LegendFlame 23" Nora Electric Log Set Review: a simple way to bring a dead fireplace back to life

I picked up the LegendFlame 23" Nora electric fireplace log set because I was tired of having a dead, decorative-only fireplace in my living room. I didn’t want to deal with chimney cleaning, carbon monoxide alarms, or hauling wood. I just wanted something that looked close enough to a real fire, threw a bit of heat, and turned on with a remote. That was the whole brief. No Pinterest-level makeover, just basic comfort and ambience.

After a few weeks of use, I can say this: it’s not perfect, but it does exactly what I bought it for. It makes the room feel warmer and more lived-in, both literally and visually. The flames are fake, obviously, but once you’re sitting on the couch with the lights dimmed, you stop thinking about that. It’s more convincing than most cheap electric fireplaces I’ve seen in rentals or hotel lobbies.

In daily use, the main thing I noticed is how low-effort it is. I come home, hit the remote, and that’s it. No ashes, no smoke smell, no cracked window for ventilation. The heater is basically like a mid-range space heater that just happens to look like burning logs. If you expect it to replace a full heating system, you’ll be disappointed, but for a 300–400 sq ft living room it adds a nice bump in temperature.

If you’re wondering whether this is just another gimmicky electric fire with cheesy effects, I’d say it’s a step above that. It’s not luxury gear, the materials are fairly simple, but the combination of the resin logs, ember bed, flame projection, and crackling sound gets the job done for cozy evenings. The Amazon rating around 4.7/5 is pretty much in line with my experience, with a few caveats I’ll get into below.

Price-wise, the LegendFlame Nora 23" sits in the mid-range for electric log inserts. It’s not the cheapest plastic unit you’ll find, but it’s also far from the top of the line with glass fronts and fancy multi-color flame modes. For what you pay, you’re getting a realistic-enough flame effect, a 1500W heater, crackling sound, and a remote. Compared to buying and installing a gas insert or repairing a chimney for real wood burning, it’s obviously much cheaper and requires almost no installation cost.

Compared to a plain space heater, yes, you’re paying extra for the visuals. A basic 1500W heater is cheaper, and if all you care about is pure heat output per dollar, just buy a regular heater. But the whole point of this thing is the ambience and the fact it turns a dead fireplace into a usable feature. On that front, I think the price is fair. It looks better than a lot of budget electric fireplaces I’ve seen and doesn’t feel like a novelty item that you’ll hate after a month.

There are some trade-offs. You don’t get a super advanced thermostat, no app control, and the sound effect is good but not perfect. The materials are decent but not luxury. Still, when you factor in the LED efficiency (flame effect without heat uses very little power) and the fact that you can use it year-round just for the look, it becomes a pretty solid piece of kit for the money. Running just the flames in the evening costs very little in electricity.

So my bottom line on value: if you want a realistic-looking fire, a bit of extra heat, and zero hassle with chimneys or gas lines, this offers good value. If you only care about maximum heat per dollar, or you want a fully built-in high-end electric fireplace with glass front and trim, then this will feel a bit basic. For most people with an unused fireplace who want it to feel alive again, the price-to-benefit ratio is pretty good.

Design-wise, the LegendFlame Nora goes for a classic log stack look. The logs are molded resin with a charred-wood style finish and an ember bed underneath. The fire effect comes from LEDs and a sort of projection that throws the “flames” up the back of your fireplace. When the room lights are on full, you can tell it’s artificial, but once you dim things a bit or it’s evening, it starts to look reasonably close to real glowing logs with flames behind them.

The flame height and brightness are adjustable, and that helps a lot. I ended up turning the brightness down a notch because at max it looks a bit too clean and bright for a real fire. Set slightly lower, the effect is more believable. The fake embers have a decent depth to them; they’re not just a flat orange strip. If you put a fireplace screen in front, it hides the hard edges and makes the whole thing look more natural. A lot of reviewers did the same, and I’d say it’s worth it.

