Chocovision vs. Melter

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm looking at taking my hobby into (God willing :) a retail point of sale...just for the kitchen :) My question is this. I have a Chocovision Rev 2..which clearly will not make enough chocolate at 1 lb. each time. I'm contemplating going to the larger model ($1,600) but have heard through the grapevine, that you can temper chocolate using a microwave and melting it to about 118, pouring that mass into the warmer, and then adding seed chocolate as it cools, and when the entire mass gets to 90 degrees (stirring your little arms off along the way) that it should all be in temper and good to go. Is this true? Can you achieve professional results using a microwave & melther in this manner with say 6 lbs (4 melted, 2 seed)?....or should I just buck up and get the $1,600 Chocovision (and I'm going to need the melter regardless). Advice much appreciated.

updated by @amber-b: 04/13/15 06:58:39AM

You can temper the chocolate as you described. But why go through the hassle when the Chocovision will do it for you. We have 2 of them and they are marvellous, turn it on, melt, wait for a beep, press a button, wait for another beep and its done. There are so many other things you can do while the machine is tempering, whereas doing it yourself you have to be on it constantly.

i'm just barely getting a grip on tempering by hand, and can attest to the quality of results that are possible (not that i get them every time yet i just bought a chocovision x and while i'm glad to have it stirring for me and controlling everything, i'm confident that if and when it breaks, i can get the job done by hand. the way i see it is that you have a lot to gain by doing both--getting the machine AND learning by hand (plus, you can learn by hand while the machine is working for you good luck!

Thank you very much! Amber B.