In all my Experience, the best machine in a small yet easy to use is the Sinsation; now called Chocovision machine.

While basic in design, it will maintain a temper.

I have had a basic Sinsation machine; since I started making chocolates at home in 1998. It is still working, and provides me with enough chocolate to work with, for making small batches of Truffles.

The capacity is small at 1.5 pounds; however with some skill, you can increase the capacity by "drip-feeding" this is simply a plus-minus scenerio; where by you add more liquid chocolate at 90*F; upto 4 ounces at a time, when you remove the same quantity.
By doing this, you can easily increase your capacity; even though the machine is small in size, it doesn't have to be.

quote:

If there's little or no price difference between the chocolatier-electro and the Rev2, get the one with local support.

The Rev operates within normal chocolate working temperatures.

One thing I forgot to mention was capacity; the ACMC holds 2.5 kg as mentioned earlier, while the Rev2 holds around 700g.

The Little Dipper works in exactly the same manner as the ACMC in which you manually control the temperatures. Neither is an automatic temperer, but they do a great job anyway. The Little Dipper is US$1250 so it's also a little out of your intended expenditure range.

I can't even begin to imagine the JKV Junior would be in the 500 Euro neighborhood. Any wheel machine usually runs 1000 or more.

The Revolation machies are NOT unreliable. I have been using a Rev1 for over a year with zero issues.

The chocolatier-electro is a re-branded Revolation2.

If you do small batches and want hassle free automatic tempering, go with the Revolation. If you want more flexibility and the ability to manually set and regulate your temperatures go for the ACMC.

RedStar

I like to try a lot of different filling (ganache/truffle, whatever you like to call it) but I find myself spending nearly all of my time tempering the chocolate for the molds / coating. Especially while keeping the temperature correct after tempering.
Also a couple of times a year I have some friends over who think its fun to make the chocolate during holiday-seasons. They are not interested in learning to temper, just to make the stuff and have some to take home. And then its too bad that we use half the time, tempering chocolate instead of making delicious goodies :)

So what I'm looking for is something to let me concentrate on the fun stuff :) Either something that can do the whole tempering-routine and keep a constant temperature at the end or something that I can pour the chocolate into after tempering on a marble-plate and then keep the correct temperature while I dip or make a new batch of filling or waiting on molds to harden so they can be refilled.

I have found the following options:

1) ACME table top temperer (http://www.prembar.com/index.php?page=batch-tempering)

2) ACMC table top temperer (http://www.customchocolateshop.com/actatopchtem.html)

3) JKV Junior (http://www.jkvnl.com/Catalog/Machines_2.html#jkvjunior)
Don't know the price and can it even a temper?

4) Little Dipper (http://www.hilliardschocolate.com/pages/cfEquipment_LittleDipper.cfm)
Con: Other thread mentioned it was not an actual temperer, but more an advanced temperature-controller.

5) Revolation 2 (http://www.chocovision.com/choco/site/revolation2_spec.htm)
Pros: Cheap
Cons: It was mentioned that it wasn't very reliable

6) chocolatier-electro (http://www.chocolatier-electro.com/english/)

Did I miss any of the good ones? My pricerange is max $700 / £500 / €500 as I live in Denmark and will probably have to endure heavy taxes and toll.

One last question that has bothered me for some time. The chocolate used for coating, is that harmed by the it? I always end up making chocolate-raisins or some such of the rest of the chocolate instead of saving it as I'm unsure if its "pure" enough to re-temper on a later date and use for molding?

Thank you all in advance for the help.
Jesper