That may work for you, but not for someone sticking one in a small living room. My point is, why do they make small stoves if big ones are always better choices?
After one season with the Vigilant in my basement, I'm pretty damn sure I would never put one in my living room. My living room is just about Jotul F100 size. And I wouldn't "upgrade" to a Defiant in my basement, even if it was free. 95% of the winter, we were at 72º throughout the house. The other 5% of the time we wore sweaters. Why would I want a bigger stove? This one's a perfect match for my situation.
I had a good friend who put a Defiant in his living room. He was a very experienced wood burner, but he said it was a big mistake. No matter how little wood he put in it, it always drove him out of the room except in the dead of winter. Once he got a coal bed established, even one split would get the room so hot he had to shut the air almost all the way. Then he had creosote problems. I used to work for the guy and I can honestly say I never once saw him fill it up and get it cranking. Most of the time it was in fireplace mode.
In my experience, a smaller fire in a big stove still puts out big stove heat... just not for very long. I can hit 650ºF stove top temps on my Vig with three small splits of cherry. Just how small can you go with a fire and get it to burn for more than an hour or two?
Yes, you can burn a tiny fire in a huge box, but it's hardly an elegant way to heat your space doing that all the time. I vote for careful planning, proper sizing, and air-limited burning of normal size loads (1/2 - 3/4 full).