Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We have a rather large unused fireplace that's about five feet wide. We were looking for something to use to make the fireplace more central to the room so we eagerly snapped this up. First of all, keep in mind that all heaters have a limit of 1500 watts. There several different types of heaters that do different things. For example, concentrated heat that's quite intense but narrowly focused. Radiant heat that's not super hot, but will maintain temperature in a small room. And general low heat blowers. These are not the technical terms for heater types, just a general description of what electric heaters do. In any case, the Duraflame is of the low heat blower type. It won't heat up a room super fast, but it will get a small room warm within say a half hour. This makes it neither bad nor good. The fact is, manufacturers have been making ridiculous claims about electric heaters and it seems like the public has taken the bait, hook, line and sinker. Most heaters throw off the same amount of heat, it's just a question of the degree it's radiated or blown. So with that in mind, the Duraflame is just fine. Now with that out of the way, the pros, cons and neutrals: Pros: The back of the heater throws off a random light of glowing flame. The farther away it is from the back of your fireplace, the wider the area this light covers. Since have a huge fireplace we placed the Duraflame closer to the front of the fireplace. This expanded the flame to cover more of the space behind the heater which is exactly what we needed. So this creates some versatility in terms of how large your fireplace is. I've used a Dimplex in the past and this has a more realistic flame. Without a question. Buttons on the side. Other reviewers have this as a negative, but I strongly disagree. Why would you want visible buttons on the front? You want them hidden. It would be ugly on the front and ruin what little ambiance this heater offers. Neutral: While I think this is better than the Dimplex, it's still not like a real fire. The blower kills the mood unless you have other noises in the room. The problem is that there needs to be a crackling sound of a real fire to cover the blower noise. Otherwise, at least when you're using the heater, you know you're using a heater. That being said, I've yet to personally witness a heater that actually didn't give itself away with a blower noise. Maybe it's available with a far more expensive fireplace log heater, I don't know. Price. Personally, I think ALL these $100+ heaters are overpriced. You're going to get the same level of heat from a $50 heater. Don't buy this for the level of heat. You buy this because it looks like a fireplace fire. Six foot cord. Short, so buy an extension. Not a big deal. Cons: Controls. The remote control works fine, but the buttons on the side have seemed erratic at best. I've been able to easily control the Duraflame with the remote. The side buttons, not so much. Some of the options are overkill. There are five settings for the flames when maybe two is all you need. Overly complicates setting it up. I'm giving the Duraflame four stars because I'm not aware of any heater in this price range that does everything I want. It's good for what it is. I suspect if you want something better you'll need to pay a lot more.