GoveeLife smart portable space heater review

One of the problems with portable heaters is where to store them during the months you’re not using them. That’s where this little Govee heater could come in handy.

Design & Build

• Light and small
• Wi-Fi & Bluetooth enabled
• On-device controls

At 15.2x15x2x29cm, the GoveeLife smart portable space heater is diminutive enough to stand on a shelf or sit in a cupboard when it’s not needed. It also means you can place it on a bedside table or desk when you’re using it.

This little heater looks a lot like a portable speaker. It’s black and cylindrical, with a grille on the front where it vents hot air.

Its top surface is glossy black. It looks good but it’ll pick up fingerprints when you use the touch controls, which are arrayed over it next to their explanatory icons.

Using the control panel, you can switch it on and off, choose from one of three heat settings, fan or auto mode, and set a timer to switch it off in one, two or four hours.

The control panel is also how you switch on the Wi-Fi capabilities to start pairing, although it’s also Bluetooth-enabled. All of the controls are straightforward and easy to use – although the icons are small, so they’re not easy to decipher from a distance.

At the back, there’s an inset carry handle and as it only weighs 1.65kg – the same as a bottle of wine – it’s easy to move around. The heater has a long, 175cm power cable, so you have a bit of flexibility about where you use it.

It doesn’t come with a remote control, but it does have smart capability, meaning you can use your phone as a remote, as well as accessing more advanced features.  

Performance & Features

• App control
• Compatible with Alexa and Google Home
• 1500W

The heater is easy to set up. To use the smart features, you’ll need to download the Govee Home app, which is available for iOS and Android, and set up an account.

Next, with the heater switched on, hold down the On/Off and Mode keys and an indicator light beside the Wi-Fi icon will illuminate. (If you unplug your heater once it’s set up, you’ll need to do this again to use the smart features, although you won’t have to pair it again.)

You can then pair the heater. When we tested it, pairing was immediate and we were able to start to use the smart features right away.

You can control any Govee devices via the Govee app, group them into rooms and manage the rooms by setting up tap-to-run automations. This sounds like a handy feature but in reality, unless you have a lot of Govee devices, it’ll be of limited use.

However, you can link the heater to your Alexa or Google Home account and control it using voice commands or via those apps. We linked to it Alexa and the process was easy. Bear in mind that you’ll only be able to turn it on and off using voice control, nothing more complicated.

But the Govee Life app will give you much more control over the heater itself than the on-device controls. As the heater has an inbuilt thermostat, you can choose a target temperature so the heater isn’t just blazing away unchecked. You can also set up a day-by-day heating schedule, so if you have the heater in a home office, you can set it to come on at the same time each weekday but not on weekends.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

You can choose the heating mode for scheduling as well, so you can run it on a high setting for 15 minutes to warm up your office quickly before you start work, then run it in auto mode later in the day to maintain the temperature.

The app can also send you alerts, one of which is a great safety feature: a tip-over alert.

It’s a powerful little heater that blasts out a lot of hot air. Govee says that it can comfortably heat a 200ft² room, which is around the size of a large double bedroom. However, given its power consumption, we think the most economical way to use it is at close quarters, to keep you warm in a smaller room.

That’s because this kind of power costs. The GoveeLife smart portable space heater is a 1,500W appliance, which is pretty power-hungry. On my current (fairly standard) tariff it will cost around 27p an hour to run. If you know your energy tariff, you can get a similar running cost estimate by using an online energy calculator, like Sust-It.

Bear in mind that’s it’ll only cost that much if it’s on full power. The only way to tell exactly how much power it’s using is to plug it into a smart plug with energy monitoring capabilities. You can see some of the best in our smart plugs round-up.

Still, if you use the Govee’s auto and scheduling features, it’ll help you keep an eye on your energy use.

It’s quiet in use as well. In low mode, it’s virtually silent but even in high mode, it’s not very noisy at all.

Price & Availability

The GoveeLife smart portable space heater is available in both the UK and the US – and it’s well priced.

If you’re in the UK, you can buy it from Amazon for £59.99. But there is a slightly cheaper option. Govee also sells another version of the heater, which oscillates and has an inbuilt night light. You can buy this model from the Govee website for £48.99.

In the US, the model we tested is available for just £29.99 from Govee, which is excellent value.

Should you buy the GoveeLife smart portable space heater?

If you’re looking for a small and portable space heater, this GoveeLife model is a very good option: it’s compact, powerful and quiet. You’ll need to keep an eye on its power consumption but using the scheduling and auto features will help you to do this.

If this isn’t the right heater for you, have a look at our round-up of the best heaters we’ve tested for our top recommendations.

Specs

• 1500W
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled
• Dimensions: 15.2x15x2x29cm
• Weight: 1.65kg