Also, unlike the founder of lev tahor, barland was, at some point, a talmid chochom who was recognized as such. He was a rosh yeshiva who gave shiurim. He was held in moderate esteem by his contemporaries, but was not without his detractors either.
LT was started by a confused, probably manic depressive megalomaniac with little education who decided that the whole world was off the derech.