One of the nicest features of spring: warm, sunny days followed by cool, crisp evenings. One of the nastiest features of spring if you like to entertain and eat outdoors: warm, sunny days followed by cool, crisp evenings.

An outdoor patio heater--perhaps one of the three we tested--can help take the chill off those evenings. The heaters worked as promised.

We looked at two large heaters: the Coleman Back Home 5040-750 (now the 5040A-750), $500, and the Endless Summer 230000, $400. We also tested the Endless Summer 90000, $150, a tabletop model. All are fueled by propane. The floor heaters use a 20-pound tank like those for gas grills. The tabletop heater uses a small, disposable tank, but it can be
connected to a 20-pound tank.

Like sunlight streaming through a window, these heaters warm objects directly, without heating the surrounding air. In relatively mild (65º F) temperatures and no wind, we found, the big heaters could warm people in a circle about 20 feet in diameter; the tabletop heater, an 8-foot circle. But when the temperature dropped to 55º or the wind picked up, heating ability dropped substantially. A 20-pound propane tank should last about 10 hours with the large heaters; the tabletop heater should run for about 1½ hours on a 1-pound tank, 30 hours with a 20-pound tank. Lighting the heaters is similar to lighting a water heater.

These heaters have no real drawbacks, aside from their size and weight. The floor heaters are 8 feet tall and weigh more than 80 pounds, so they can be a chore to move. The latest version of the Coleman and other models on the market have wheels--a very desirable extra. The tabletop heater stands about 4 feet high and weighs less than 20 pounds.