Hi Daniel,
The machine I had didn't have a heated blower, so I don't know how much of a difference it would have made. For me, having gone from the wheel machine to a continuous tempering machine, I have just felt like the continuous tempering means you have one less thing to worry about. When you are enrobing a lot of centers, the last thing you want to be worrying about is the changing thickness of your chocolate. I also know, that when I enrobe I want to get the shiniest finish possible - for this reason adjusting the temperature of the chocolate to thin it out is the last thing I want to do. If I start enrobing at 30, I want to enrobe at 30 all day long, as it should result in complete consistancy.
I have had a Savy Goiseau Crystal 185 continuous tempering machine and enrober, which was pretty good. The quality of temper was pretty good and the quality of enrobe that you could get was pretty good too - far above what I could achieve with the Prefamac wheel machine. No bubbles, paper thin covering with no feet.
I have then moved onto a Sollich enrobing line with cooling tunnel, which obviously is a different beast altogether again. The Sollich is an absolute joy to use - the quality of temper, the quality of covering is just exceptional. When I bought our Sollich enrobing line, the guy selling it said, the best way to describe a Sollich and a wheel tempering enrober would be that the Sollich is the Rolls Royce and the wheel machine is a Fiat Panda.
For me, I would rank the enrobing machines I have had as the equivalent of the cars below:
Prefamac Wheel Macine: Fiat
Savy Goiseau Crystal 185: Citroen
Selmi Plus w/Enrober: BMW
Sollich: Rolls Royce
All of the machines above are all at very different price points, and something like a Sollich is not practical for the small workshop, however as I have said before, if I was starting out, I would buy a second hand continuous tempering/enrobing machine, rather than a new wheel machine.
You can see my work on my companies Instagram page: http://instagram.com/chocsoc
If you have any other questions about machinery, please give me a shout.