One design detail I liked is that the flames are projected onto whatever surface is behind the unit. If your firebox has real brick, it looks better, because the texture of the brick breaks up the light and makes it feel more like real flames licking the back wall. In my case, the brick is dark with some lighter patches, and the effect looks pretty good. If your firebox is plain and bright, you might consider hitting it with dark, heat-resistant paint to get a nicer backdrop, like one reviewer mentioned.

From a practical standpoint, the controls are straightforward: power, heat settings, flame adjustment, and sound control (for the crackling). Nothing fancy, no app, no smart-home nonsense. The unit color is listed as "Blace" (typo for black, obviously), and it basically disappears visually inside a dark fireplace, which is what you want. It’s not high-end decor, but for a simple fake fire that looks decent from a few feet away, the design is pretty solid.

The unit itself is corded electric, so no batteries there, but the remote control uses a CR2032 button cell, and it’s included and pre-installed. That’s one of those small details that you don’t think about until you’re tearing your house apart looking for a spare battery. Here, you just pull the tab and you’re good to go. I’ve been using it regularly for a few weeks and haven’t seen any sign of the battery draining quickly.

The remote is basic but practical. You can control power, flame intensity, heat settings, and the crackling sound. The range is decent; I can sit across the room (about 12–15 feet) and it responds without issue as long as I’m roughly pointed at the unit. It’s infrared, so it’s line-of-sight, not radio, but that’s normal. The buttons are clearly labeled, nothing fancy, but you don’t really need more. I mostly use it to switch between flame-only mode and flame+heat mode without getting off the couch.

One small downside is that there’s no display on the remote for temperature. The heater has an internal thermostat, but you don’t see an exact number on either the unit or the remote. You just set it more or less by feel and, if you care, use a separate room thermometer like one reviewer did. It’s not a huge deal, but if you’re used to precise digital thermostats, this will feel a bit basic.

Day to day, the remote and battery situation is mostly a non-issue, which is kind of the point. It just works. The only thing to watch is where you store the remote – it’s small and easy to lose in couch cushions. As for conflicts with other remotes, I didn’t run into it, but at least one reviewer mentioned interference with their TV soundbar when turning the fireplace on. So if you notice weird behavior with your audio gear, it might be worth re-positioning devices or checking if the IR signals are clashing.

The materials on the LegendFlame Nora are pretty much what you’d expect at this price: metal body, resin logs, plastic trim in a few places. The outer shell feels reasonably sturdy; you can move it around without feeling like it’s going to bend or crack. At a bit over 17 pounds, it has enough weight that it sits solidly in the fireplace opening and doesn’t feel flimsy.

The resin logs look good from normal viewing distance. Up close, you can obviously see they’re molded, but the texture and paint job do a decent job of mimicking charred wood. The ember bed underneath is also plastic with embedded LEDs, but again, it’s convincing enough when lit. You’re not touching any of this during normal use, so the main question is how it looks, and visually it’s quite acceptable for a living-room setup.

The back panel that reflects the flames is lighter and feels more like a budget part, but it does its job. I wouldn’t go banging on it or leaning things against it, but once it’s sitting in your fireplace, you’ll probably never touch it again. The powder-coated finish on the visible metal parts is fine – no chips or scratches out of the box for me. It disappears into the dark background, which is what you want anyway.

Overall, the materials are functional and in line with the price. If you’re expecting heavy cast iron or high-end glass panels, this isn’t that. But it doesn’t feel like cheap toy plastic either. It’s somewhere in the middle: practical, reasonably solid, and clearly designed for indoor, stationary use. With normal handling and not kicking it around, I don’t see any obvious weak point that would fail quickly.

I haven’t owned this for years, obviously, but based on the build and the way it operates, I have a decent sense of how it should hold up. There are no moving parts exposed other than the internal fan, and that’s standard on any heater. The rest is LEDs, a control board, the speaker for the crackling sound, and the resin/metal housing. LEDs tend to last a long time, and with a 1500W max draw on a standard 120V line, it’s not pushing crazy power levels that would stress the components too hard.

In continuous use over several evenings a week, running 2–4 hours at a time, I haven’t noticed any weird smells, flickering, or rattling. The fan noise has stayed consistent, and the logs and ember bed haven’t discolored or warped. The outside of the unit doesn’t get dangerously hot; the heater output is directed forward, and the body stays warm but not burn-level hot, which is reassuring if you’ve got kids or pets wandering around. Obviously, you still shouldn’t block the vents or pile things on top.

