About to buy an insert Blaze King Princess or Briarwood II?

[backld]

I'm about to buy a insert. We've never heated with wood before. We've been looking at inserts and I think I've narrowed it down to two models both by blaze king. I like the Princess because of the efficiency, my wife and I both like the Brairwood because of the large viewing glass. We will be heating about 1500 sf, semi open ranch. This will be used to supplement our furnace but I'd rather burn then run the oil furnace.

The princess is about $1000 more than the Briarwood.

Looking for advice / opinions. I've searched this forum and can find a lot about the princess but very little about the Briarwood II.

Thanks

 

[daleeper]

I'm about to buy a insert. We've never heated with wood before. We've been looking at inserts and I think I've narrowed it down to two models both by blaze king. I like the Princess because of the efficiency, my wife and I both like the Brairwood because of the large viewing glass. We will be heating about 1500 sf, semi open ranch. This will be used to supplement our furnace but I'd rather burn then run the oil furnace.

The princess is about $1000 more than the Briarwood.

Looking for advice / opinions. I've searched this forum and can find a lot about the princess but very little about the Briarwood II.

Thanks

The Princess is very efficient because it has the cat and a thermostatically controlled air intake, the Briarwood II is a non-cat stove with a manual air control. Totally different stoves, so don't buy the Briarwood based on the discussions of the Princess or King stoves. If you are interested in burning a wood stove 24/7 low and slow, I doubt that anything will outperform the feature set that the Princess has, and in my opinion would be worth the extra money, no contest.

 

[HotCoals]

x2
Spend the xtra money and get it right the first time.

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Another vote for the Princess!

For reasons stated above. You will go through a lot less wood and have a much more EVEN heat throughout the burn.

Absolutely worth the extra $ IMHO

My neighbors 2 streets over bought a Princess insert and they just love it.
Good Luck, Hiram

 

[ecocavalier02]

+4 on that you'll never regret buying it. just make sure you get well ahead on your wood supply and let it dry good. and you'll be all set.

 

[CodyWayne718]

I don't have a BK but go with the Princess. My Colonial is rated to get the same amount burn time as the Briarwood II, this is my first full winter burning the Colonial and I'm already researching the Princess. I don't know from experiance but I'm willing to bet that once you figure out how to burn with it you will not be disappointed.