Purchased this before Christmas. It adds the ambiance to the room that was not there before, especially in the winter, as my house was not built with a fireplace. Received many complements on it and people thought it was the original fireplace. I love the "flame", it makes you feel warm even without the heat, but  does have a little sound to it, as if parts are moving around. The blower does exert a good level of heat. I did put it together all by myself, with no issues! Took a couple hours though. But as other reviews say, the metal parts (nuts, bolts, etc) are greasy, for some reason.