The product is CSA certified and comes with a one-year limited warranty. That’s not a lifetime guarantee, but for this type of appliance it’s fairly standard. The Amazon rating is high (around 4.7/5 with over a thousand reviews), and scrolling through, I didn’t see a ton of complaints about early failures or parts breaking. Most issues seem to be minor things like sound preference or remote interference, not the unit dying after a month.

My honest take: it feels like something that will comfortably last several winters of regular use if you treat it like an appliance and not a piece of outdoor gear. Don’t drag it around by the cord, don’t block the vents, and don’t run it 24/7 on high and you should be fine. It’s not industrial-grade, but for a living-room heater and ambience piece, the durability seems reasonable.

In terms of performance, you basically get two things: visual ambience and moderate heat. For the visual side, the flame effect is LED-based and actually better than many cheap electric fireplaces I’ve seen. The flames have a bit of movement and randomness, and combined with the ember bed they give a convincing overall impression. You’re not going to fool anyone standing right next to it, but from the couch it feels like a real fire is going in the background.

The heater is rated at 750W / 1500W, which is pretty standard for these units. On high, it’s roughly like running a decent space heater. It’s officially listed to heat up to around 400 sq ft. In my case, in a roughly 350 sq ft living room with average insulation, it takes the edge off on a chilly evening. It will not replace central heating in the middle of winter, but it definitely makes the room feel cozier. Some users claimed they heat 700 sq ft with it; I’d say that’s optimistic unless your place is very well insulated and you’re okay with a mild temperature bump.

The crackling sound is a bit of a mixed bag. On lower volume, it does add something; you get that soft fireplace background noise. On higher settings, it can sound a little tinny or artificial, like a recording played through a small speaker (which it is). I ended up keeping it on low or sometimes muting it completely when watching TV. It’s nice to have the option, but don’t expect it to perfectly copy the sound of real logs popping.

Noise from the heater fan is noticeable but not crazy. On high heat, you do hear a fan blowing air, about on par with a typical electric space heater. If you’re watching TV, you’ll need to turn the volume up a bit, but it’s not overwhelming. One reviewer mentioned interference with a TV soundbar when turning it on – I didn’t hit that issue, but it’s something to keep in mind if your gear is all crammed together and using similar remote frequencies. Overall, for what it is, the performance is pretty solid: good ambience, decent heat, manageable noise, and very low effort to use.

Out of the box, the LegendFlame Nora 23" is basically a self-contained electric fire: a metal base with built-in heater and electronics, molded resin logs on top, a reflective back panel for the flame effect, and a small remote. There’s no fancy surround or mantel; it’s just the log set meant to sit inside your existing fireplace opening or a cabinet. Dimensions are roughly 23" wide, 20" high, and about 9.5–10" deep, so it fits most standard fireplaces but might look small in a very wide opening.

Installation is about as simple as it gets: you literally place it in the opening, make sure it’s stable, and plug it into a standard 120V outlet. No venting, no hardwiring, nothing to screw into the wall. In my case, from cutting open the box to having fake flames running took maybe 10–15 minutes, including peeling off the protective plastic. The only thing you really need to think about is where the cord will run and whether you want it going straight to the wall or through a surge protector.

The package includes the unit, the remote control, and a CR2032 battery already installed in the remote. There’s a basic manual that explains the different flame and heat settings. It’s not the most detailed booklet in the world, but it’s enough to get everything working. There’s no assembly of parts or screws to deal with. Compared to gas log kits or wood-burning setups, this is almost laughably simple.

Overall, the first impression is that this is a practical, medium-priced electric insert. It’s not heavy-duty cast-iron stove territory, but at a bit over 17 pounds it feels reasonably solid and not like hollow plastic junk. If you’re expecting fancy trim pieces or a glass front, that’s not what this product is. It’s a bare log set that is meant to sit behind your existing fireplace screen or inside a cavity and just simulate a fire with minimal setup.