Been burning the three tons of Fireside Ultras I bought when we installed the stove in mid Nov. Have been happy with the results, pretty clean, not much ash pretty good heat. I had nothing to compare them with. Well all I can say is WOW. These Turmans burn much hotter, much cleaner and did I mention much hotter. Only been through 5 bags but even with the relatively warm weather I can certainly tell the difference. Also bought a ton of Barefoots to try out. Figure I'll run 10 bags of the Turmans then try the Barefoots for comparison. I did notice they appear to be smaller pellets than the FU's which may contribute to the additional heat (more exposed surfaces).