I had a larger model mendota at the last home we built. It had 60 in the model number, but I cant remember the exact model. It put out an awesome amount of heat, I wouldnt hesitate to put in another one. It had a realistic log set in it as well. I didnt do much comparison shopping, so I dont know that it was the best buy, it just seemed to stand out and appealed to us. We were at a home show that had many fireplaces in it and it impressed me the most. I was looking for a particularly large fireplace. It had the look we wanted, it put out good heat and was large enough for our family room.

I was torn b/w the large mendota and the large heat & glo escape & ended up with the escape. The escape gives a larger viewing area & that was important to me. The final deciding factor for me was that the same log set is used in the 2 largest sizes of the mendota. The largest mendota should have a larger log set, but it doesn't and there is an awkward gap on the sides. The logs look too small for the box, imo. I think the prices b/w the two are fairly comparable.

We have the dxv 35 in our bedroom and love it. The look of the burning fire is really authentic - nothing fake looking about it. It throws a lot of heat quickly, to take the chill off. In this cold weather, we use it every night. The one thing I wish it had is a timer, so that it would turn off automatically if we fall asleep first.

we built a house 4 years ago and considered the mendota dxv45 and a fireplace extrodinaire 36xl i think was the model number. we went with the mendota- the flames looked the best to us and it came as a complete package. the xtrodinaire was very "al a carte", although they did end up nearly the same in price.

fast forward, we are building another house now and i saw a town and country (didn't care for), the mendota dxv45 (again), fireplace extrodinare 864HH, and a heat n glo 6000GLX. they were all nice- i like the accent lights and the brick choices on the HH and the GLX. BUT the flames still look the best on the mendota to me. Which is what we have decided to go with---again. we are also considering the mendota DXV60, but am worried about the logs looking awkward as a previous poster has stated. Mendota also has great customer service.