Dimplex VF2927L Opti-V Solo Fireplace, Black

I have the longer version of this fireplace, the Opti-V Duo. I’ve had it since 2016. It is ultra-reasltic. It’s essentially a movie of a flame that plays in a loop with ultra realistic stic cracking sound as well. After looking at it the past few years the magic has faded. Last year the SD card where the fame movie plays from is damaged. It’s been nearly a year now and Dimplex cannot provide replacement SD card. I have the stretched version of this fireplace so there are 2 transparent panels side-by-side that play the flame movie. The left panel now plays a Windows like screen displaying the error. While the right panel plays the flame movie, but no crackling sound anymore once the error screen in the left panel is displayed. All the more the magic of this fireplace is gone. Since it’s only a fake fireplace, it does not give off heat. This is purely for ambiance purposes. My take on this one: don’t buy. The Support would have been the only thing that gets in the way of your enjoyment. It gets boring over time. So much so when it’s off because Dimplex can’t provide spare parts. Theoretically, Dinolex designed this fireplace to have all maintenance done from the front without having to dismantle it.

I really wanted to like this fireplace when I heard that the flame was realistic. It was expensive to custom build this into my wall. I wish they offered it with a mantle option. It was nice at first but one flame got boring very quickly and the fact that it doesn't have heat is a significant drawback for me. If I can do it all over again I'd purchase a magikflame for less than this with more features and better realism not to mention heat! What's the point of a fireplace that can't make heat?