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.
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.
Buy Dimplex DFI2310 Electric Fireplace Deluxe 23-Inch Insert, Black Now
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?
Read Best Reviews of Dimplex DFI2310 Electric Fireplace Deluxe 23-Inch Insert, Black Here
We rent a craftman style house with a wood burning fireplace. However, we cannot use the fireplace since it creates a lot of smoke, not only outside but also inside.
The quick solution was to purchase this Dimplex Deluxe insert. I've done quite a bit of reviewing and ended up with buying this one. The use of LED lights instead of incandescent light bulbs was a deal breaker.
However, when I read the manual after having the insert installed in the fireplace, I noticed that this insert is also powered with incandescent light bulbs. Two 60 Watt candelabra type light bulbs. That's a total of 120 Watts, without the heat setting on.
Otherwise I would have given this product 5 stars.
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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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My family just loves this little machine. The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is because it doesn't hold a lot of hot dogs at once. But it cooks delicious hot dogs in a few minutes and they taste like the ones at the hot dog stand. We have not used the bun warmer function but this is one terrific little hot dog cooker. Another Plus is that hubby and kids like to stand and watch the hot dogs twirl around. But on the practical side, it's zip to clean, heats up and cooks quickly and doesn't take up a lot of space. A good buy.
