Review of Parkray Consort 4
Consort 4 Revisited
When I last reviewed this stove I was pleased with my purchase. At that time I had been using the stove for only a few weeks. I was pleased with everything except controlability. I have been living with the stove for over a year now and thought that I should write another review from a more informed and experienced perspective. After all, at that time I was a novice in the world of stoves; now, I consider myself more experienced and more aware. So, here goes.
In short, this is a great little stove. Its best features are the ease of lighting [amazingly easy], its appearance [smart, understated, a nice middle ground between traditional and modern], build quality [solid and still looks great after a lot of use], ease of use [a quick sweep up around the stove is all that's needed in terms of daily maintenance], airwash [very effective]. In my last review I indicated that I was disappointed with the controlability. That was the voice of inexperience! I now find it very controllable with fine adjustments to the secondary air control. I believe that I was being too heavy-handed previously, sliding the control too vigorously from fully closed to fully open. Now, I've learned a gentler approach and the results are fine. It just shows that hasty judgements can be wrong judgements. MY rating of 4 for burning overnight has to stand, in fact it is reduced, because I find that the stove needs frequent topping-up in order to burn efficiently and there is no way in my experience that it would burn overnight. I do use only wood, however, and it might perform differently with the black stuff. Again, inexperience! Overall, I'm delighted with this stove and the whole stove experience in general. Indeed, I've just bought another for another room in the house. No, I did not buy another Consort 4. This time I needed a bigger one and went for an Esse insert. I'm just about to fit it. I'll wait a few months and really get to know the stove before I hit the review button this time.Stove expert replied: It is great to get further reviews from the more experienced user, a fairer overview of a product!
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