If the unit put out decent heat, I'd give it five stars. It looks very realistic, and people are amazed when I tell them it's electric. But the heater does pretty much nothing. It feels somewhat warm right at the unit, but there's not enough heat (or enough force from the fan) to throw that heat into the room. And if you put a fireplace screen in front of it to make it more realistic, you don't even feel a draft from the fan. It would also be great to add some crackling sound effects -- nothing too over-the-top, but just that good ""crack!"" that you hear from a real fireplace once in a while. Overall, I'm pleased -- but I couldn't recommend the unit to a friend. The lack of appreciable heat is an important deficit.