Country Winslow or Harman Advance Pellet Stove??

I have been a Harman dealer since 1995 so you may think this is a biased suggestion but the reason I sell Harman is they work. Harman has the better feed system and the better control system. Truth be told I like the looks of the advance but Its not my fav unit. I prefer the XXV. Either way the "guts" work the same. Good luck. http://www.pelletstovepros.com

sean,

I just purchased an Advance this year for my first pellet stove. I cannot give you any first hand history on the stove or my experiences with it because this will be my first year burning it.

I justed wanted to add that there were a few things that swayed my decision to purchase the Advance.
1. Harmans reputation. I read many articles and reviews on pellet stove when looking to make my purchase. Harman always seem to be the "John Deer" of pellet stoves so to speak.
2. Their feed system also sold me. The fact the it says it will burn multiple grades of pellets.
3. The Harmans claim to need less frequent routine maintenance then many other stoves.
4. And at last...yes I find the stove to be very stylish looking.

codebum said:

sean,

I just purchased an Advance this year for my first pellet stove. I cannot give you any first hand history on the stove or my experiences with it because this will be my first year burning it.

I justed wanted to add that there were a few things that swayed my decision to purchase the Advance.
1. Harmans reputation. I read many articles and reviews on pellet stove when looking to make my purchase. Harman always seem to be the "John Deer" of pellet stoves so to speak.
2. Their feed system also sold me. The fact the it says it will burn multiple grades of pellets.
3. The Harmans claim to need less frequent routine maintenance then many other stoves.
4. And at last...yes I find the stove to be very stylish looking.

Click to expand...

Ditto.......Same here except XXV

sean w said:

My wife and I are currently looking into pellet stoves to purchase for the upcoming winter and have narrowed our choices down to the Harman Advance Pellet Stove and the Winslow Pellet Stove of the Country Collection by Lennox. We have gone to a few stores and were close to buying the Winslow until we visited a Harman dealer who told us alot of negative info on Lennox. Can anyone please give us an unbiased opinion on the Winslow? or if it is worth paying the extra money for the Harman Advance?

Click to expand...

LOL! The Lennox dealer here (actually multi-line, not Harman though) did the same about Harmans. He pointed out that Lennox has been in the business of heating appliances before Harman was born, that they span all technologies, they're not going away or be bought out like other companies and in fact are buying others - he pointed out that their pellet lines were enhanced by acquisitions of companies whose burn pot designs, etc. were "ground breaking" and "patented" (Whitfield, etc.) and that was what helped make them best.

Of course, as with any dealer's advice, I took it with a large grain of salt and looked to other sources for info. I actually ended up with a Profile insert myself. I didn't even bother with Harmans due to their recent financial problems, the unknown quality of stoves being pushed from assembly lines that have tripled capacity in less than 3 months and their awful customer service in terms of communication as well as providing parts/etc to the public.

YMMV

I have had Harman stoves for 5 years now and my brother is going on his 10th year with a Harman. I have never had a problem with their product and neither has my brother. I live very close to the Harman plant and I wanted to suport the local economy and if I needed parts they are a hour away from my house, not out west somewhere. Harman stoves are more expensive but like you read before you are getting a top of the line product that will run 24/7 with no maintance and no worry. I am lookin foward to winter so I can use my new Harman P61A and watch the snow fall outside

This will be my second season with the Harman Advance, I had some issue's with smoke in the hopper, my dealer corrected the problem with a modification, it burns all kinds of pellets, and cranks out a lot of heat, and the cat has a warm place to sleep.

PA Harman P 61A said:

.....that will run 24/7 with no maintance and no worry.....

Click to expand...

Well, I sure hope you do SOME maintenance (cleaning), or you WILL have some worry. :lol:

I have a Country Winslow for two years now I haven't had any problems with it. Clean it and maintain it like any other stove and let it burn.

I have a whitfield..wish i had a harmon...replaced half the damn stove so far

I guess there is no definitive answer as to how long a stove will last. From what I have read it most likely is directly related to how well you clean and maintain it. I will be trying to clean mine myself to save the bucks. The instructions in the manual for the advance seem pretty straight forward. The money I save might let me by a ash vac and a case of beer ;-)

Advance running since Oct 01, 2008 without cleaning anything but the glass. quite operation and lots of heat. I have nothing to compare it to besides a wood burning insert.
As a negative, I will say it is disturbing that Harman will not deal with its cash machine- the end user -directly, and for that they suck ass.

Hmmmmmm.

What would I do? I would see first what is avalable and what I would have to wait for.


I like the Kinsman Stove/Breckwell Signature series. Big E rocks

Eric