how aboutfranco b wrote:What makes it hard is that for everyone of the stoves mentioned there is another stove that does one or more of the basic things of a stove better. Not one does it all best.
The basics are:
Fire pot design
Grate
Ash pan
Air control
Method of feed
Heat exchange
Tending ease and cleanliness.
As an example if I could only have one of the stoves mentioned I would choose the Crawford, but would wish it had the grate style and feed and air handling of the Hitzer.
GW 113 "type" stove, not nec. round body
round deep suspended pot
GW tri plex style grates
pan big enough to run 3 days min.
bi metal thermostatic primaries
fixed secondaries or, manual for the purists.
magazine standard
radiant surface area and internal direct mode outlet both optimized for ratio of grate surface and both direct or base mode firing
optional double heater feature and / or three side fire view option.
shielded grate shaking for closed door, low or no dust operation.