Stainless Steel 4 frame Compatto Manual Honey Extractor Easipet (00127)

Only used this once so far but it easily beats others I've used.Some good points:* Very efficient extraction due to well chosen gear ratio.* Good design with honey draining directly into the reservoir below.*Built-in stainless filter sieve.* Very stable in use.* Easier to clean than some.Some points to watch though:* Sharp edges on some of the parts - though not serious enough on my example to warrant concern.* Clearance between the frame carrier and the drum is quite tight which if you've got a flow of honey going down the drum, prevents spinning at speed till it has drained. Might be improved by adjusting the drum position maybe, though I haven't tried this yet.*Edit 30/06/19: The plastic covers supplied can be used with the spinner mechanism in place - the plastic gear cover just needs a prod but they can't be used on the reservoir/strainer.* Could do with some handles on the reservoir as it's difficult to lift when full.* You can't see how full the reservoir is as you are extracting.Some points might seem a bit pithy but nothing mega and overall the pros easily outweigh the cons (watch those edges though!).

I've a;ready used this to extract a significant amount of honey and this piece of kit is up for the job. The tank and integrated filter do a super job of removing almost all the impurities, allowing a rapid decant through finer filters prior to bottling. This was a great buy and worth every penny.

This was priced around £200 when I purchased. In my view, very good value for money at that price. However, now advertised at £400, a price I consider unreasonably high. Not worth it. Look elsewhere.This is made by SAF, an Italian company that produces a wide range of similar products. It is robust and well designed. The shaped floor, for example, minimises waste. If you load frames in twos or fours it is stable and well balanced. Extraction is very efficient. Stainless throughout it combines an extractor with filter and collector. It works well and in my opinion represents good value for money. The upper part is a little difficult to clean, but that is probably true of extractors in general.Now, without in any way qualifying the positive comments above, think carefully before buying. This is a tangential extractor. When the frames have been uncapped and placed in the extractor it only extracts one side of the comb at a time. That is a trivial issue as you can simply turn the frames around to extract the remaining honey. But if you spin too fast the weight of honey on the inner side can easily push the comb out of the frame damaging it for future use.This is a big negative for most bee keepers as it helps the bees to have the frames returned, empty of honey, but with comb otherwise intact to save drawing out new wax. So in operation to preserve the comb you need to start extracting in a very gentle way and turn the frames after perhaps a quarter of one side has been extracted. Repeat and turn again at half extracted and again at three quarters. Basically tangential extractors can be very tough on comb if you don't work slowly and carefully, but this is true of all extractors of this type.If you are a new beekeeper or, like me, a keeper with just a few hives, the extra time required to reverse frames a few times is not a big issue. If you have numerous hives you will probably find it is too time consuming and will opt for a radial extractor.