Revillusion® 36" Built-in Firebox (Model: RBF36), 4435/6739/8786 BTU, 120/208/240 Volt, 1375/1975/2575 Watt, Herringbone

Very good heat output, Outstanding best in class flame effect, the remote is just good, really needs the glass front to complete the overall look. Without the glass front this electric fireplace just doesn't look right, but with the glass front on it combined with the outstanding flame effect this is easily a 5 star fireplace. When it was first installed I found myself worrying that items were to close the "flames". ( I have since gotten over it) We tend to turn this on in the AM and let it run all day, it really adds a nice ambiance to the room. During the day it looks good (the attached pictures were taken during the day), but at night is when it really shines. I saw reviews complaining about the "color being to green" and the "lights being visible", well the colors can be changed or completely turned off along with the lights. Our install is fairly high off the floor and we really don't have any issues with either. You have to get up fairly close to the fire place before the flame effect becomes noticeably fake, we have had several complements on our "gas" fireplace. The heater does make some noise when blowing, but compared to several other electric fireplaces I would say the sound level is about average, maybe a little louder. The remote control for this fireplace is just okay, we mostly use it turn the fireplace on/off and don't play with the colors to much. There is a color cycle mode that we just let do it's own thing. The log set is about as convincing as a decent log set for a gas fireplace. One major complaint we have is that the temperature sensor is placed poorly and does not register the temperature of the room at all. In fact as the fireplace heater runs, the temp sensor slowly warms up and shuts of the heater, it cools off and starts heating again, and just keeps cycling like that. Its very annoying, in the end we turned the heat up to the max and just let it run, this has actually worked out fairly well. The heat has a "high" and "low" setting but the blower only runs at once constant speed. We connected this up to 240v for the extra heat, and it is capable of heating our main living area all by itself, so the power of the heater is very good. Overall we love it, the heat issue is a minor annoyance, highly recommended.

I needed to replace an old 1983 Vermont Castings wood fireplace, I wanted a 240v unit to optimize heat output. The Ceramic heating element on this unit is very efficient and puts out a good amount of heat with relatively low amperage at 240v (twice as much heat at less cost than with 120v). Note I did have to knock out some bricks because this unit is deep and square and my opening was rectangular but it was worth the effort. Overall we are very happy with it. The flames look almost real, the settings are all we would ever use and the heat output (with 240v) is impressive for an electric (it is also very easy to wire). The one thing I would like to see improved is the quality of the remote control. It is toy grade plastic and the battery installation is very difficult to line up properly while closing the door and installing a screw. I had to hold the battery down with a small thin pocket knife while turning the screw in with my other hand at the same time. Thankfully if the remote should ever die there is a full control panel in the front of the fireplace. I needed the large surround to cover my repair work on the opening which makes the fireplace look even bigger which we like.

First of all, we did not buy this for it's heat output. We live in Houston, TX and in our old house (gas fire logs) only use the fireplace once or twice a year. We built a new house, love the fireplace look and wanted it for its aesthetics. I didn't install it so I can't comment on the ease but I would imagine its pretty easy. I did however install the not included double-doors (super easy). Pros: -Looks great (especially at a distance) -Flame looks great -Tested heat output (240V) and seems to be good Cons: -Up close, some of the aesthetics start to fall apart. I didn't realize this ahead of time but the herringbone pattern brick on the sides and back is just a picture of bricks. I didn't expect it to be real brick veneers but I at least expected them to be similar to the floor of the fire pit, which is some sort of plastic mold in the shape of bricks. When you are close up, it is VERY apparent that it is just a picture with not sort of depth to it. -A front glass is almost required. Before I put on the double glass doors, I really didn't care for the look. I'm fine with the double doors being an upgrade but the base system should at least include the single glass front. -The fan is quite loud. Again we have the 240V installation which I believe is louder than the 120V installation. This doesn't really affect us since we won't be using the heater very often but IF we did, this may bother me. However, I don't believe it is much louder than the gas logs in our old house (gas flow noise). Overall I'm happy with the purchase because I believe it is the best looking (traditional looking) electric fireplace on the market. However with a $2,000+...$2,500 after the double doors, I would expect some of the smaller details to be better quality.

