[KevinR]

I'm starting to make enough honey that my old 4 frame hand crank extractor is becoming a little tedious.

I'm looking for opinion/options for around a 18+/- frame extractor.

Maxant has a 20 frame for ~1500+200 something shipping.

Mannlake has a 18 frame for 1300 with free shipping.

Any other options that I should be looking at?

Is the Maxant worth the extra 400 bucks over the Mann Lake?

Thanks

 

[hedges]

I can't speak comparatively, but the maxant machine is really beautiful. The people are really nice and helpful, and I live in state so I've seen their factory.

I have that 20 frame and I love it. High quality. See if you can find some kind of deal on it, would be my advice.

 

[Ross]

Take a look at the Dadant 20 frame. It holds 36 mediums and fits through a 32 inch door. Mine is over 20 years old, bought used, and works just fine.

 

[grozzie2]

We bought the Mann Lake 18 frame unit just before christmas, one of those year end things, had to spend the money before year end, so we haven't used it to extract honey yet. I have spun it up with a load of empty frames, and it seemed to be fine for what we want. Our reason for going with the Mann Lake over the Maxant was simply cost. I could get the Mann Lake unit at it's listed price, with no shipping charges, by going thru our local source. To get the Maxant, it was considerably higher than the website listed price if I purchased thru nearest vendor, and then a very large shipping charge on top of that. When the dust settled, it was going to be twice the cost for us.

When I picked up our extractor, it was complete. The legs were bolted to a plywood base, all enclosed in a cardboard shipping box. We peeled off the box, plugged it in, and turned it on. I'm happy with it so far, but, the proof of the pudding will come in another couple months when we start running supers of honey thru it. My biggest gripe so far, it's not quite high enough for a 5 gallon bucket to sit under the spigot, shy a couple of inches, but 3 gallon bucket fits well. That's not a big deal, and if we stay on our current plans, eventually we'll be extracting strait into a tank of some type anyways.

 

[Colobee]

I bought ML's 20 radial last year and got what I expected/wanted, a lighter, more compact machine. It appears to be quite capable and handled the first (only) loads with ease.

My ~50 YO old Maxant 30 is a beast - ~4x the size, and ~10X the weight, and will likely outlast 10 of the ML's. It appears the ML-20 is no longer available, but the 18 should be an adequate intermediate extractor if it's similarly built.

 

[LeonardS]

I have used my Mann Lake 18 frame for the last two years and love it! Too bad you weren't watching the Mann Lake sales over the Holidays. I think the 18 frame was $995 with the motor. That was a buy!

My extractor runs as smooth as can be. I do not have it bolted to anything, it just sits on the floor.

The comment on a 5 gallon pail not fitting under the valve......my 5 gallon pails fit fine under mine.....even with a strainer on top and with the rear of it tilted after I am done extracting. I wonder if the legs were made different heights in different years?

 

[John R C]

I'm thinking of getting an 18 frame brushy mountain model myself. They are listed at 995.00 on the website.

 

[KevinR]

That could be another option. I called them to request a shipping quote and to see the thickness gauge of the steel.

 

[Moots]

I agree with hedges....

Have owned nothing but my Maxant 9 frame, which I'm extremely please with... But the Maxant 20 is a thing of beauty, I'll probably never grow my operation to the point of needing it, but if I ever upgrade my extractor, it's the way I'll go.

 

[challenger]

I can't speak comparatively, but the maxant machine is really beautiful. The people are really nice and helpful, and I live in state so I've seen their factory.

I have that 20 frame and I love it. High quality. See if you can find some kind of deal on it, would be my advice.

Same here. It is a bad ***** extractor. Great people too. Don't know anything about the Mann Lake unit-sorry.

 

[My-smokepole]

I look hard at the Maxant one. But went for Dudants 20 / 30 frame one. I Haven't used it but have seen it work. It Look good. the deciding factor that was just a couple of hundred $. And the dc motor no belts.
David

 

[KevinR]

Dadants will roughly be the same price as the maxant, but has the option to stuff 30+ frames into. Can you take a picture of the inside of your 20/30 one, specifically the basket? Dadant's pictures suck. You'd think they would spend more time on pictures for something that someone is paying 1k+ for.

 

[KevinR]

Looks like I'll be leaning toward the Brushy Mountain one...

Mannlakes is 26ga at 1295.00 shipped
Brushy is 22ga at 1261.40 shipped.
Maxant is 20ga at 1,395.00 + 225-275 shipping and a 2 week back order.

Any thoughts/concerns over the Brushy Mountain one?

 

[MAXANT]

Shipping will probably be a little less. We don't like to give firm quotes until we are a few days out from shipping.

Looks like I'll be leaning toward the Brushy Mountain one...

Mannlakes is 26ga at 1295.00 shipped
Brushy is 22ga at 1261.40 shipped.
Maxant is 20ga at 1,395.00 + 225-275 shipping and a 2 week back order.

Any thoughts/concerns over the Brushy Mountain one?

 

[KevinR]

I broke down and ordered from Maxant... Didn't like the thin metal on the ML. Brushy was almost a month backordered.

I figured worst case, the Maxant should have a better resale value.. So I spent the extra 300-400 dollars on it.

Hopefully there will be a couple cool hats in the crate. *wink wink nudge nudge*

Will follow up in ~3 weeks with initial thoughts.

 

[MAXANT]

:applause:

 

[KevinR]

Extractor just showed up at the house, it's about week early.. Woohoo!! Tweaked my back, so I can't move it around or play with it much, but it was packed well and appears to be well made.

I'll upload some pictures of the new precious shortly..... There was also some Maxant swag included in the box to wear to the bee meetings...

More info to follow...

 

[F6Hawk]

I wonder why they don't put wheels on them? I am pretty sure I would do that as soon as it arrived, if I were to ever buy one.

 

[Tennessee's Bees LLC]

Extractor just showed up at the house, it's about week early.. Woohoo!! Tweaked my back, so I can't move it around or play with it much, but it was packed well and appears to be well made.

I'll upload some pictures of the new precious shortly..... There was also some Maxant swag included in the box to wear to the bee meetings...

More info to follow...

Maxants are a hoss. Yes heavy but your great grandkids could be using it. Tough extractors.