WhatStove?

Review of Clearview vision insert stove

Only fitted 5 days but very happy so far

Jo-Ann Smith 8 years ago

Just had our third fire in our Vision Inset stove and so far so good. We stay in an old cottage and had started to have damp problems coming from the chimney. The choices were take away the chimney or reinstate as a working chimney and we opted for the second one. We had an old "Living Flame" gas fire which had become troublesome so we had stopped using it and we decided to go for the Inset as it would fit into the opening currently there. We checked out some of our local suppliers and fitters and finally purchased the stove from a local company (Ayrshire). Being an old cottage the style of the stove fits very well and looks as though it has been part of the cottage from day one. The stove has been no problem to light and all the new paint smell has now gone. It has got up to optimal temperature no problem and burns the wood well. We've tried various logs (bought-in kiln dried and briquettes) already including our own eucalyptus logs from the garden (well seasoned). The stove comes with gauntlets to protect hands when touching the hot handle when opening the door to add fuel during operation and a very informative set of instructions from the manufacturer. ENSURE YOU MAKE USE OF BOTH !! We didn't pay quite as much as some people seem to have paid on here but it was still a bit over £1K but our fitter commented we'd opted for a good stove and it took three guys to manoeuvre it into place as compared to one man for the cheaper stoves, so certainly seems to have a high build quality. It is early days but so far so good and it does remain to be seen how it performs in the long term so I will update if there's any change in status. With regard to fitting you probably could fit yourself but ours was fitted within 5 hours max and the bulk of that time was removing the old fire, blanking off the gas supply and sweeping the chimney.

Overall rating:

4.5 flames

Build Quality 5 flames (avg 4.8)
Quality of finish 5 flames (avg 4.8)
Value for money 4 flames (avg 4.3)
Ease of use 5 flames (avg 4.7)
Ease of lighting 5 flames (avg 4.8)
Firebox size 4 flames (avg 4.5)
How well does the airwash work 5 flames (avg 4.8)
Controllability not yet rated (avg 4.5)
Handle operation 5 flames (avg 4.3)
How likely are you to buy it again? 5 flames (avg 4.4)
What is your overall satisfaction? 5 flames (avg 4.5)