I bought these candles for my Halloween themed decorations. I was quite surprised to find they are actually nice quality wax and look realistic. The timer function makes it very easy for me to set and forget without accidentally leaving them running and wasting the battery.I have not tried these yet so I can’t speak for the remote control or realism etc. however they are not really black, more of a purple brown color. Still decent though.Nice fireplace decorI was creating a Fall season centerpiece for my table and thought flameless candles would be perfect for it. These were exactly right with their 'bark' exterior instead of plain cream color candles. They don't produce a lot of light but I'm glad about that~ I wanted a softer more intimate look for it. The flickering is VERY lifelike!! I also used them for my Christmas centerpiece. Now with holidays over, I am using them as decor in other places around the house. These have been lit everyday and all night until midnight and I have not needed to change the batteries yet! THAT is a terrific bonus!!I purchased these for my office. I am very happy with how they look! I would have given them 5 stars but one came with the flame stuck down inside the candle making it useless. Also, a couple of them have switches that are stuck in the on position. This is fine for me because they work by remote control, but some may find it frustrating for the price. I purchase two sets so I could have more of an assortment of sizes.The adjustable brightness is fantastic! The branch (dark) markings are a bit too funky up close- but they look okay from across the room. Was initially disappointed when I turned them on that they would mot be on a 24 restart- but to my surprise they are! (this feature is not mentioned in the instructions) Very nice to come home in the evenings and they are lit. I would have given these a 5 start if the dark spots did not look like a blotch of spray paint - plus one of them right out of the package doesn't retain the battery compartment- I would have returned them if the auto 234 timer wasn't a function. another nice feature was the pleasant light vanilla smell.It says Halloween but I have them out in my living room. I was looking for nice black candles, and then I saw these. They look for all the world like flickering, moving flames. Two problems: the black color comes off on your hands, so I sealed them with some craft water based matte polyurethane varnish. Also, the turn on and timer on some of them quit working after a week. I just use the remote to turn them on, set the time and they work fine. I love how they look, so much so I bought a set for my niece, who likes the same things I do. The aesthetics outweigh the timer issue. I would definitely buy these again.They were ok and got the job done but I’m not sure I would recommend them. Some were finicky to turn on and some were very cheap looking. ??‍♀️Works and looks great