I've seen the Princess Model and King for sale used periodically, such as on Craig's List, but sadly not when I was looking. Hopefully the price will come down with the price of steel. I also think that if you buy in the spring, you might be able to deal better than now when everyone needs one.
The manual states no cat converter maintenace when the stove is burned hot and the cat in the active range. Once a year you can brush it off but they don't recommend anything more rough than that. My dealer said to do nothing to it until it seems to stop heating up, maybe once every 5 years or so. I've read of various things on the internet re: maintenance, but so far I'm trusting the manual.
I don't use a fresh air kit. I've read pros and cons to using or requiring it. I've read that if your house is that super sealed, then you might end up with problems from trapped vapour vs. using up all your air, or lose efficiency from heating warm air. If you go in and out of the house at all, that often is enough to provide some fresh air, or crack a window a touch if you're worried about it. I have two fresh air intakes into the basement but neither was intended precisely for the woodstove and neither feeds it directly. Both are in the basement where the woodstove sits. One is a 6" wide fresh air hose and sink intended to provide air for my wall mounted back up propane heater that I never use and have blocked it off since I put in the second air intake. I only ever use the propane heater as a backup for when I go away for a week or more in winter. The second air intake is the cat door, which leaks just enough to provide air when there is a draw. However during the coldest days, I cover that over with 4" of foam and duct tape to seal any leaks. I guess a 3rd air intake could be the slight bit of air that comes in from around my 2 year old basement metal door, which sadly had a cracked frame when I bought it but didn't see until I installed it and so the door is not sitting perfectly square inside the frame, but it's darned close but leaks a tiny bit.
I don't think that my house is super air tight anyway, at least not yet. I would like to improve the warm air and cool air gravity circulation. The main living room is my biggest problem due to the large and very old double pain windows that are basically R1 or R2 for insulation. It's an expensive fix and really is only noticeable during the -30 C days if you stand next to them.
I also live off grid and far from a town and filling my propane tank this summer (bad timing as the price halved 2 months later) is expensive. While another woodstove might be less expensive up front, I wasn't confident that others were less expensive to actually use or to fill with wood. I would not want to have to cut and hand split even more wood than I already do and I see it becomes more difficult as each year passes, now in my mid 50's and still in good health. I can't imagine even cutting double the cords of wood that I do now. My research had me figure that I'd want to pay now for a more efficient stove, than to pay later in labour or injury from cutting more wood. So far, my decision has proven me right, as I use much less wood than neighbours do in the same climate and much less than my old RSF stove did and in return, I'm getting more heat out of less wood and the bonus is, less pollution. Fortunately for me, I had the money, though barely to buy the stove. If I had to do it now, it would be a very difficult purchase, but I'd still do it. It is hard to wade through all the manufacturers advertising and efficiency hype, but I did find many users happy with the Cat version of the Blaze King and the Mfg tests seemed to be backed up by an independant lab, and my experience with it has been very good, so again I'm happy with my decision. I did A LOT of research and try to save money absolutely wherever I can, its even a sport for me. So spending extra on the Blaze King was not something that was a frivolous decision for me. And with out long term real world experience with other stoves, it's REALLY tough to make an absolute decision without taking some chance. I felt that in the end, I'd take a chance with the Blaze King more than I would with any other manufacturer.
Also, if our winter wasn't as long or as cold for weeks at a time as it can be, I'd have opted for the smaller Princess model and saved a few bucks, as the King is a touch too big for my place when the winter temps are normal and if I didn't have the one large wall full of windows. Hope this helps.
