https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/13247/
is a recent thread from one forum member who has one - I think a couple other do.
Again, this seems to be a hardware store and .com (mail-order) brand as opposed to a "name brand".....I guess it depends on what you mean by name brand! I have seen them for years at trade shows, but I never knew any dealers that carried them. Does not mean they are not a good stove - I honestly don't know, but with a name like "Cheap Charlie", I do assume they are appealing to a certain customer segment. Different strokes for different folks. Maybe certain stoves are popular in one region and others in another, but the real "name brands" (as stove dealers tend to know them) are:
Enviro
Travis (Avalon/Lopi)
Harman
Whitfield (not made any longer, I don't think)
Quadrafire
St. Croix
and maybe a few lesser known brands, but companies like Danson are not usually mentioned. Again, does not mean they are not an adequate stove, just that they tend not to be in the showrooms of first tier dealers. Even that is not a measure of anything, but since you specifically asked about "name brand"........
On the other end of the equation, they have been making Pellet stoves for quite a long while, which is IMHO a good thing. Experience counts in this business, and not experience with wood stoves or other products. Pellet stoves are completely different animals.
It's funny, but at our trade shows what usually happens is that 5 or 10 companies will be making pellet stoves or a particular look of wood stoves one year, and next thing you know you come back to the show and 50 booths seem to have stoves copied from them! Economics 101, supply and demand. In this case, I predict a much larger supply of Pellet stoves than the demand for them, so there is likely to be blood in the street as manufacturers and dealer fight for the customer.
