Martin Lewis praised winter gadget at Lidl ignites fury as experts warn cheap fixes could backfire on struggling households

The first thing you notice is the hum. A low, almost comforting purr rising from the plug socket, drowning out the winter silence that presses against the windows. The second is the warmth. Not a blazing, radiator-on-full kind of heat, but a pocket of gentle, local comfort – a small island of “just about cosy” in a cold rented flat. You can imagine it, can’t you? You, hunched at a desk, wrapped in an old hoodie, fingers hovering over a tiny electric heater or plug-in mat you picked up from the middle aisle at Lidl, because Martin Lewis said it might help you “heat the human, not the home.”

Outside, the streetlights glow a dim orange through the drizzle. Inside, the smart meter glows an angry red. Somewhere between those two lights – one gently hopeful, one quietly accusatory – lies the story of a winter gadget, a praise from Britain’s most trusted money guru, and a storm of frustration from experts who see a darker side to cheap fixes.

The Allure of the Middle Aisle Miracle

There’s something deeply emotional about the middle aisle in a discount supermarket when the clocks go back. You walk past the fruit and veg, the baked beans and budget bread, and then – bam – there it is. A forest of cardboard boxes stacked under fluorescent lights: heated blankets, plug-in heaters, portable radiators, furry hot water bottles with ears. You run your thumb over the price label: £19.99. Or £14.99. Maybe even £9.99.

In a world where the gas bill reads like a minor disaster, that number feels like hope.

So when Martin Lewis – the man who has become a kind of secular winter saint for millions of households – praises a low-cost gadget at Lidl that promises to keep you warm without heating the whole house, it doesn’t land as just another product mention. It lands as permission. As reassurance. If he says it’s worth a look, it must be safe, it must be smart, it must be the kind of hack that nudges you just a little further away from choosing between “heating and eating.”

But warmth, like money, is never just about numbers. It’s about context. It’s about habits, homes, and the quirks of the wiring behind walls you don’t own. And that’s where things start to get messy.

Applause, Anger, and the Thin Line Between Help and Harm

When the winter gadget at Lidl – a compact, low-wattage heating device praised for its efficiency – began circulating online with Martin Lewis’s nod of approval, social media felt like a crowded pub on a freezing night. Half the room cheered. The other half grabbed the mic and shouted over the music.

For many, the reaction was visceral: At last, something I can afford. People posted photos of their new heaters, little glowing cubes tucked under desks, small heated pads draped over knees while they watched the telly. Parents shared relief at being able to keep one room warm for homework time without cranking the boiler.

But energy experts, consumer safety groups, and those who have been watching the cost-of-living crisis unfold from a different vantage point saw a more complicated picture. Some warned that promoting “cheap gadgets” could backfire, especially for those already on the knife’s edge of fuel poverty: the pensioner turning off their main heating out of fear. The single parent overusing a device not designed to be the only source of heat. The old house with suspect sockets and flaky wiring.

One thread of anger wasn’t directed at the gadget itself, or even at Martin Lewis personally, but at the way we’ve normalised crisis management as consumer choice. Look how clever we’ve become, the narrative seems to run. We can survive unaffordable bills by shopping smarter. Yet behind the clever hacks is a sobering truth: no amount of clever shopping can fix a broken system of high prices, poor insulation, and leaky, badly maintained homes.

A Winter of Tiny Red Lights

To really feel what’s happening, imagine walking through a typical British street on a January evening. Inside, radiators are turned down or turned off altogether. Blankets are stacked like soft fortresses on sofas. And in corners, on bedside tables, under desks, a constellation of tiny red lights glows from dozens of low-wattage gadgets.

Each one seems so harmless, even sensible. A 200-watt heater here. A 60-watt heated throw there. A 50-watt foot warmer tucked under the desk. On paper, that’s far less than a 2,000-watt fan heater or an entire central heating system. It aligns with the mantra: heat the human, not the home.

