Beta testing Woodstock's Ideal Steel Hybrid

really good info. appreciate the posts and updates. your area appears similar to my brothers about 15 miles SW of Bennington. lots of old farms in that area too.

Highbeam said:

There is nothing magical about zero degrees outside temperature. If the heat source is making more heat than the house is losing then you will be warm. The trick is having a stove that can make that heat when needed but also be throttled down to not overheat you the rest of the year.

Great job on cat placement WS. I always liked that about the fireview, an easy to access cat right on top.

Not sold on all of the extra fancy schmancy decorative steel jive. It is as though WS thought that going from stone to steel meant that they had to compensate for lack of beauty. The beauty is the simplicity of the big honkin steel stove.

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I'm really not sure why some seem to bash the extras that are available with this stove. If you don't like, then you do not have to have any and you don't have to try putting down the company for doing what they have done. If you like, then you can design the stove to your liking. It really is as simple as that. It was well known that some would like and some would not. However, this takes nothing away from the stove. And I know not where this came from about compensating for lack of beauty. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, whether that be a black box of a stove with some pretty design. It is sort of like buying a car. Some want only the basic necessary things while others want lots of extras. Each to their own.

Long before the beta stove was built, Woodstock set out some goals and one of those was to have some fun! I see nothing wrong with that. One statement they made was, "We're definitely not designing another black box and we're not copying anyone else's work - even our own."

Notice that they stated they were not designing another black box. Yet we see that many seem to like the black box. So in those cases, Woodstock has made it plain that they will acomodate the customer's wants. As for myself, my wife and I have discussed this already and if we do decide to buy one of these stoves, we already know what we want and it will have to be designed to our liking. It no doubt will have an outdoors man's and woman's theme and probably will have a whitetail deer somewhere on the stove and most likely it will be on the sides, sort of like that moose antler design. Very simple; it will be designed to our liking.

I guess differentiation is the name of the game....or at least some think so. I'm not sure it's true, but if they are having fun, so be it. I always tried to have fun in my business - sometimes others don't get the joke.

I suspect most buyers will be looking at the HEAT and the PRICE....and to a lesser extent, the technology. Nothing wrong with black boxes and lots of glass. I was paging through my 1981 woodburners directory and you'd be amazed how many stoves were just like that! As some examples, the big Russo Glass View, the Proformer Z and many others....

The difference now is that - even with inflation - this thing is extremely reasonable comparatively and has advanced tech.

Given todays buyers, I'd say put some electronics on the dang thing! Create an app for it. Of course, I'd run the price way up...which is why I don't design stoves. The last stove I actually worked on was a brand new Upland we started from scratch - I had Bob Cawley doing the design work for us. It was designed to meet EPA specs and all (1987 was when we were doing this). It was beautiful (as Bob designed all things)......but I chickened out when I heard horror stories about the backlogs and the costs for EPA testing (back then things were unsettled)>

Backwoods Savage said:

I'm really not sure why some seem to bash the extras that are available with this stove. If you don't like, then you do not have to have any and you don't have to try putting down the company for doing what they have done. If you like, then you can design the stove to your liking. It really is as simple as that.

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Good lord Dennis, settle down. I am hardly bashing a stove by stating that I am not sold on the extra decorations. You need to calm down and be able to handle the fact that not everybody will love everything that woodstock may put on a stove.

You read something wrong Highbeam as I am far from being excited about that stuff. It just strikes me as odd.

Backwoods Savage said:

You read something wrong Highbeam as I am far from being excited about that stuff. It just strikes me as odd.

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What does? That someone would comment in a thread asking for questions and comments?

Why don't you guys take it to PM before you ruin a valuable thread? No need for every one of these WS threads to be like this...

No need as there is no argument.

Impressive size!

webbie said:

I suspect most buyers will be looking at the HEAT and the PRICE

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I wouldn't be surprised one bit if the folks at Woodstock are trying to appeal to a large segment of men ("I want big, I want long burns and high heat, and I want it cheap since I need this thing to pay off quickly") and many times a wife who has a different idea for the stove ("It has to look nice, I don't mind a stove, but I don't want to look at something ugly").

OK, these are pretty broad stereotypes I am painting, and I am sure that I'll take some grief for that, but we all know that some stove decisions get nixed based on appearance, so Woodstock is pretty smart to allow to have it both ways, and customizing is "in" as well.

DBoon said:

OK, these are pretty broad stereotypes I am painting, and I am sure that I'll take some grief for that, but we all know that some stove decisions get nixed based on appearance, so Woodstock is pretty smart to allow to have it both ways, and customizing is "in" as well.

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Not any broader than "gearhead".......


I suspect things named gearhead will have gals in bikinis with a little grease on them holding a wrench....in the ads! Or, the same dudes who fit out their garages with nice epoxy two tone floors and floor to ceiling tool boxes.

Actually, my first goog image search on the term brought this up....so I'm not far off.

What does "gearhead" have to do with woodburning or a stove for that matter?
Seems just a fancy catch name. Oh and the "cool" logo on the sweetshirts they give out to their groupies I suppose.
Hope the stove does well. Not my taste, but who is to say tastes never change.
There are some things I did like when I saw it up close. But I am one that does not care for all the added bling.
Things are always changing, as are tastes.
Curious to see how it stand in the long run.

For sure I would not expect to see it out until late summer or early fall. However time will tell on that one. And begreen, I agree they can be a bit too fussy at times. Hope I don't get into trouble over that one....


And indeed, Woodstock is aiming at a totally different market than what they have with the soapstone stoves. I'm a bit sad that it will not be available with hinges on opposite sides. Just looking at our setup, it would be all wrong but if the door opened the opposite way then it might work.

begreen said:

It's still 6 months or more out from production. From the sounds of it, once on the market they will be happy to sell you one bling free if that's desired. It that comes in at $1500 and the stove performs well it could be a nice addition to the stove market.

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OK, a Woodstock catalytic stove for $1500.00? The only thing standing in the way would be clearances as I've got a corner install. Other than that, game on.

This stove is seriously supposed to come on the market under 1500 or is this just hopeful speculation thus far? That seems crazy.

1500-2000 is the numbers I have seen thrown about, nothing about it being under 1500.

That price is just too low. A plain jane NC30 cost me 1100$ all in from a big box store. Good for woodstock if they succeed with it.

Highbeam said:

That price is just too low. A plain jane NC30 cost me 1100$ all in from a big box store. Good for woodstock if they succeed with it.

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Ha! $899 over here. Almost makes up for the outrageous Blaze King prices over here... almost.

BrowningBAR said:

Ha! $899 over here. Almost makes up for the outrageous Blaze King prices over here... almost.

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$699 when I bought it! Bought it on a sales-tax-free day and had a 10% off coupon too! Came to $629 for me! I think thats about as good as it gets!

Yup...for a BK Princess I'm at $3,500 without anything....even a door!

But to be more on topic....in a few years I might be moving and will be thinking of a new stove. The Progress Hybrid and this Steel Hybrid are at the top of my list, mainly this one because of the price.

Plus I could drive out and pick one up myself!

Ok guys, keep it on track please.