The reason they are tying to upsell you, is that with Inserts, you want to get the most Fireplace for your opening. (You don't want a surround that's bigger than your actual Fireplace). I don't believe there is actuallly much of a differance as far as heat output between the two on the low setting anyway (a differance of ~2,000 BTu's). Is this room open to others? Is ther an open (upward) staircase? With only 200sqft in a closed off room, with either unit you may find yourself rarely even turning it on. If it is open, IMO, go with the bigger one.

Both will perform the same, and yes, like a Furnace (If you are using a Thermostat for it). It will not hurt the units at all nor decrease their efficiency to cycle on/off w/ the T-stat. These have been designed and tested to perform at all settings. In fact, you will find yourself using your Furnace much less. Thus, having the Fireplace paying for itself.

I have not seen either of these units run, but from being in the industry for a while, I can tell you I've heard better of the Xtrordinair brand. Just make sure they stand behind their product and offer service. If there is a dealer in your vacinity, another good brand you might want to look into is Heat & Glo.

Enjoy.

Thanks for your response. Based on this, and a couple of additional conversations, I think we'll be going with the 34DVL.

Our 200 sq. ft. living room has two doorways: a 6 ft. wide opening to a dining room and adjoining kitchen (~325 sq. ft. total), and a 3 ft. wide opening to a long hallway. The entire single story house is only 1,350 sq. ft.

If natural convection manages to work it's way around, then we'll be very happy -- I've seen plenty of reports where people claim to heat entire homes with just one insert. That would be great if it worked out that way...