R.W.FLAME 50" Electric Fireplace Review: Slim heater that looks high-end without wrecking your budget

I picked up the R.W.FLAME 50" electric fireplace to replace a sad little space heater and add something that looked nicer under the TV. I’ve had it running almost daily for a few weeks now, both recessed in the wall and tested briefly wall-mounted before final install. I’m not an electrician or a contractor, just a regular homeowner who can follow a level and a stud finder. So this is coming from that angle, not a pro installer.

The first thing I noticed is that it doesn’t behave like those cheap electric fireplaces you see in rental cabins. The flames don’t look real-real, but they’re decent enough that after 10–15 minutes you stop overthinking it and your brain just files it under “cozy moving light.” Heat-wise, it’s more than a toy. It’s not going to replace your main heating in a big house, but in a normal living room or media room it does take the chill out quickly.

I’ve used it in two ways: flame-only for ambiance at night while watching TV, and with heat on cold mornings to avoid cranking the whole-house thermostat. I also pushed it a bit to see if it would trip the breaker or smell weird after long runs. Short version: it behaved fine, but there are a couple of things to watch, especially the circuit you plug it into and long heat sessions.

If you’re thinking about this as a mix of décor and extra heat, that’s exactly the lane it sits in. If you want something that looks like a real wood fireplace or you’re counting on it as your main heat source, I’d manage expectations. It’s a good-looking space heater with fake flames, not magic. With that in mind, here’s how it actually performed day to day.

In terms of value, I’d put this R.W.FLAME 50" in the good bang-for-buck category. It’s usually priced in the mid-range for electric fireplaces, and for that you get a slim profile, decent heat, and a lot of customization options. You can easily pay more for units that don’t actually look or perform much better. One of the reviewers mentioned they paid more a year ago than the current price, and I agree: at today’s typical price, it feels like a fair deal.

If you compare it to buying and running a gas fireplace or doing a full built-in with venting, this is obviously way cheaper and easier. You basically need a framed opening or a solid wall, a standard 120V outlet, and you’re off. No venting, no gas line, no inspections. The trade-off is that it’s still just an electric heater with fake flames, so you’re not getting that real fire look or the same heating power as gas. But for renters or people who don’t want to rip open half their house, it’s a practical compromise.

Running costs are what you’d expect for an electric heater: 1500W is like having a hair dryer on low running continuously. If your electricity is expensive and you blast this on high for hours every day, you’ll see it on your bill. Used as intended – a few hours here and there – it’s reasonable. I mostly use it to avoid turning up the central heat for the whole house when we’re only sitting in one room, and that trade actually feels smart, not wasteful.

So, is it the best thing on the market? No. But for the mix of looks, heat, and price, it’s pretty solid. If you catch it on sale, even better. If you’re extremely picky about super realistic flames or want commercial-grade durability, you’ll probably need to spend quite a bit more. For a normal home setup where you want something nice-looking that gets the job done, the value is hard to argue with.

The main selling point of this thing is the slim design. At about 3.86" deep, it sits much closer to the wall than a lot of other electric fireplaces I’ve seen, especially the older chunky models that stick out like a big black box. If you recess it into a 2x6 stud wall like they suggest, the front glass ends up pretty much flush, which looks clean and more built-in. I used it under a wall-mounted TV in a media wall setup, and visually it fits right in.

The frame is a simple black metal with a large glass front. No fake wood trim or fake stone around it, which I actually prefer because you can style the wall however you want. It definitely leans modern. If your house is very traditional or rustic, you might want to build some kind of surround or mantel around it to soften the look. On its own, it looks like a sleek black panel with flames inside – good for contemporary spaces, a bit out of place in a super classic room unless you integrate it.

The flame visuals are decent. You can tell it’s digital, but the mix of colors and the ability to slow down or speed up the flames helps. The bed can be crystals or ember-style, depending on how you set it up. I ended up going with a more natural look: orange flame, blue-ish bed or amber bed, medium brightness, medium flame speed. The crazy blue, green, and purple options are more for people who like that LED vibe; I played with them once and never really used them again.

One thing I liked: the vents are not in your face. The heat comes out of a slim slot near the front, and if you’re just using flames with no heat, it doesn’t look like a heater at all. That helps it pass as a decorative fireplace instead of a big space heater. The only downside on design for me is the little display that shows the settings – it’s handy, but you can see it glowing for a few seconds when you change something. Not a deal-breaker, just not fully invisible. Overall, the design is simple, fairly clean, and works well in a TV wall or modern living room.

From a comfort perspective, this fireplace hits the mix I wanted: visual warmth + actual warmth without feeling like a blast of dry air. The heat is gentle and doesn’t dry out the room as much as some cheap fan heaters I’ve used. You can sit a few feet away without feeling cooked. I often run it on low heat in the mornings while having coffee and working on a laptop, and it keeps the room comfortable without me touching the main thermostat.

The flame-only mode is honestly what I use the most. Having the flames going in the evening while the main heat is doing its job gives the room a nicer vibe, and it doesn’t add any noise. You do have to have the flames on to use the heat – there’s no heat-only mode – but that’s kind of the point of this type of product. If you want a pure heater, this isn’t it. If you want something that feels like a fireplace without the hassle, it makes sense.