But this is where experts raise their eyebrows. Because numbers don’t live on paper; they live in behaviour. A device that is cheap to run per hour might become expensive when it’s used all day, every day. A heater safe in one corner of a modern flat might be a hazard next to an overloaded extension lead in a cluttered bedsit with old wiring.

The problem isn’t the existence of cheap gadgets; it’s the myth of them as silver bullets.

The Quiet Warnings: When “Cheap” Becomes Costly

Experts aren’t against staying warm. They’re not waging war on heated throws or plug-in heaters. What they fear is the way desperation can bend common sense, and how a seal of approval – especially from someone as trusted as Martin Lewis – can be interpreted as a blanket green light.

Energy and safety specialists caution that not all homes are equal, and not all “savings” are the same. A gadget that makes sense in a well-insulated semi with a decent boiler might be a terrible idea in a damp flat with mould creeping up the walls. A small heater used for an hour in the evening is different from one that becomes a permanent stand-in for proper heating.

There’s also the subtle psychological trap: the illusion of control. When a household is given tools and hacks – buy this, switch that, wear this layer, plug in that – the burden shifts quietly from the system to the individual. If you’re cold, you must be doing winter wrong. If the bill still terrifies you, maybe you didn’t buy the right gadget, follow the right tip, or switch to the right tariff at the right time.

But you can’t hack your way out of structural problems: old housing stock, eye-watering tariffs, wages that haven’t kept pace. What you can do is try, and try again, until the trying itself becomes exhausting.

Running the Numbers: The Real Cost of Staying Warm

When the fury around the Lidl gadget flared, some of it came down to confusion around cost. “Cheap” is a slippery word. Is it cheap to buy, or cheap to run? Is it cheaper than the boiler, but more expensive than doing nothing at all? And how does “cheaper” feel when the margin is the difference between food and fuel?

To make sense of the tension, it helps to look at how small devices can stack up over time.

Gadget Type	Typical Power (Watts)	Cost for 4 Hours/Day*
Small plug-in heater	200 W	Approx. £0.30–£0.40 per day
Heated throw / blanket	60–100 W	Approx. £0.10–£0.20 per day
Fan heater	1,500–2,000 W	Approx. £1.00–£1.50 per day
Central heating (whole home)	Varies widely	Can be cheaper per person in a full household
*Estimates only. Actual costs depend on energy prices, settings, insulation, and usage.

On the surface, the Lidl-style gadget – a modest, low-watt heater – can look like an obvious winner. Used wisely, in short bursts, to warm one body rather than unused rooms, it can indeed save money against blasting central heating for a single person.

But extend that use to ten or twelve hours a day. Add a second gadget. Factor in an old property that never really warms through. Multiply that across weeks of icy weather. Watch the “cheap” line on the bill swell gently, then sharply.

It’s easy to see why some experts worry: in the absence of clear, nuanced guidance, a lifeline can morph into a slow leak.

Between Trust and Fear: The Martin Lewis Effect

Martin Lewis didn’t ask to become the conscience of winter, but that’s effectively what’s happened. When he speaks, people listen – not as they might to a polished advert, but as they might to an older cousin who’s seen it all and is quietly trying to steer them away from disaster.

That level of trust is both powerful and perilous. A single sentence of praise for a Lidl gadget, however carefully couched in caveats, can be stripped of context online. Screenshots of “Martin Lewis says this is a brilliant buy” travel faster than full explanations about when, how, and for whom it actually makes sense.

So the fury that ignites isn’t really about one man and one device. It’s about what his words represent in a winter where the safety net feels full of holes. It’s about the expectation that one trusted voice can protect millions from a complex set of risks: financial, physical, emotional. That’s an impossible task.

Yet his mantra – to heat the person, not the home – contains a kernel of wisdom that many experts still support, provided it’s wrapped in honesty: this is a last resort strategy, not a triumphant new normal. It is not an excuse for policy inaction. It is a survival technique in a landscape that should quite simply be kinder.

