I read a lot of reviews before buying our stove, and the consensus was, if you are going to buy one, spend a little extra and buy a good one. We went with a Harman for around $2500. A good wood stove (we wanted one that looks nice) would have cost within $1k of that. To answer some of your questions, Grumpy:
1. Jamming - ours almost never jams. We had some pellets (Ozark Hardwood Products) that were 2-3" long, and they would cause the stove to jam. Once we quit using them, we have not had a jam since.
2. Our will hold 60 lbs of pellets, or a bag and a half. That will last almost 2 full days.
3. Thermostat - ours has a thermostat and will hold our basement (that's where we have ours) within a half degree of what we set the thermostat at. Try that with a wood stove! I keep ours set at about 73, and it heats almost our whole house. Though our pellet stove is not for our main heat source, it was still cold in the basement since the house was not initially set up for heating the basement well. The pellet stove cured that.
4. Ours has not needed any repairs outside of an igniter that is out. I just use the gel instead of replacing the igniter.
5. Outside air source - you don't HAVE to have an outside air source, but the stove works better that way. Besides, you have to go somewhere with the exhaust, may as well bring in some fresh air while you are at it.
6. I usually burn about 1.5-2 tons (pallets) of pellets each year. It's usually $175-$190/ton for pellets. We keep our house warmer, but spend less money than when we had only propane heat.
7. Storage - I have a garage right next to my pellet stove in the basement, so it is very convenient.
8. Cleaning - cleaning is simple. Twice a week, I take a scraper and scrape the firebox while the fire is burning. This takes about 15-20 seconds. Once every other week, I shut the stove down, scrape the firebox well, clean the heat exchanger tubes, clean the glass, and fire the stove back up. This takes about 10 minutes of my time. Then, twice a year, I have to dump the ash pan. Yes, twice a year, not weekly like a wood stove. I usually shut the stove down and give it a good, thorough cleaning when I do this. It takes about 30 minutes.
Now, as far as a wood stove, we looked into one. However, we were going to have to add a flu, which would have cost more than the entire pellet stove, intake, exhaust and interior "niceties" I put in to make it look nice around our stove.
Wood is messy. Plain and simple, it's messy, it's dusty, and yes, it's a lot of work. Plus, 3 of the 5 of us in our house have allergies and sinus issues, and the dryness of the air plus the dust from the wood stove is absolutely horrible for that. Prior to last October when we bought some land, I didn't have any place to cut wood. So, I either would have had to purchase it, or find someone to allow me to cut wood on their land. Like it or not, there are a lot of costs associated with cutting wood, from chainsaws, chains, gas, fuel to get the wood home, etc. Honestly, it would have probably cost me more than the $350-$400 that I currently spend on pellets for wood.
We had wood heat when I was a kid, and I loved the warmth. I wanted wood heat now, but with all the drawbacks I mentioned above, it was not really an option for us. So, we have a pellet stove that gives us the warmth of wood heat without all of the hassles and drawbacks of wood.
Hopefully this sheds some light and helps out.
