Truth about pellets please

When comparing pellets, I check temperatures and also try to compare feed rates by timing how many hours a bag lasts on a given stove setting. I few weeks ago I had some Cheat River pellets that were as hot as Barefoots. The Cheat River bag was gone in 8 hours on the highest setting, where Barefoots will go 9+ hours. This way I can compare price against the time to do an Apples-Apples comparison.
I don't do this very often because it's a pain: beginning it with a near-empty hopper and running the stove on the same setting for the duration. Instead of using a full bag, I guess I could just fill the hopper to a certain level...

I am currently using Sommersets from Lowes and they are working great in my stove. Yes some work better than others as in every other aspect of life, but it also depends on how your stove burns pellets.

Grab some stove chow and Green Teams from the local stores to get you by for this winter. And then in the spring, get an order in for 3 or so tons of the good stuff once its on sale. Generally, the best prices are in april-may time frames form the pellet hawkers. That's what i'd do given your distance.
It might even be cost effetive for you to find a buddy with a good truck and trailer and drive there yourself.

I am running tests twice on my new Mini of about 8 different pellets and will get back soon with the results. I tried one bag of the Somerset and was very pleased. Wished I had bought more because Lowes is now selling North American and they are lousy.
I am very happy with the Enviro mini. Our lives have been changed as the stove heats the whole ground floor including the loft space where we sleep. That chill in the air in the morning is gone and the forced air heater has not been used since the pellets started doing their stuff. I did discover the forced air vents had to be wrapped up and closed off as the stove was dragging the cold air out of the crawl space and creating quite a draught.