Living Carefully With Small Comforts

So where does that leave the person standing in Lidl, fingers cold despite their gloves, eyes drifting over the shelf of budget heaters? Should they put the box in the trolley or walk away?

The answer, frustratingly, is “it depends.” It depends on the house, the wiring, the budget, the hours it will be used, who else is at home, how draughty the windows are, whether there’s mould creeping behind the bed, whether the gas bill is already in arrears. It depends on how honestly the device is viewed: as an extra pair of woolly socks for the room, not a central heating replacement.

Some guidelines echo softly from those cautious voices:

• Use low-watt gadgets for short, targeted periods – like an hour at your desk or an evening on the sofa.
• Avoid plugging heaters into overloaded extension leads or daisy-chained adapters.
• Keep a wary eye on the smart meter – patterns matter more than one-off usage.
• If there are children, elderly relatives, or health conditions in the home, don’t let a gadget displace necessary background warmth.
• Remember that layering clothes, sealing draughts, and using curtains well can often shift the balance as much as another plug-in purchase.

At its best, that Lidl gadget can be a small act of self-preservation: a way to keep fingers moving on the keyboard, to let an evening conversation stretch on without numb toes. At its worst, misused and over-relied on, it can be a ticking worry buried in the next electricity bill, or a risk humming away unseen behind a sagging socket.

A Winter That Should Have Been Easier

In the end, the story of the praised Lidl gadget and the fury it sparked is not really about technology at all. It’s about a collective sense that winter has become something to battle, not simply endure. Homes that once felt like shelters are now calculators, every degree on the thermostat an equation in survival.

There is something profoundly unsettling about the fact that a small, humming plastic box can become a symbol of national conversation. That we argue ferociously over the “right” way to sit through a cold evening, while the larger questions – about housing quality, pricing fairness, long-term energy strategy – loom in the background like uninsulated walls.

Still, there is humanity in the details. In the neighbour who drops off an extra heated throw. In the friend who messages to say, “If you’re cold, come over tonight.” In the quiet, stubborn decision to find warmth in whatever way is possible, even if it means navigating the confusing world of winter gadgets and contested advice.

Somewhere tonight, a Lidl heater glows softly in a dim room. The person beside it scrolls through their phone, seeing Martin Lewis’s name, angry headlines, worried commentary, and threads full of strangers comparing kilowatt-hours. They tug the blanket a little tighter around their shoulders and listen to that low, buzzing hum.

What they deserve is not just a better gadget or a cleverer hack. They deserve a winter that doesn’t require heroics – or controversy – just to feel warm.

FAQ

Is a cheap plug-in heater from a supermarket actually safe?

Most heaters sold by major supermarkets must meet basic safety standards, but “safe” also depends on how and where you use them. Avoid overloaded extension leads, keep them away from flammable materials, and never leave them running unattended for long periods. If your home has old or suspect wiring, extra caution is essential.

Can small heaters really save money compared with central heating?

They can in certain situations. If you live alone or only use one room, a low-watt heater or heated throw used for short periods can be cheaper than heating the whole home. But running them for many hours a day, or relying on several gadgets at once, can quickly reduce or erase those savings.

Why are some experts critical of Martin Lewis praising these gadgets?

The criticism is less about him personally and more about the message people might take away. Experts worry that highlighting cheap gadgets can encourage risky over-reliance, distract from bigger issues like poor insulation and high energy prices, and make it seem as if individuals alone should “fix” a systemic crisis through shopping choices.

What’s the safest way to use a low-cost winter gadget?

Use it as a supplement, not a substitute, for essential background warmth. Limit use to specific times and spaces, check your sockets and extension leads, keep the device on a stable surface, and monitor your energy usage over a few weeks to see the real impact on your bill.

Are there low-cost ways to stay warm without buying gadgets?

Yes. Layering clothes, using thermal socks and hats indoors, blocking draughts with rolled-up towels or draught excluders, closing curtains at dusk, and rearranging furniture away from cold external walls can all help. These measures aren’t glamorous, but they complement or sometimes reduce the need for plug-in heating devices.