just a question, which are better, i was told softwood are by far superior

The only way to tell is to try some yourself. Soft are supposed to be higher BTU, less ash, I've never found that to justify the added cost. Everyone's stove runs different and is set up different.
In my stove softwood pellets seem to smoke up the glass faster and I don't see an increase in heat output so I just go with the hardwoods now.
I no longer pay attention to any PFI ratings, I've never found them of much value myself.
In General Corn Burning questions I started a topic about pellets/fuel, guys are starting to rate pellets that they've used there, so check that out and add to it once you find a pellet you like, and also tell us which don't work for you.
Good luck.

IMHO I think it's more about who makes the pellet and less about soft or hardwood. Cubex is hardwood and Okanagan I believe is western softwood and both are amoung the best you can buy. Bayou is hardwood and are not that good in tests although raw material is the same as Cubex.

Some softwood I tried burning years ago burned up too fast, whereas the hard wood would burn longer. Can't remember the brand, but they smelled like pine. Might be nice under the artificial Christmas tree.

To make matters more confusing... there's also hardwood/softwood blends

Softwoods don't seem to be too readily available around here as our place of purchase options are slim at best. I did try some pine pellets last year, but didn't care for them. I couldn't get enough air though them to burn them well. Perhaps the new Quad will perform well on them.

Guys who get lots of choices tend to like the Douglas Fir pellets if they can afford them.

jrsdws Congrats on your new stove. Sounds like a nice one. Pictures please. What does non ae mean?

Non AE just means it's the original Mt Vernon model. Quad introduced the Mt Vernon AE in like 2006. It's a fancy job with lots of settings and self cleaning pot. Mine was made early 2006 and simply has 4 heat settings.

Here's a picture:




I have since spruced it up...full cleaning in and out...painted cast iron fire box panels and everything inside...new gaskets, etc.

Apologies to OP for hijacking the thread.

OOps