Coleman Powermate 12V Ceramic Heater

I purchased the Coleman Ceramic Heater due to a problem with my car which doesn't allow us to use the heat or defrost. I was very disappointed when I plugged in the product and no heat was given off at all, just a weak stream of cool air. I figured initially that the car must need to be warmed up but unfortunately, the heat was not affected by the engine warming up at all. Neither levels of airflow produced heat. I suppose there is a chance that we received a faulty product or there was a problem with our cigarette lighter (although it definitely had power). I hope you have a better experience with this product. I was pleased with the speed in which AutoBarn returned our money, even if we did lose a good portion of the return for shipping costs.

All right -- there are two settings, one for fan (air only) and one for heat. I tried both. Results about the same. A tiny bit of heat on the "heat" setting -- enough to warm a toe or two.Back it goes. Coleman? Don't these folks know how to test their products anymore? Just because it's made in China doesn't mean it works.

It feels more durable than my last one. The stand feels like it will last. It is not nearly as hot though. I can clear only about a 1 foot of winshield on moist days and nights and cannot feel the heat more than 3 imches away.

Like the other users that have commented here, I was initially very disappointed. However, as I was grumbling and about to throw away the user guide, I decided to (gasp!) read it. Turns out the on/off switch is a 3 position switch, marked with 3 symbols: A Roman numeral I, A Roman numeral II, and a 0 (Zero). So, I thought that zero was OFF, and number I would be LOW and number II would be HIGH. Turns out that number I is AIR ONLY and number II is AIR + HEAT. After trying it out on II, it was nice to discover a decent amount of heat coming out. I installed 3 of them on my daughter's Blazer, since there are three large pieces of rear glass that are always fogging up, and these 3 units perfom pretty well. Not hot enough to pose a fire hazard, but warm enough that after 5 minutes of operation, there is about a two foot circle of clear glass, and here in Alaska, that isn't too shabby.

I got one used today, I'm happy enough for the price I paid (about $1) - it does give off heat, I'm up in Canada and even today it was chilly. It also works as a fan, it isn't perfect but I only used it for about 3 minutes and within about 10 seconds of startup it was giving off warm air and within 30 it was hot air. As a fan it also worked, the coil cooled down and the air it gave off was quite cool.Not perfect, but worth it, I know what the other reviews say but the one I got does work.

Calling this thing a heater may fringe on false advertising. The only way to get heat out of this unit would be to light it on fire.Coleman, let this product die or fix it.