Control-wise, the remote is convenient but not perfect. You need to be roughly in front of the unit and not too far away. Sometimes I had to point it a bit deliberately to get it to register. The touch panel on the front works fine but you have to get up, obviously. Once you’ve dialed in your preferred brightness, speed, and colors, you don’t touch the extra settings much anymore, you just hit power and heat when you need it.

One comfort downside: if you’re using this in a bedroom, the tiny display that lights up when you change settings might bother very light sleepers. It fades away after a few seconds, but it is there. Also, like any glass-front heater, the front panel gets warm. Not “burn your hand instantly” hot in my experience, but warm enough that I wouldn’t let small kids constantly touch it. For an adult living room or media room, it’s totally fine; just don’t treat it like a cool-touch TV screen.

Build-wise, the R.W.FLAME feels solid but not premium. The metal housing doesn’t flex much, the glass front sits straight, and there were no weird rattles or loose parts when I unpacked it. After several weeks of regular use (a few hours most evenings, plus some longer weekend sessions with heat on), I haven’t seen any flickering LEDs, weird noises, or panel warping. The fan still sounds the same as day one.

The Amazon reviews are mostly positive, but there are a few reports of burning smells and parts glowing more than they should after a year or so of use. I personally didn’t hit that, but it’s something to keep in mind. Any 1500W heater in a slim body is working fairly hard, so I wouldn’t run it flat-out 24/7 like a main heater. Think of it as a supplemental appliance you use when you’re in the room, not something you leave on unattended all day while at work.

The paint and finish seem to hold up fine. I wiped the glass a couple of times (fingerprints during install, dust) and it didn’t scratch or smear in any weird way. The buttons on the touch panel still register correctly, and the remote hasn’t given up on me yet. It’s a basic plastic remote, so don’t expect it to survive being stepped on, but normal couch use is fine.

Long term, I’d say durability is “pretty solid for the price.” If you want a unit that you plan to use as your main heat source for many years, I’d probably look at something more heavy-duty and be ready to pay more. For normal home use – evenings, weekends, winters – this feels reasonably built. Just make sure it’s installed securely with decent anchors or directly into studs, and don’t cheap out on the power situation. That will do more for safety and longevity than anything.

In practice, this thing behaves like a quiet space heater with extra visuals. You’ve got two heat levels: 750W and 1500W. On the low setting, it’s more of a gentle warm-up, good for taking the edge off in a smaller room or if you’re sitting close. On the high setting, you actually feel it across a mid-size room after 10–20 minutes. It’s not blast-furnace hot like some cheap ceramic heaters that roast your shins, but it does build a steady warmth.

One detail that surprised me was the way the heat comes out. There’s a fan, but it’s fairly quiet and doesn’t blow directly at your face like a desk heater. You feel the warm air most clearly a couple of feet away and above, as it rises. In my 12 x 20 room, if I started it from cold, the room felt noticeably warmer after about 15 minutes on high, and comfortably warm after 30–40 minutes. It’s best used as supplemental heat, not your only heating source, especially if your room is above an unheated space or has a lot of windows.

Noise-wise, it’s pretty solid. With flames only, it’s basically silent except for a faint hum if you’re right next to it. With heat on, you hear a soft fan noise, but I never had to turn up the TV volume to drown it out. It’s much quieter than a typical portable space heater. The timer function works as advertised – I used it a lot at night to make sure it shuts off after a few hours so I’m not running it all night while sleeping.

One thing to flag: like any 1500W heater, it draws a lot of power. You really want it on its own 15A circuit if possible, or at least not sharing with a bunch of other heavy loads (space heaters, hair dryers, big AV amps). I didn’t have any breaker trips, but I was careful with what else was on that line. I’ve seen at least one user mention a burning smell and glowing element – I didn’t have that issue, but I’d still keep an eye on it, especially the first few uses. A faint “new heater” smell for the first hour is normal; anything strong or ongoing, I’d shut it down and contact support.

Out of the box, you get the fireplace unit, a wall-mount bracket, some basic hardware, the remote, and the fake ember/rock stuff for the bed. Nothing fancy in the packaging, but it was packed well enough that mine arrived without any cracks or rattles. It weighs around 47 pounds, so it’s not crazy heavy, but you’ll probably want a second person when you actually hang it or slide it into a recessed frame. I did it solo and it was doable but not exactly fun.

The controls are pretty straightforward: there’s a touch panel on the front (you only really see it when it lights up) and a small remote. You can set flame color, bed color, brightness, flame speed, heat level (750W or 1500W), and a timer. The remote isn’t super fancy and the range is maybe 10–12 feet in my experience. It works fine from the couch, but it’s not like a TV remote that picks up from across the whole room at any angle.

In terms of coverage, the brand says up to 400 square feet. I tested it in a roughly 12 x 20 room (about 240 sq ft) and it had no problem warming it up. I also tried it briefly in a large open-concept area, and there it mostly just took the edge off around the immediate area, not the whole space. So that 400 sq ft claim feels like the upper limit, not some guaranteed sauna.

Overall, the product feels like a mid-range electric fireplace: not junk, not luxury. The feature list is long (12 flame colors, 5 speeds, 5 brightness levels, timer, etc.), but in real life you’ll probably settle on one or two settings and leave it. Still, it’s nice that the options are there, especially if you like playing with different looks for holidays or mood lighting.