Others have described how great it looks. It does. But is it reliable? The answer is yes. I've had the 30 inch Revillusion for over 3 years. It's used for about three hours daily with no problems. I use the Magicteam Sound Machine (which is sold on Amazon) for the crackling fire sound. It is better than the crackle machines in that it doesn't require batteries , doesn't have a tinny sound and costs less. It plugs in and can run all day if you like. Also, the sound can be adjusted from low to very high by holding the + or - button to find the level you like. I select "bonfire" and play it low and it sounds like a fireplace fire. It has twenty sounds to choose from in case you'd like other sounds to accompany the fire. This is the best electric fireplace on the market. Combined with the sound machine it's perfect.

THIS UNIT IS MENT TO LOOK 3D AND EVERYTHING IS CHEAP PLASTIC ALL OF THE LOGS ARE OUTSIDE THE GLASS AND ITS CUT IN HALF. The brick edges are made of a hard foam and are held in place by cheap magnets, we had to take the whole thing apart to re glue them because they where falling off.

Trying to create a real fireplace can be very difficult with electric only. So overall we are OK with the Revillusion. But I think at this price of over $2.5 K it falls short. If we had to do it again we would have just got one of the cheap $300 - $500 dollar ones at a local box store they seem almost as well built for far less money!!! Some issues: 1) It isn't as realistic as it seems. The fire is based on a reflection on a plastic screen in the back. We find that in lighted rooms or if daylight enters the room thru windows, you can also see room reflections on the clear plexiglass like screen behind the fire. We added a fireplace black screen in front and painted the margins of the plexiglass with more frosted black spray paint to hide those reflections, and this helped some. But it is not easy to remove the plastic screen and plexiglass to do it, so if it ever gets dusty or scratched it will also affect the reflection of the fire. 2) The Fan is noisy. About as load as a kitchen range hood running. You would think for the price they would have quieter EC motors and sound proofing. You can hear it somewhat in the attached video. 3) Why don't they have a built in little speaker and fire burning sound. They sell devices separate that actually make realistic sounds of fire burning but they need to be turned on separately and are hard to hide in the fire without seeing a power cord etc. If placed off to the side you can tell the sound is not coming from the fireplace. Again for the price of $2.5 K and today's modern electronics it would be a very simple add! 4) The remote and digital display. The remote as worked so far but is cheaply made. The digital display on the fireplace is very noticeable and gives away that the fire insert is not real. No real fireplace would have a digital display just above the fire. It would be nice to have a cover or ability to turn it off when not needed or better a remote with a display to indicate the settings. 5)The logs are also cheap - Ours arrived with 2 off them fractured in half. We were able to glue them up or hide the cracks with real wood sticks, but again for the price you would expect more. Overall it is OK but we find ourselves seldom using the heater unless we are not in the room due to the fan noise. We did our best to mask the flaws by building it into a real stone hearth (See Photo), making some of the changes above, and even adding real wood that was burned in a fire in front of the fake logs and behind the plexiglass. But overall for a pricey American made product it fell short for us.

This is the most realistic electric fireplace I've seen. It was very beautiful. The blue light option beneath the flames fools the eyes into believing that these are real flames. The open design is stunning and realistic. And the pre-set backlighting moods are ideal for different daytime / nighttime experiences. I love the thermostat, and the timer. I am so happy to I took a chance on this new product. Installation was easier than I thought it would be. I added a little support to the previous build-up I had for my old electric fireplace. This secured the new fireplace precisely. And there are tabs of metal to the side of the fireplace, which enabled me to secure it to the frame with screws. I brought in an electrician to hard-wire the unit, but ended up giving it a dedicated electrical set up for the 15 watts. The rim of the fireplace allowed me to slip 1/2 wide molding beneath it. I then built the remaining molding around that initial frame. As to operating the unit with the remote, it's entirely self-explanatory, though I did read the manual once. All the icons are pictures, which make it easy to remember what each button does. As soon as the electrical set up was done, I just pressed the one button and the unit came on. It was that easy. I'm including a picture, but it does not do the beautiful of the flames much justice.

I dropped the remote about 12 inches onto the table and it broke and is not repairable. Dimplex said they are sending me a new one, but it's been several months, but they still say they will be sending one. Otherwise, this is very real looking. I added the solid glass front door to keep things out of it, and a timer on the wall switch so it doesn't get left on and forgotten about. SO much easier than wood and ash and smoke.