It gets nice and hot quickly. I feel the cold easily and needed something substantial to make me warm enough to sit outside when it’s not hot and sunny. We used it for the first time and I certainly wasn’t disappointed and haven’t been since. I was actually a bit too warm at one point! Not complaining. It was chilly and normally I wouldn’t have been able to stay out for long but we sat out for hours. When my friend found out that we’d been sat out on this particular night for the length of time we did, she actually commented that must be a powerful heater you’ve got. You can turn it down with the remote control, the remote has to be facing the panel at the bottom of the heater in order to work, but it does the job. It isn’t the cheapest, but it certainly does the job you buy it for.