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List Price: $299.99
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It looks amazingly like a real wood fire in our fireplace. It's easy to install, as long as your fire box is big enough, and you have a nearby electrical outlet. This "deluxe" model DFI2310 differs from the standard model DFI2309 by having a larger, brighter, even more realistic flame, for a somewhat higher price. The heaters can be turned off completely, for when it's warm, but you want that cozy fireplace ambiance.
On the "needs improvement" end, the remote control only turns the insert on and off; it does not control the optional heating elements, which can only be turned on or off at the unit itself. Mine arrived with all switches "on" so I got heat as soon as it was plugged in. It would be better to ship with all switches set to "off."
Also, there's no crackle or pop sound, so if wood fire sounds are important to you, this is not the electrical insert for you. However, if crackles and pops aren't that important to you, and you're looking for a very realistic looking, reasonably-priced unit with heating options, this is one well worth considering.
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I'm writing this review because of how helpful I found other reviews before buying this fireplace. I did my homework, reading some 150+ reviews and watching Youtube videos of people's Dimplex fireplaces, before deciding on this model and it paid off! This is probably the best electric fireplace out there for the money (if there's a better one I can't afford it anyway!) I very happy with it and everyone who comes to my house thinks it looks very real (they all knew I bought a fake one so I'm still waiting to "fool" someone who doesn't know!) CSN (the company that provides the fireplace) has the BEST customer service dept to call. Whenever I called, I got someone different and they were ALL very nice and helpful.
The fireplace flames look as real as you can get, so real sometimes you think you hear crackling! It does make a slight whirring kind of sound (motor?) but you can only hear it in a quiet room (no TV, etc) and only if you're really listening for it. But it is an electric product so I guess you can expect SOME kind of sound to come from it! Like I said, it's very faint.
Overall, I'm very pleased. I used to use about 10 candles in my fake fireplace and always worried I'd start the house on fire and had to deal with dripping, etc. so it's nice not to have that worry anymore! The logs look very realistic (this model has the ceramic logs, not the styrofoam ones) and I don't know how they do it but it's pretty cool the way they make the flames (there's nothing you can "stick your hand in to see if it's real", it's done with a mirror somehow). Plus, don't be put off by other reviews that say they don't like the "half moon" effect on the background. I was worried about that but when I got it, it looked perfectly realistic to me! I've tried the heater to make sure it works, but it's still hot in Florida so I won't be using it for a while! It seems to work great, I just can't tell you how well it heats up a room at this point because it's not cold outside! I had no problem with the cord but then my outlet is next to my fireplace.
I checked out the fireplaces at the home stores and their flames looked so fakey compared to this one's and they were the same price or more. So trust me, I did my homework and researched to get the best at the best price, so you can trust my review!
1/12/11 update: I've had this fireplace for a few months now and absolutely love it! Everyone who comes over thinks its real! As for the heat, well, it's been pretty cold here in Florida and I have to say, you really can only feel the heat if you're standing right in front of the fireplace! It may "warm" the room up a bit, but if you're sitting on the floor in the room you can't really feel it blowing on you. It sort of blows up and out instead of directly forward and I don't know if this makes a difference or not. It's still a heat source but I use my central heater (mostly because I just had to buy a new one last year and it works great) the majority of the time.
9/02/13 update! I STILL LOVE this fireplace!! It's incredibly realistic and fools a lot of people who come to visit! The bulbs finally burned out (after nearly three years of constant use) and we thought "Uh oh" what happened? Here comes the hard part!" But it turned out to be so easy to replace them just remove the front cover (below the logs) and reach in (carefully someone with small hands!) and replace the bulbs! Easy peasy! They take normal candlebra type bulbs. If you're thinking of getting one of these I can honestly tell you they are as close to the appearance of a real fire as you can get!
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For many years in the winter months, especially at Christmas time, I have made a real fire in our fireplace to get that cozy "focal point of the room" feel. Which is great, except for the work involved buying the firewood, trying to get the kindling to light, adding more wood when necessary, and of course the long and dirty cleanup the next day. What if I could click a button on a remote to obtain the same result, and then click a button to turn it off, with no cleaning ever required? Well now I can.
This insert is a perfect fit for my fireplace and is bright enough and visible even behind the glass and metal gauze doors. While the "flames" are not 100% realistic, they are extremely effective in getting the effect I was looking for. And it is a sheer joy to be able to turn the unit on and off with the small, simple remote as needed.
This insert also has the ability to generate heat, but I have never used it for this purpose. Note that the "heat" option cannot be activated via the remote control; it needs to be turned on through a switch on the unit itself. That is obviously not a problem for me as we have central heating to keep the house warm, and I use the fireplace strictly for ambiance. I actually prefer that the heat is more difficult to turn on as I would not want my children to do this accidentally.
Note that to avoid a trailing power cord you will need to do what I did and have an electrician wire an outlet into your fireplace.
Perfect cozy winter ambiance that I can turn on and off at the flick of a switch, and nothing to clean up, ever. What's not to love?
Honest reviews on Dimplex DFI2310 Electric Fireplace Deluxe 23-Inch Insert, Black
Our fireplace insert arrived quickly w/o any damage. Thank you Amazon. We had no problem installing the insert & getting it running. We were surprised, however, to discover that the "remote" does nothing more than switch it on & off. The description needs to inform potential customers that switching on the heat, or changing the heat level, requires reaching inside the fireplace to work the manual switches located inconveniently at the upper right corner. We were also surprised that there is no thermostat to maintain a desired room temperature! It's my fault for not reading the description more closely, but I really expected a thermostat because that is a feature found on even cheap electric heaters. Dimplex dropped the ball here. In spite of those two disappointments, this unit is worth four stars for quality construction, easy installation, quiet operation, and realistic appearance of the log set & flames.
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I spent quite a bit of time researching different models on different sites. This is the best product for the price and Amazon has it for less than other online stores. I rely on the customer reviews for information regarding the quality and usefulness of products. The reviews were accurate, considering each reviewer has a different room size and climate, etc. I live in New England and haven't been a fan of burning wood since we moved into an old home in a remote location. Our home has an antique Franklin stove and a fireplace but I worry about fires and prefer not to take chances. After admiring a friend's wood stove look electric heater, I decided it would be wonderful to have an electric insert for our fireplace, which has been nothing but a large and very dark space in what should be a focal point. It took less than 10 minutes for my husband to open the box, remove the unit from the box, place it in the fireplace and plug it in. The remote needed to be synchronized with the unit but it's simple, takes about 10 seconds and the directions are in the manual. Our room is closer to 500 square feet and we keep the oil furnace thermostat in that zone at 60. We turned the unit on at high heat, found the fire look to be just fine and the temperature in the room was 70 degrees by the end of our movie viewing. We are very pleased with the product and would recommend it to anyone who has to think about budget. There are units out there for $500 and up to $1000 but I can't imagine that they would heat my room any better.
12/2011 We've had the unit for a year now and it continues to work beautifully. The one thing we need to do is have the electrician come and establish a dedicated plug/circuit breaker just for the Dimplex unit. If we have on all the lights in the room, as well as the CD player and the Dimplex, the circuit breaker trips and we're sitting in the dark. We recently ordered a Duraflame electric log set for our Franklin stove and it should arrive today or tomorrow. I can't wait to plug it in. If Dimplex made the size we needed, I would have happily ordered a Dimplex.
