Hi Aura.
11 origins. Wow. Do you mean the Prima?
I'm still searching for answers myself but I've learnt alot in the past few weeks.
It depends on what your chocolate is like, what your throughput is like (how fast you will use the chocolate in the machine), what you are making (bars?), how big your batch is. Its a minefield out there and not alot of solid information to go on.
I think the main thing to consider is in-country customer support - you dont want to be on the phone to Italy or France at 1am trying to sort out problems, not unless you can speak french and italian.
Ask to see the user manual of any machine you are considering. Some manuals are hopeless but others may help your decision.
Regarding the Prima. As Clay has said the small machines take alot of dialling in (I know because I currently have a small machine), they have a shorter screw pump (auger) which means less cooling power, not good for thick chocolate. And the temperature difference between working temperature and tempering temperature is small (0.5 degree) which means you will be working with you chocolate alot cooler then you probably have been. This is not configurable unfortunately. And again not good for thick chocolate. Its only when you get to bigger machines that you get longer screw pump and more temperature range in the tempering curve.
If youve been tempering on a slab you will be used to working with three temperatures. The continuous machines mostly only allow you adjust two temperatures (melting & working) and the machine will decide what the tempering (seeding) temperature is. I assume these machines are mainly made for working with coverture which can stay more fluid at cooler temperatures, but if you want to run your working temperature high, to keep fluidity in your bean-to-bar chocolate, you will sacrifice the seeding temperature because the seeding temperature is fixed (0.5C - 2C degrees less) to the working temperature. Hope you can follow me. There will be compromise somewhere. However with a batch tempering machine you can play with all three temperatures as much as you want.
My ideal machine would have, 25-40kg bowl, long powerful auger, user configurable three point tempering, removable/reversable/variable speed auger, pneumatic dosing head and be compatible with an automatic mould loader.
Now I'm no expert so I'm just passing on what I have learnt these past weeks. This sort of information just isnt out there. It would be nice if an expert could join this discussion to give better explanation of these machines.