Never had the luxury of a Cal Rod igniter. I use hand sanitizer (readily available with Covid) or Rutland Starter Gel. My old workhorse is wired to a remote T'stat so when the T'stat is satisfied, the stove goes to low fire and stays there. I programmed the low fire parameter to just provide enough fuel to keep it burning. It 'idles' do low, the room air blower will cycle on and off.
Running field corn and pellets, I have to start the stove on straight pellets, it's basically impossible to start on corn.
Don't actually know if I'd like one anyway. Convenience comes with a price and that is a more complex stove.
I won't even light it until the ambient outside temps are in the 30's anyway. Propane here is cheaper than any solid fuel (corn or pellets) per realized BTU so the stove will only aid the central furnace this winter.
I have 2 tons of hardwood pellets in the barn and10 ton of shelled 12% field corn in a grain tank, ready to go. Of course the cattle are eating the the corn as well....