GAS: I don't like the idea of depending on a utility for fuel. Pellet: They can be nice if you just want a heat source. But the fire is just to "busy" for me. I can never relax in front of one. Wood: You can have a very nice heat source and when you want you can shut down the air and have a nice "lazy" fire to relax in front of. I have been in homes with all three types of stoves. NOTHING is as nice as a real wood fire. But only you can decide what you want. Do you like the idea of just pressing a remote and you have a fire? Do you want to carry bags of pellets that must be kept in a dry storage place? Do you like carrying wood? The latter doesn't bother me at all. Wood heats many times. When you cut it, when you split it, when you stack it, and when you burn it. Now I'm in my late 50s and I live in an area that has many woodstoves. So the smell of woodsmoke in the air is a comforting one. It means our neighbors are all safe in their homes for the night. The idea of a gas stove with a remote control is too "Yuppie" for us. I look out at my cordwood and I know that my family will be safe, warm and dry for the entire winter even if the power goes out during a blizzard. I suggest you check them all out first hand. Look at the fire patterns of each. And then get what you like best. My gut feeling is that if you live in a suburban subdivision you'll get gas. Your neighbors won't like the sight of stacked cordwood. It'll mean you have an independent streak and we just can't have that.

I'm a compulsive shopper. I way way way way way overthink any purchase of more than $100, and I live in terror of not getting the best deal possible. I have been known to waste $5 in gas to save $1 in groceries. So when, like many homeowners, I was caught last Winter with my pants down and heating oil $4/gallon, I started wishing I had something else. We don't have a good spot for a stove, which would have been my 1st choice, but we did have a wonderful masonary fireplace/air conditioner so we decided to go that route. So I started to do my homework to pick the "best" insert for my fireplace. I wanted ease of install, plain black w/ no frills, STEEL FIREBOX, the most glass. I narrowed it down to two: PE Summit and Lopi Freedom (I found the Regency dealer too late). After figuring the demensions and installation constraints I realized the Summit wasn't going to fit easily, and that I'd have to do som major demo to get it to fit. I wanted the biggest firebox I could get. I also wanted the option to completely flush mount the unit, and that was something the Lopi would allow me to do. I went with the Freedom,(not the bay I swear those things look so gawdy in the pictures). It was more when factored on a price/cubic ft of firebox but I really wanted the largest firebox I could get. Larger firebox=more heat right? Well, yes and no. You can get more heat but you may not want it. My insert is in a room about 300sqft, and at a perpetual 80 degrees. The rest of the main floor of the home fluctuates between 65 and 72, depending on how long I'm burning hot and how many fans I have blowing. I expected this. I think I could've easily gone with a smaller insert, because save for 1 overnight burn I'm tending the fire every 2 hours anyway, so I could just as easily toss in more wood at that time. Also, I did the survey/install myself. An experienced dealer may have known from experience whether a larger Regency (in hindsight my fist pic) or PE Summit would have fit, but I was hung up on flush-mounting the stove into the hearth. I love the stove. Its a quality/lifetime item. The large glass is great, and I don't miss the hearth at all. It stays clean with dry wood, and if I choke it down and it gets dirty I run it hot the next morning and it burns right off. I'm buring my own wood from my land. If you have to buy wood I'd suggest you get a pellet stove. This being said, to do it again I'd get the mid-size Regency or PE. Afte all the concern of wanting to flush-mount the insert (little ones) we mounted it forward, so we could have a stovetop. It was the right decision, and when the power went out for 7 days it was a really really good decision. I can't move all the heat this stove puts out, and the other ones are just as good and cheaper. The regency is close to the same insert, and the blower is standard on their unit. My friend has the mid-size Regency, and he saved $500 over what I paid, which is like getting free installation. DO NOT BOTHER WITH AN INSERT IF YOU DON'T GET THE BLOWER. Trust me, you'll be disappointed and you're wasting your money.

Well Rhonda, I bought a Pacific Energy Summit Insert in New Milford. It's been run for just about 24 hours so far. So far, I love it. It cranks out the heat, the glass has stayed perfectly clear, big cubic foot area, using outside combustion air, I like the decor, the thermostatically controlled, variable speed fan is nice, and otherwise just a great addition to our house. It's got a patent on "extended burn" technology. I have not much experience, so I don't know how good that is. I went to bed at 2 PM last night with a single unsplit 6" diameter log in the middle of the unit. I got up at 8 when the kids started yelling, threw a few pieces in and went back to bed. In another 10 minutes I hear the kids ew-ing and ah-ing as the flames cranked up. A few minutes later the fan kicks on and my wife sits bolt upright and asks, "are the kids playing with the insert?" It was the thermostat! Hilarious stuff. Anyway, when the sun went down today and the temp dropped to below 50, I cranked it up to see what she could do. What's amazing is that the heat reaches the whole house to some extent. The upstairs and the peripheral rooms stay about 5 degrees cooler than the room with the insert, and, set on a medium setting, the insert had no problem keeping its room at 80 and the rest of the house at 75. Anyway, it's going to be in the seventies this week, so I won't be burning for a week. Good luck, and, after a single day, I can say I highly recommend Pacific Energy (made in Canada, so you know they know fire).

Don't believe the "92%" efficency on an Appalacian wood stove. I think the best wood stoves are at about 69-73%, but admittedly I have not done extensive research on these numbers. This is NOT a better brand of stove. Keep looking.