When thinking about getting an electric fireplace for your home, there are plenty of different options that you can go with. For most people, they just want something that looks great, can properly heat their home, and will be reliable for years to come. However, which electrical fireplace or heating option do you go with? There are large modern electric fireplace options like MagikFlame. Smaller options like Duraflame Heater. There are also options from companies like Honeywell like their Honeywell infrared portable space heater or a Lasko ceramic heater. There are tons of other generic brands you can find on Amazon as well.
However, for this article, let’s skip the long list of generic Amazon fireplaces, and instead, we are going to focus on comparing just two of these popular heating types: a Duraflame heater by Duraflame Inc and a MagikFlame electrical fireplace by MagikFlame. Let’s jump right into the comparison!
Here Are All of the Questions That You Are Going To Have Answered in the Following Fireplace Comparison:
- What Things Will Be Looked at When Comparing a Duraflame Heater and a MagikFlame Electric Fireplace? – In this first section, we are going to go over exactly what kind of criteria we are going to be looking at when comparing these two fireplaces. We will also mention what we won’t be looking at either because comparing these things is irrelevant to which electric fireplace heats the best or which will be the best for the home. Because both are so similar in that area that it is pointless to compare them.
- How Does The Heating Ability Compare Between a Duraflame Heater and a MagikFlame Electric Fireplace? – First up, we will be comparing their ability to heat your living room or your entire home. We will talk about the power of heating devices as well as their efficiency when using electricity to heat your home.
- Between a Duraflame Heater and a MagikFlame Electrical Fireplace, Which Has a More Realistic Flame? – Flame effects are very important when it comes to anything that is trying to replicate a realistic fireplace. We will compare the ability to produce a 3D flame for both of these devices.
- How Are The Overall Aesthetics Between a Duraflame Space Heater and a MagikFlame Electrical Fireplace? – On top of the flame effect, it is important to how the overall fireplace itself looks just sitting in your home. We will talk about the aesthetic differences and which looks better for people who want a beautiful focal point in their home.
- Which One Will Be More Reliable in the Long Run? – There are a lot of factors that go into how reliable a heating device is and how long it will last. This section will cover the reliability of each device.
- Which One Is The Winner? – Here we will declare the winner of this comparison by adding up how many individual categories these devices won when compared.
- What Are Some Other Things To Consider About MagikFlame Electric Fireplaces? – If you are interested in MagikFlame electrical fireplaces, here is some more info that you might find interesting.
There are a few main categories that we will be used to compare these two devices. These categories are:
● Heating Ability – How well it warms a home and how efficient it is with electricity.
● Flame Effect – How well each device can reproduce the flames of a real fireplace.
● Overall Aesthetics – How each of these look as a piece of furniture in your home.
● Long Term Reliability – This will last the longest and run reliably.
There are a couple of things that won’t be compared in this article. These are things like:
● Safety Features – Both have decent safety features like overheat protection when a blower gets blocked and the device begins to overheat, tip-over protection, and automatic shutoff. Therefore there is no point in comparing them to see which is better.
● Pricing – Price doesn’t necessarily reflect which one is an objectively better fireplace. Since the money you save from an efficient electrical fireplace will generally make up for the cost of the device anyway, we will not compare the pricing of these two brands. This is also due to different models of each brand having different prices within that brand, which makes it more difficult to compare them.
Heating plays a huge part in how good a heating device is. It is important that you have a fireplace that can heat a sufficient area of your home without using too much electricity doing so.
For most Duraflame models, like the DFI models, the infrared heating device inside is on the smaller and weaker side. They work okay in smaller rooms using a basic remote control on them. However, if you put on a large room or tried to warm your entire place with one, it will be working at its maximum capacity and still wouldn’t produce enough heat for the area, especially if it is particularly cold outside. Because it is working so hard and not even able to hear everything properly to the temperature on the thermostat, it will eventually start overheating and will shut itself off. This overworking of the device can also lead to drying the air and affecting your home’s natural humidity.
On the other hand, the MagikFlame electrical fireplace has a 5200-BTU infrared quartz BTU cabinet. When you set the adjustment thermostat on a MagikFlame fireplace using the smartphone app rather than a remote control, infrared heat can quickly warm an area of up to 1,000 square feet and keep it at the thermostat settings without using excess electricity. This is a much larger area than the smaller heating device in the DFI. While that other heating device can only warm a small room sufficiently, the 5,200 BTU fireplace heater inside of MagikFlame electric fireplaces can heat an entire apartment, condo, or even the entirety of a small house.
So, what about zone heating or supplemental heat where you place multiple heaters around the home and only turn them on when those rooms are occupied? Well, when it comes to a zone heat strategy, MagikFlame wins here as well. Not only can MagikFlame heat larger rooms, but you need fewer of them to heat an entire home, no matter the size. You would need Duraflames in every room of the house just to keep it warm enough, plus it still would feel cold in larger rooms.
MagikFlame wins this category simply due to being able to produce more heat and being more efficient with electricity.
Flame effects are incredibly important if you want to have a more authentic fireplace experience. Because of this, you need a device that can properly imitate a real flame.
Both Duraflame Heater and MagikFlame fireplaces have what they call 3D flame effects. However, one is true 3D and the other is just using that term loosely.
Duraflame’s firebox has a physical log set in it just as MagikFlame does. However, this is about where the comparison stops. They don’t really have a true 3D flame effect, just some flame-colored light projections.
