I believe there are really only two GD manufacturers, Waste King and Insinkerator, and other names are just rebadges of those two. You should concentrate on getting a disposal that is 3/4 hp or 1 hp, no less, and which has all stainless innards. I have a Kitchenaid batch feed, which is a rebadged Insinkerator. At 1 hp, it's huge and works great. Both Insinkerator and Waste King make excellent disposals. From what I understand, the differences are that Insinkerators are quieter, Waste Kings have more torque so are more powerful, and Waste Kings tend to have longer warranties. Some people feel the noise factor is the deciding factor; others feel they only have the disposal on for 30 seconds so they don't care about noise. But as I said, both brands are very good.

I can say from experience that the Insinkerator Evolution Pro Excel is very quiet. Much quieter than any other disposal I've experienced, although a tad louder than a Miele dishwasher. Even the rubber collar at the sink drain is designed to cause flowing water to block upward propagating sound. (This does lead to having to push smaller items such as piles of tea leaves through it rather than expecting them to flow through as they would have on the older design drain collars.)

NOTE however, that the distance from the drain to the exit port is slightly larger than for a standard disposal, and if your plumbing trap weir location is just adequate for a standard design, it may not be easily adaptable to the Evolution. If your weir is presently at least an inch or so below the port of your present disposal, then it should be ok.

I have found good prices at PEX Supply.

kas

We've had a Waste King 8000 continuous feed unit for just about a year and have no complaints. It's powerful and consumes anything we throw at it.

I'd replace in-kind and forget it. Except for the operational anomaly described, you liked the unit. Easy-off old one; easy-on new one. No need to complicate things -- unless you're really disposal-obsessed. I didn't get that from what you wrote.

I thank you all for your info, which is extremely helpful.

Now, off to get a replacement as the current one is no longer draining.

Many thanks!

I didn't post before your decision, but I'll chance it anyway. We had an ISE in our home when we purchased it. When we had a problem, I went shopping locally and found that ISE prices for their top models were much higher than the last one I purchased. That week Sears ran an ad in our paper and had their 1 hp model on sale. I went and looked it over and couldn't see one difference from the ISEs we had looked at. I purchased one and it has been flawless for over 5 years so far. At my former home I had gone through a low level ISE, a Waste King (started leaking at the gasket between the lower and upper half of the case) and a rebanded top line 3/4 horse ISE. The latter was the best of that bunch.

Best one IMO is the InSinkErator Evolution Excel 1.0 HP.

We have had ours for about 3 years now, works perfect, fairly quiet for a GD and will grind up anything except onion skins.
I grind up everything from Lobster shells to rib bones.
Its pretty big so takes up most of the space under the sink but its a good disposal.
I got mine on ebay for $200 3 years ago.

The Waste King 8000 is $96, the ISE approx $300, is the ISE that much quieter?

my batch feed evolution is amazingly quiet. It was worth the extra money for me. I throw apple cores and melon rinds in it all the time. I haven't tried corn cobs...