Astound represents a new direction for Napoleon electric fireplaces. It’s a luxury product with a big, bold appearance, a brand new flame effect, and a life-like log package. It’s a departure from their entry-level fireplaces and is part of a growing category of deeper, more realistic electric fireplaces. Napoleon is backing this premium fireplace with a premium 5-year warranty. As homeowners reconsider gas fireplaces, and move to electrics, they are demanding that electric fires come closer to replicating gas fireplaces. Astound is definitely a step in that direction, from a manufacturer that knows gas fireplaces because they make them.
Napoleon Astound Models
Astound comes in 4 sizes: NEFB50AB, NEFB62AB, NEFB74AB, NEFB96AB
Astound is a built-in linear fireplace with an extra-tall 17.5-inch viewing window. The wide picture frame around the glass window is removable, if a frameless installation is preferred. The required framing depth is 13 inches. Because this is a built-in fireplace, it must be hard-wired, and will not be on a plug after installation.
Napoleon Astound features and benefits
- Yellow and orange flame colours — With spark technology to mimic a real fire.
- Adjustable Flame Speed – Set the speed that looks best and most natural to you.
- Multi-Colour Ember Bed – Enhance the flames with lighting below the ember bed, from a natural glow to mood-changing accents. There are 13 preset colours on the remote, and endless options in the app. These may also be turned off.
- Multi-Colour Downlighting – Add additional lighting to the flames to complement the lighting conditions in your space, or to change the mood. There are 13 preset colours on the remote, and endless options in the app. These may also be turned off.
- Premium Media Package – Beach Fire Logs + Woodland ember kit are lifelike and enhance the flame effects.
- Extra-tall Viewing Area – Glass window height is 17.5 inches, adding to the realism.
- Tinted Glass – Enhances the flame effect and reduces reflections.
- Thermostatically Controlled Heater – Set it and forget it. Whisper-quiet fan circulates warm air into the room. Eco mode runs at half heat to save energy; Boost mode runs at maximum heat with higher fan speed.
Other Astound features
- Dual Voltage – Connect to 120 or 240 volts.
- Heat Output up to 10,000 BTUs— Connect your fireplace to standard 120 volts for enough heat to warm up to 400 square feet. Connect to 240 volts to provide enough power to the heater to warm up to 800 square feet.
- Easy connectivity — Voice control (Google, Alexa) and a WiFi enabled app (Napoleon Home) to allow control the way you want it.
- Napoleon Home App – The app is superior to even the remote, and is a great enhancement to the fireplace. It has visual representations of the settings that are not possible on a remote or touchpad.
- Handheld Remote Control included – Control all the features of the fireplace without the need for WiFi technology.
- Built-in Touch Controls – Controls all of the fundamental features of the fireplace, when the remote or app are not accessible.
- No-heat Switch – Tucked behind the front glass, for commercial settings where it’s preferable for the heater to be disabled.
- Flip-down glass – Allows for easier servicing or changing of media kits.
Napoleon Astound vs. other deep electric fireplaces
While Astound is a single-sided fireplace, it must be compared to both single-sided and multi-sided fireplaces for extra depth. There are far more multi-sided electric fireplaces with extra depth, than there are single-sided options. Fortunately, any multi-sided electric fireplace may be installed as a single-sided unit. Some homeowners choose to install multi-sided electric fireplaces with both ends blocked, in order to get the deeper interior and frameless installation that they prefer. For that reason, we are including multi-sided options here for comparison. Note that multi-sided fireplaces are always built-in and frameless, even when installed as single-sided fireplaces.
Amantii Symmetry XT – This is a slide-in model with 12-inch framing depth and extra-tall viewing area with large picture-frame surround. It has many log options and multiple sizes available. This the most visually similar fireplace to the Astound, and the only single-sided electric fireplace with similar depth and viewing height.
Amantii TRV-XT – This model has a similar framing depth and extra-tall viewing area to the Astound. It has more log options, and is available in more sizes.
Napoleon Luminex – This multi-sided LCD fireplace offers overall depth and extra-tall viewing area similar to Astound, with video flames rather than LED flames.
Napoleon Trivista Primis – This multi-sided LED fireplace makes a great single-sided installation, with less depth than Astound. This would be a value-priced option, with a completely different flame and less realism than Astound.
Dimplex IgniteXL Bold – The popular flames of the Ignite series have been transplanted into a multi-sided fireplace with taller viewing area and more colour options for the flames. This model requires slightly less framing depth to the Astound. It also has an industry-leading 5-year parts and labour warranty.
Modern Flames Orion Multi – This has video flame technology called Heliovision, in a multi-sided built-in installation. Orion Multi is less deep than Astound, and has a similar 5-year parts warranty.
Modern Flames Landscape Pro Multi – This LED fireplace is less deep than the Astound. Modern Flames offers the most flame colours of any electric fireplace. Landscape Pro Multi also has a 5-year parts warranty.
Conclusion
As deeper electric fireplaces gain in popularity, we expect to see more single-sided models becoming available. Multi-sided fireplaces tend to have higher price tags, so having more single-sided options will offer a better range of prices. Until then, Astound is an excellent option for anyone looking for a great-looking fireplace at an aggressive price. Typical of Napoleon, Astound offers a lot of ‘bang for the buck’, with all of the features that our clients want at a very reasonable price point. In this case, there is no need to sacrifice appearances to get those features at an attractive price. At the time of this post, Astound was less expensive than many premium 6-inch linear electric fireplaces. For those who value the extra depth, it’s going to hard to resist the Napoleon Astound.
Stylish Fireplaces knows that adding a fireplace to your home can be challenging. With an electric fireplace and their NFI Certified Hearth Design Specialists, it’s easy to create a space you’ll love to share with family and friends. Check out all the options and connect with their experts for help to find the perfect electric fireplace for you. You’ll live stylishly ever after.