OK here I go.
I had a Summit for a year and then because I was obsessed with my father in laws Avalon Olympic, I sold it and bought the Avalon last April. I do miss the PE though, my brother in law has the Summit so whenever I go there I smile and think about the good old days of the front end loading stove...Ohhhhh
No rolling logs like my Avalon.....Long burn times with the Summit( I'll get there with my Olympic). The EBT, which really does not help the way I burned but was cool anyway....
I like the heat that huge stove could put out. It would get to 80 in my house like no time. Plus I stuffed in the morning with nice size 18 inch logs and when I got home from work still plenty of heat (again I'll get there, I need to cut smaller splits this year so I can N/S load next year/this fall) I didn't like the look of the stove as compard to other stoves I have had but again I think it was really well built and worth every penny. I also think the T-6 is a great stove. I am actually one of the few I guess that loves the ash pan, I think it is a great design (the trap door). It is far better than the Avalons system, which gets ash on the floor every time you pull out the ash pan. Why wouldn't Travis Industries make a way you could completely close it, WTH? The whole point of an ash pan is so you don't ash in the room/house...Ok I'll stop ranting
I also love the fact that on the PE you just simply take out the baffle and viola you clean the chimney easily, no removing tons of tubes, bricks, etc.....Are you listening Quadra-Fire, are you listening? This is why I hate cleaning my Quad 5100 insert, pain in ass to open everything up to clean the pipes. PE is one simple plug, pull it out and Viola again clean the chimney, watch the brown stuff fall into the firebox......
OK now for the Englander, or Timberline, or Summer Heats, or whatever you want to call it. Now I have only had this for a year too and it is in my Dad's cabin so again my time is limited.
My likes: Deal of a lifetime, 499 last year end of season at LOWES. Big firebox, like the Summit, like the Olympic. Front to back loading or I guess E/W if you want to cut smaller splits. Clearance to combustibles not as good as PE Summit, which was a little bit of a problem in my Dads cabin, we got through it. Ash plug is OK but not as good as the PE trap door in my book. But again for the money ii is nice to have an ash pan, Bravo Englander I say anyway! Burn times were a little less but that could me, not the stove. I would easily get 8-9 hours with the Summit, it was a little more difficult to get that same 8-9 hours, again it could be me and my less experience with the Englander. Harder to clean the chimney pipe with the Englander but not as hard as some other stoves...Not as easy as the PE of course. Great heat output and great secondary burns with the Englander, some of the prettiest flames I have ever seen...
So overall for the money the Englander is better (499 is again a sweet deal as compared to 2100 dollars for the PE Summit with gold door and ash pan, if you have the extra cash go for the Summit. I myself like to clean my Chimney once a month for peace of mind so I like the feature of the PE and the Avalon Olympic. I just open the top by pass damper on the Olympic, go outside and climb on the roof, scrub the hell out the pipe, and walk back down the ladder, Viola all soot on my face and I am done :cheese:
I am sure I left many things out but hope this helps