VC Merrimack owners - how hot do you run your insert?

I have a cat. Sequoia and got a cat. reading last night of 700F. Since your insert is, I think, somewhat comparable to mine are you getting those sort of temps with a hot fire on average? Sure kept the glass nice and clean! Lots of internal space and steel to heat. Thanks for your input.

I have a Condar digital catalyst thermometer which has a probe that inserts into a hole in front of the unit housing the catalyst. My Sequoia looks like the avatar. It's sort of in the middle between the two top latices above the doors.

Not sure how to even measure temp on my Merrimack. I have it closed down 95% of the time, and very minimal glass cleaning is needed. Wide open it can really rip, but its easy to slow down.

Wait, if the 700 degrees is from the cat prob, that is a low cat probe temp.

The cat. probe doesn't go very far into the hole made for the original VC thermometer. I do know from reading that the probe should be about a quarter inch away from the cat. but it stops after the crimped end. Also I can't see the probe looking up from underneath because the housing for the catalyst is solid metal.

We must be talking about different inserts. My Vermont castings Merrimack is a non catalytic insert. No good way to measure temp from what I can see.

Right. Your Merrimack is a non catalytic insert. I thought, erroneously as it turns out, that VC would have provided a way for the user to measure the temperature because it is possible to overfire the insert. I thought that knowing the temperature would be useful from a safety standpoint.