Napoleon electric fireplaces: which one to buy

Napoleon's electric range splits four ways and only one of those ways changes the heat. Allure Vertical is the portrait format for a narrow wall. Purview is the entry wall-hung panel. Entice is the nearly frameless linear range that hangs or recesses. CLEARion is the see-through model built into a wall between two rooms — and it is the only Napoleon rated above 1,500 watts, because it direct-wires to 240 volts. Everything else in the lineup is 1,500 watts, 5,000 BTU and 400 square feet, so choose by shape and install, not by output.

Napoleon is a hearth company first — gas and wood fireplaces are the core business, and the electric range is organized the way a fireplace manufacturer thinks about fire: by where it sits in the wall. That is genuinely more useful than organizing by wattage, because the wattage never changes.

Napoleon's entry model costs more than most brands' flagship, so the question worth answering is what the premium is for. It is not heat. Across the Allure, Purview and Entice ranges the specification is 1,500 watts and 5,000 BTU per hour rated for 400 square feet — the same figures printed on units at a fifth of the price, because a 120-volt household circuit caps the entire category in the same place.

What the money does buy is the face. A nearly frameless front, a glass crystal ember bed and a finish that survives close inspection are what separate these from the ultra-thins, and at normal viewing distance the frame is the single strongest cue that a fireplace is an appliance rather than an opening — the argument we make at length on what makes a flame look fake. You are also buying a company with a hearth warranty operation behind it rather than a listing.

This is the brand's weakest point and it is worth being plain about, because it is unusual at this price. Across every model on this page Napoleon publishes no amperage, no thermostat range, no timer detail and no flame-color count. On the Entice — which Napoleon specifically markets as recessable — there is no published rough opening at all.

For comparison, Touchstone publishes a rough opening, a weight, a heater type and an amperage on units costing a third as much, which is why it wins the specification argument on Dimplex vs Touchstone. If you are framing a wall around a Napoleon, you will be asking the manufacturer for a number that should have been on the page. Depth and clearance explains why that number is the one that sinks projects.

Quick picks: the Napoleon range

Ranked. The running cost column is computed from each unit's rated wattage, not quoted from a manufacturer. Tap a row for the full write-up.

#	Product	Best for	Cost per hour	Price
1	Napoleon Purview 42 (NEFL42HI)The entry wall-hanging panel, with the same heater as the three-thousand-dollar model and the smallest flame menu in the range.	The cheapest way into the brand	27.5¢1,500 W · 5,118 BTU	$669.00 · View on Amazon
2	Napoleon Entice 60 (NEFL60CFH)Nearly frameless, hangs on a bracket or recesses flush, and lands in the middle of the range on price without giving up anything but flame-color count.	The one most people should buy	27.5¢1,500 W · 5,118 BTU	$1,539.00 · View on Amazon
3	Napoleon CLEARion Elite 60 See-Thru (NEFBD60HE)See-through glass front and back, a privacy setting, and 3,000 watts on 240 volts — the single exception to the ceiling the rest of the range sits on.	The only Napoleon that buys more heat	26.6¢1,450 W · 4,948 BTU	$3,089.00 · View on Amazon
4	Napoleon Allure Vertical 32 (NEFVC32H)The vertical format, for the wall that is tall rather than wide — and the only shape in the range a linear unit cannot substitute for.	A narrow wall, or a chimney chase	27.5¢1,500 W · 5,118 BTU	$429.00 · View on Amazon
—	Napoleon Entice 72 (NEFL72CFH)Twelve inches more glass for a couple of hundred dollars more, and not one watt more heat. Buy it for the wall, not for the upgrade.Skip this one	Nothing the Entice 60 does not already do	27.5¢1,500 W · 5,118 BTU	$1,749.00 · View on Amazon

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• A narrow, tall wall → Allure Vertical 32, or the 38 if the pier is wide enough.
• The cheapest Napoleon → Purview 42, accepting three flame colors and intermittent stock.
• A normal living-room wall, and you want it flush → Entice 60. It hangs or recesses, and it is the range's best balance.
• A six-foot span that genuinely needs filling → Entice 72, for the width and not as an upgrade.
• A wall between two rooms, and a 240-volt circuit → CLEARion Elite. Nothing else here does it.

Napoleon competes on finish and on being a real hearth company, not on specification density or price. Against Touchstone you are paying more and getting less published detail, in exchange for a better-looking face. Against Dimplex you are getting conventional LED flame rather than Dimplex's Revillusion or Opti-Myst technology, which is the one area where a competitor genuinely does something Napoleon does not — see LED vs LCD vs water vapor.

Against the unbranded ultra-thins, the honest summary is that you are paying roughly five times as much for the same heat and a much better frame. Whether that is worth it depends entirely on how close anyone sits to it. Our best brands page ranks the field on the criteria that actually separate them.