New to pellet stoves, Looking for help choosing a first time unit and hearth pad.

If you are willing to wait, you might be able to get lucky on the price of that englander. I picked mine up last year at home depot for half price when they were trying to get rid of their stock. I think it was around the end of february when they went on sale.

yeah right now at lowes they got 25% off seasonal heating items, so example the 1200 dollar pellet by englander is about $900. I got a sweet deal at lowes in dec on a 240 pound hopper model, got it for 1500, it normally is about 1800. Its not stocked in the stores so it would be unavailable for the 25% off, so i got it for as cheap as can be.

I agree with Mike on the Cleaning issue. Mine gets a quick swipe with a paper towel once or twice a day and I dump the bin every 3 or so burning corn once a week with pellets. Beyond that knock off the inside of the burn chamber area and its all over in about 1 minute. Your mileage may vary depending on how much of a neat nut you are or aren't. A lot of how you operate these things is pretty much up to you. It varies too with what kind and make of pellets you burn.