The cost of pellets totally put me off replacing the wood burning insert with a pellet insert, it costs me around €20-25 to heat the whole house using wood, pellets would be extortionate for us.
We have a log burner and a granule, on different storeys and each has it’s merits and drawbacks, so your account made an interesting read.
If we had friends locally who also used pellets, we’d explore this option together,