On the other hand, MagikFlame is absolutely known for the realism of its flames. This is because, through the glass door of a MagikFlame electrical fireplace, they project holographic 3D flames onto the physical logs using their Holoflame technology. This technology perfectly imitates the realism of an actual fireplace and many people at your home would not be able to tell the difference. The flames flicker and move, with tiny embers shooting off of them just as a real fireplace does. You also aren’t limited to just one style of flame, but there are 30 different flames for different moods so that you can choose the right one for you by switching it on the control panel of their smartphone app.
Since MagikFlame electrical fireplaces are known to be one of the most realistic fireplaces on the market, it is no surprise that they easily sweep the win in this category.
Flames are important, but it is also important how the fireplace will look just sitting in your home.
Duraflame has a lot of models that are basically just an infrared quartz fireplace stove. You might get an electric fireplace stove with an artificial cast iron look or one with a cherry finish. Anything wood they have is really just wood veneers on the sides and top of the stove heater. This means it is a thin wood layer made to look like a real wood grain texture, covering ugly artificial building materials. These veneers can easily peel or break off compared to devices that use solid wood. Their stoves look much like the ones that you might get from Lifesmart or Twin-Star International.
Most of their models tend to be quite small and don’t really feel like a significant piece of furniture for your home. They also have a portable electric infrared quartz oscillating tower heater that is much bigger, however, these heaters are more about producing a little bit better heat than actually looking aesthetically pleasing. Because of this, their fire effects suffer and the overall piece looks like a strange, dark-colored speaker rather than a fireplace.
On the other hand, MagikFlame fireplaces tend to be larger, beautiful mantel fireplace made of solid oak wood with a bright, clean white finish. Their fireplaces look much more like the real thing. They would fit many modern and minimalist styles very well. They look like a genuine piece of the room, especially when you place them against a beautiful white wall, maybe with bookcases on either side. They have models of different styles. Some MagikFlame models have fluted side posts and sophisticated triangular corbels. Other models focus on the luxury of clean rectangular designs and crown molding finish on the mantel. These models would be perfect in homes that already have quite a bit of crown molding in their trim.
Although how they look will eventually come down to your personal tastes, if you prefer things that look like they are made with more quality and are more luxurious, MagikFlame will be the clear winner here.
Reliability will come down to a lot of the factors mentioned above. For one, Duraflame uses lower quality building materials to create their fireplaces. This means that they are not as likely to last as long as MagikFlame. On top of this fact, because most of their internal heating devices aren’t as powerful as MagikFlame fireplaces, they have to work a lot harder just to keep up. This means that they will break down and need repairs or need to be replaced much sooner.
MagikFlame electrical fireplaces are built with the best materials and parts, and the craftsmanship that goes into every single one is top of the line. Because of this, they will definitely be a lot more reliable in the long run over Duraflame’s heating devices.
This category again goes to MagikFlame as the winner.
The clear winner of this comparison is MagikFlame electrical fireplaces based on every category that has been used for the comparison. Here is what has been found out:
● MagikFlame electrical fireplaces are much better at heating a home, can heat a larger area, and will use much less electricity to do so.
● The flame effects on MagikFlame have no equal for realism and easily win this category without a second thought.
● The overall aesthetics are largely up to the individual, but if you check customer reviews, most will agree MagikFlame look much better and more like a traditional fireplace.
● Because of their robust heater, premium materials, and better build quality, MagikFlame fireplaces are sure to last for many years or decades to come.
If you want to learn more about MagikFlame fireplaces and are thinking you might want to get one for your own home, make sure to check out the following section:
Although this article did quite a lot to explain all of MagikFlame electric fireplace’s features and benefits. Let’s go ahead and cover them again here all in one place just so you know exactly what you are getting when you get any MagikFlame product:
● 30 Ultra-Realistic Flickering Flames – The holographic 3D flames produced by MagikFlame fireplaces look and move like the real thing. They allow you to enjoy the pure glow and ambiance of a realistic fireplace. Because they are so good at looking like a real fire, many different guests will be unlikely to even notice it is an electrical fireplace and not a pure wood one.
● Crackling Log Sounds – While many electrical fireplaces are just limited to their visual fire effects, MagikFlame likes to take the immersion even further by adding the sounds of real crackling logs to go along with their realistic fire effects. Additionally, they have relaxing nature sounds that you can optionally place to add even more atmosphere.
● Powerful and Efficient Heater – The impressive heater inside of MagikFlame fireplaces will quickly warm your home and keep it warm according to the temperature you set it at. Basically, the heater cycles cold air from the room, through the heater, and blows it back out. As this air cycles, the infrared coil inside of the MagikFlame fireplace instantly warms that air. When you turn these on, they don’t need to warm up and you can feel the warm air blowing out right away. Also, because MagikFlame fireplaces don’t need any kind of venting, the warm air stays in the room longer, allowing MagikFlame to use much less electricity to warm a home than alternative methods.
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● Smartphone App – To control the fireplace, you don’t need a boring remote that requires a line of sight for its to work. Instead, MagikFlame fireplaces have an innovative and easy for you to use a smartphone app. This app has large, graphic buttons so that you can turn your fireplace on, turn it off, change the heat settings, cycle through the flame effects, choose an audio effect, and much more.
● Several Beautiful Models To Choose From – MagikFlame has many beautiful fireplace models for you to choose from. They come in flat wall units, corner units, and in different sizes, depending on the size limitation of the room you will be putting it in. They also have insert units to convert your existing wood fireplace, use with a third-party mantel, or if you want to build your own mantel from scratch with your own hands.
