it is after picking it up – so you can rest assured that it won't just fall off its mounting one day. 

It also means that mounting it is easy and a one-person job. Plus, Dreo makes it easier still by including a mounting guide board with a level attached, which means I didn't need to measure anything; all I needed was my handy-dandy cordless power drill. 

The only thing to keep in mind here is that the cord isn't that long, so you want to double-check its placement before drilling those holes and hammering in the wood screws. When choosing its location on the wall, I also wouldn't recommend mounting it too high, since hot air rises.

Of course, the smart heater does have oscillation. Its vent can go up and down to spread the heat around, and it has three set angle settings as well. I have my review unit mounted higher on the wall as I don't have a good lower spot to put it, so I often have its vent set at a 90- or 120-degree angle, which works pretty well for heating up my living room. I also like that when the heater is off, that vent closes shut to minimize the dust that comes through and gathers inside (Los Angeles, my city, is a pretty dusty area!)

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Above the vent are six touch buttons for power, timer, temperature adjustment and more, but I rarely use them since the smart heater supports voice commands via Alexa or Google Assistant and app control. The touch buttons are very responsive, however, and are useful if the heater is within easy reach anyway or if you don't know what command to say to your voice assistant for the setting you need.

Just above the buttons is a nice and decent-sized LED display that tells you pretty much everything you need to know about what settings the heater is on. Dominating that screen is the temperature, which switches from your target heat to the ambient temperature, depending on what you're doing. You'll also see the mode the heater is currently on, whether or not it's connected to your Wi-Fi network, the vent angle and more.

Honestly though, I rarely ever use the display apart from checking what the ambient temperature is, because the Dreo app, which works on all of the company's smart products, gives me everything I need to check the status of the heater and, more importantly, control it.

The Dreo app is beautifully designed. It's intuitive to use and easy to navigate, but still offers complexity by way of the things you can do to control your device. It's definitely one of my favorite smart home apps.

On the app, the smart heater has two main tabs: Heat and Fan Only, giving you the option of switching to just fan when it's a warm day. The Fan Only functionality only lets you change the fan angle, at least for now. After all, the main focus of this appliance is to heat up your space. And for that, the Dreo app offers a whole slew of modes, setting and adjustments.

You can, for example, select a heat mode but still tweak the target temperature yourself, set schedules for when you want it to turn off and on (I've got mine set to turn on at 6pm, for example, and turn off around 9am), turn the panel sound on/off, toggle child lock, and enable open window detection. Honestly, for a space heater, there's a lot that you can do with it.

The app is also not its only smart feature. The Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S works with Alexa and Google Assistant, which means one thing: voice control! I've only tested it with Alexa, but it has proven to work incredibly well with it. It responds to my voice commands within a fraction of a second and every single time. In fact, it responds much faster than my smart light bulbs.

It's also intuitive in its responses. For example, instead of me saying "Alexa, set the heater's fan angle to 120 degrees", I just say "Alexa, set the heater to 120", which is less of a mouthful.

All those features would be for naught if the Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S wasn't effective at its main function, which is to heat up a space, but you need not worry about that. It heats up my living room well and fast, especially for a space heater. I'm the type of person who hates closing my windows, because I still do like a bit of fresh air coming in even in the dead of winter, and this heater manages to keep things comfortable. It even copes when I have the sliding door to my balcony open, though I wouldn't recommend this as it'll keep your energy bill up.

What's more, it's definitely quieter than all the other space heaters I've owned over the years and even the built-in AC unit in my apartment. It still has the hum, but it keeps that to a minimum that I barely even notice. Sometimes, I have to look at the unit to check whether or not its running – it's that quiet.

It's rare to see a product that has very few disadvantages or flaws, but that is the case with the Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S. Apart from the fact that its cord is a little on the short side and it's not powerful enough for large rooms, this is a pretty well-rounded smart home appliance that not only does what it's supposed to but also comes with some advantages that elevate it above the rest of the space heaters on the market, even the ones that come with smart home functionality.

And for Dreo to turn the simplest and most basic appliance into one that many of us would not want to live without is pretty ingenious.

Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S: Price and availability

• How much is it? $129.99 (about £100, AU$190)
• When is it available? Available now
• Where is it available? Currently only available in the US

The Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S is, at the time of writing, only available in the US – although the way Dreo is fast expanding, I'm sure it won't be long until they'll make it available in the UK. 

It'll set you back $129.99 (about £100, AU$190), which may seem a little steep for a space heater, but remember that you're getting a lot of conveniences here that you won't see on other heaters. For all that it offers, I'm actually surprised it's this affordable.

• Value: 5 / 5

Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S: Specs

Should I buy the Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S?

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Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S: Also consider

Dyson AM09 Hot + Cool
A fantastic-looking fan heater, the Dyson Hot + Cool AM09 is a versatile, simple-to-use and attractive addition to any home (or at least those that can afford it).

Read our full Dyson AM09 Hot + Cool review

How I tested the Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S

• I tested the Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S for a month
• I mounted it in my living room where it stayed throughout testing
• I made sure to test all of its features

Having spent more or less a month with the Dreo Smart Wall Heater WH719S keeping things comfortable in my living room, I've gotten to know the product pretty well, giving me a deep insight into its performance and features. Writing this review, therefore, was pretty easy as the smart heater and I are besties at this point.

I did make sure to test all of its functionalities, however, for a fair and impartial review, noting any quirks or flaws it may have, then comparing everything it had on offer with its price tag.

I've been a smart home devotee for a few years, with Philips Hue light bulbs being my very first smart home device. I've also been testing smart home devices, from smart lights and smart speakers to smart appliances like robot vacuums and heaters, since owning my first light bulbs.

We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.

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First reviewed January 2024