But, it is still added cost and maintenance. And, you can still destroy a cat by running the cat at temps that are too high. Buying a $200-$300 cat every few years may not sound like much if you break it down by cost per year, but it is still a couple of hundred dollars out of your pocket at that time. And for some, that is added cost that just isn't worth it. At $250, that is nearly a third of the price of a new 30. Nearly 40% if you got your 30 at $650. That can't be ignored.
Cat stoves are great, but, there is added cost and maintenance to the stoves.
IMO cost is recouped in the lesser amount of wood burned; less chainsaw fuel and oil, chain, chainsharpening, fuel to get to scrounges, wear and tear on vehicles & trailers etc over the six or so years of a cat's life; and convenience and less work of longer burns. Half a cord a year saved = 3 cords saved per cat, and that is conservative. That half cord or more of wood saved per year costs you $30 in cat. Who wouldn't buy good wood at $60/cord? At that price, not worth the effort or expense of getting it yourself /
Maintenance? Less work getting the wood more than makes up for "maintenance" time, as does infrequency of chimney cleaning. Brushing a cat once or twice a season takes less time than sweeping a chimney....,my chimney has gone 2 years between sweeps, less than 2 cups fine soot, all in lower part of stovepipe. I know of no other maintenance peculiar to a cat. Replacing a cat takes a total of under 10 minutes. No longer or harder than removing ash. It's minor routine maintenance.
Five + years with Fireview, cleaned chimney max 1 x year, sometimes every other, checked cat once a year, never needed cleaning...never had one cell clogged. A bit of powder would come out, but very little. Probably would have been better off just leaving it alone too. Essentially no maintenance. No problem ever with the stove. Unless other cat stoves are vastly different than Woodstock's, don't really understand why this is even a subject for debate.
IMO it's just a question of which you prefer, whether you are willing to take and are interested in taking the little time it takes in the first week or so to learn when to engage a cat; whether you are prepared to burn only clean wood (no used wood with finishes, etc); whether you will not overfire your stove. If you do those things, your cat will last many years and more than pay for itself.
The large new stainless cat for the PH is $175. That means you can replace your cat three times before you are within striking distance of the cost of a $650 30. Stove comes with a cat =6 years. Three new cats = 18 years. Total 24 years before you are within $125.00 of the cost of the 30. So IMO you can ignore that.
Low end cat stoves may be more expensive up front than low end secondary burn stoves...I don't know; and it may well be hard for many people to come up with $200 suddenly for a replacement cat. If you are in that catagory and have a cat stove, you can budget for the cat. You know you'll likely need one every 6 years...so put $3/month aside for the stove, or buy a replacement as a present for yourself a year or two in advance. be aware the warrantee runs from the date of purchase.
Finances are a valid concern, and for some the most important factor in choosing a stove will be the net out of pocket expense. And that is fine. We ideally should all be getting the stove that is best suited to us..that's a big part of what this forum is all about. For some, who do all their firewood c/s/s primarily by hand on foot on their own property, there may be little oop cost in acquiring firewood, and the cat may cost more than non-cat. But very few. The vast majority are spending a heck of a lot more on toys.
And it is interesting to see the same people advocating spending $60 on Super Cedars, for convenience, who are concerned about spending $30 on cats, for efficiency.
Cat stoves are frequently burned much cooler most of the time, and I seriously wonder whether that doesn't equate to longer stove life and less true routine maintenance during the course of the life of the stove.