Woodstock versus Hearthstone

[thinkxingu]

Gee, sounds like you had a bad Hearthstone dealer experience! As for cost, it's much cheaper not having a middle man to pay--even if stove shops are making only 20 percent or so, that's the difference between your prices.

The Heritage has a shorter burn time because it's a non-cat stove. Make sure you read up on the differences if you aren't aware of them.

As for "the deal" or "wanting value," you and I seem to differ--the time I have something instead of waiting to save a few bucks is worth money to me. For example, the three or four months you spend shopping to save $300 on the Keystone (the coldest part of the year, gone by, I might add), I'd be sitting next to a nice warm stove and saving that money in heating costs!

Finally, at this time of the year I suppose one should expect to pay sticker for a wood stove. An air conditioner, on the other hand, you might be able to swing a deal.

Good luck,

S

 

[ccosborne3]

Gee, sounds like you had a bad Hearthstone dealer experience! As for cost, it's much cheaper not having a middle man to pay--even if stove shops are making only 20 percent or so, that's the difference between your prices.

The Heritage has a shorter burn time because it's a non-cat stove. Make sure you read up on the differences if you aren't aware of them.

As for "the deal" or "wanting value," you and I seem to differ--the time I have something instead of waiting to save a few bucks is worth money to me. For example, the three or four months you spend shopping to save $300 on the Keystone (the coldest part of the year, gone by, I might add), I'd be sitting next to a nice warm stove and saving that money in heating costs!

Finally, at this time of the year I suppose one should expect to pay sticker for a wood stove. An air conditioner, on the other hand, you might be able to swing a deal.

Good luck,

S

No, not a bad experience. He wasn't rude. Hmmm, maybe we do differ. I took a couple of weeks to make a smart, informed decision. I plan on taking even longer to design and build a hearth. Now that I've chosen the stove I want to purchase it should be that much easier to figure the dimensions and materials I'll be using not to mention coming up with an interesting color scheme and design. It may end up being quite intricate. It'll be a fun challenge regardless. After completing the hearth (March or April, right on schedule) I'll make the best deal I can for a Keystone and the stove pipe and chimney, they offer a kit that's perfect for my setup, flat ceiling, slanted roof. I will then have it installed offseason. I may even take a shot at it myself. Looks pretty easy. When all is said and done, I expect my out of pocket cost will be just north of 2K. Thanks for the input.

 

[BurnerPB]

ccosborne3,

You may want to, as advised in the above post, purchase it now. (WS)Woodstock is, in addition to having the end of December sale, having a 20% off of accessories sale. Maybe you can call WS and review some options with them. It might be possible to just put down a $250.00 deposit to "lock in" the sale price, then save on accessories such as the stove pipe, chimney, ceiling kit, etc.

WS's chimney components are a bit "pricey" but they only sell the best. I purchased my Selkirk/MetalBestos chimney elsewhere and saved a bundle. The drawback was that some of the pieces were banged up. Fortunately, most are concealed in a chase that I built.

The one component that I did not want to take a chance on was the chimney adapter piece that goes from the stovepipe to the SS chimney at the ceiling. It was bent "out of round." I called WS and the one that they sent to me was nicely packaged with protective paper and was in perfect shape.

You will not regret the choice that you made to go with WS.

Mike

 

[BrowningBAR]

My father in-law has the Heritage and my neighbor has a non-cat fireview (older model, same look, though). I like them both. I am more partial to the Heritage as I have actually worked with it more and the firebox seems a lot larger, which I have come to appreciate in a stove.

If it was me, I would go with the cheaper stove, in this case as the are both great stoves and the Fireview has a great look to it.

 

[thinkxingu]

Make sure you post pics when done, otherwise 'it never happened.'

 

[yanksforever]

Love my Mansfield...Its just a matter of size and choice...size does matter! :coolsmile:

 

[scotsman]

It is good to see so many having the Woodstock stoves. It is also funny that, like CTburning, we also were set on not getting a cat stove after reading and hearing some bad things about the cats. Then we ended up with a cat stove anyway and love it.

On the larger Woodstock stove, they are definitely working on one but so far I believe it is only in the firebox stage. Just a guess, but I'd say a year or more before we hear much more about it. I definitely feel they would have a large market for them.

On the looks, although I do really like most of the Hearthstone line and others I can't see why anyone would not like the Woodstock stove looks. They are a beautiful stove. Even when not used, it is still a beautiful piece of furniture.

