Need Help Deciding - Woodstove Recommendation

[josde21]

I would really appreciate some advice here. I need to make a decision imminently on a new wood stove for this season - I have always been a Vermont Castings fan, but I went to our local store here and was pretty disappointed with the quality on the new stoves compared to other options at the store - specifically Hearthstone and Jotul models. The Jotul f500 v3 is beautiful too, but not a contender for me because I don't like not being able to run it and start fires with it not running through the catalytic. If anyone has a source for the prior version f500 oslo that has a bypass damper and wants to sell that to me I would be very interested!

I really like the look of the VC Defiant, but the Hearthstone Manchester just seemed to be a nicer quality and build comparatively.

House is about 2000 square feet with cathedral ceilings in the room where the stove is going - two ceiling fans to help move the air... I will use this as a primary heat source.

So I am reaching out before placing my order to ask the community - is my instinct to avoid that Defiant correct? Is the Hearthstone Manchester the better option? I'd like to hear experiences, and open to hearing that I am wrong on the build quality of the new VC's.

 

[Todd]

Yeah personally I’d stay away from VC. I’ve just seen too many reports of them being difficult or finicky to operate.

Heating a large space with cathedral ceilings you want a good radiant heating stove. I’m not familiar with the Manchester but I believe it is similar to the Jotul 500 V3, both being cat/noncat hybrids.

If it were me I would look into the Woodstock Progress for that kind of space.

 

[stovelark]

Hard to go wrong with a Jotul or Hearthstone, both quality stove companies. Many others too. I have had a Hearthstone and an Oslo F500 non-cat version, it was a super heater. In the long run, myself I prefer the simple to operate and very durable steel frame stoves, altho they are not as pretty as their cast sisters... IMO.