So, Terry, is this enough information or do you still need more? Did I mention we use only half the amount of wood we used to and stay much warmer? And the wife can take care of the stove all by herself when necessary.

Hey Dennis! Was going through older threads and found this. I ordered the FV today, even though I think it's too small. So, we'll see how it goes. I may have installation questions now that the stove issue is settled.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Well Terry, you did take some time to make up your mind (we did the same) and I do not think you will be disappointed in the least. You will more likely be amazed.

Congratulations.

 

[Highbeam]

There were two questions:

1) The Heritage is priced $700 more than the Fireview. It has a slightly larger firebox and a much shorter burn time. Why is that?

This is because one stove is a catalytic model and the other a non-cat. You will find that non-cat stoves make up the hug huge majority of stove sales. Be warned though that to get that long burn time from the cat stove you will need to have a low heat output during the burn.


2) There is an $1150 price difference between the Heritage and the Tribute. Why is there only a $150 price difference between the Fireview and Keystone?

Because the heritage is a lot more stove than the tiny tribute. The keystone is only slightly smaller and less complex than the fireview. Also, it is not fair to try and equate stove value increments within a brand to other brand increments. Each stove has its own merits and value.


I bet I know why the brick and mortar guys weren't nice to you. You went in during their busiest time of year and tried to beat them out of any profits, right?

 

[ccosborne3]

I bet I know why the brick and mortar guys weren't nice to you. You went in during their busiest time of year and tried to chew them out of any profits, right?

I did the same thing with them I would have done had a car salesman tried to offer me a car at MSRP plus shipping charges during a President's day sale, I left. It's odd that the prevalent opinion around here is to pay the highest price possible and be happy that you got it. I wouldn't do that with buying a car all the way down to buying groceries for the week. I bought my nephews a PS3 for Christmas and took advantage of the Black Friday deal at Best Buy. Instead of giving them a base system I was able to have some games bundled into it for the same $299 price most of America paid. When I bought a flat screen LCD last year I priced them all out and got the best available one on sale.

Why should buying a stove be any different?

 

[Highbeam]

Do you go to McDonalds and offer them 75 cents for items on the dollar menu? This isn't a president's day sale, this is the busiest time of year. If you don't like their price then move on, it sounds like you did just that. Are you going to try and chew down the best price offered by woodstock? There's a difference between being frugal and being offensive.

Given the prices, and also given that the woodstock will do the job for you, I agree that the heritage is overpriced and that you should choose the woodstock. I wouldn't have paid today's MSRP for my heritage.

 

[ccosborne3]

Do you go to McDonalds and offer them 75 cents for items on the dollar menu? This isn't a president's day sale, this is the busiest time of year. If you don't like their price then move on, it sounds like you did just that. Are you going to try and chew down the best price offered by woodstock? There's a difference between being frugal and being offensive.

You seem to have fictionalized some event in your mind where I walked into a stove shop and dramatically insisted upon a massive discount. The only offer made between either party was the MSRP plus shipping. It was politely turned down. I have no intention and have stated no intention to haggle a damn thing. I will however take advantage of any sale price offered by a seller. Thanks for your invaluable help.

 

[Highbeam]

For the Hearthstone guys to do what you said:

"If you show up at Hearthstone and ask for the same they throw stone dust on you and call you a stove nerd. Very unprofessional."

I concluded that you must have deserved it. If you politely turned down the dealer's prices then that is very acceptable. Shopping for a good price is being frugal and I think wise, chewing them down is where I don't agree. You might get stone dust thrown on you. Are you now saying that you never even went to Hearthstone before slandering them here?

 

[thinkxingu]

Highbeam, I got the same impression. CC, I'm not sure where you got the idea that the "prevalent opinion around here is to pay the highest price possible and be happy that you got it." I think we're just picking up on the fact that you were surprised, dissapointed, upset--however you'd like to put it--that the dealer would expect retail during the busiest time of the year. What did surprise me in your story, however, is that the dealer would have also charged you for shipping. Although a couple dealers near us expected retail price, it was expected (both from me and them) that to get it there is their responsibility.

Finally, there are many parts to a sale. Dealers will often sell stoves at retail but make a deal on the accessories and install (we only got 10% off the stove but almost 50% of acc. and install); like most retailers, I'm not sure they make much money on the actual item but rather on the accouterments, but it sounds like you didn't get that far.

S

 

[begreen]

Closing thread for obvious reasons and cleanup. This is not the place for personal attacks. They will be deleted. Time to go back in your corners folks.