Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am a researcher. I read every review - the good and the bad. I've read the Consumer Reports reviews, read the Amazon reviews, read the other, sketchier review websites like GreatGarbageDisposals.com (I made that one up but if you've done any research on the internet you get my point). I am writing this review to share what I learned about the product and about the many reviews I've read. My situation was that our 6 year old Badger froze up and simply quit on me, so a new one was in order. First, is it loud or quiet? It really depends on which review you read, apparently. I believe it depends on more than that, such as what kind of sink is it being installed under - a stainless steel or a porcelain coated cast iron sink? One is very thin and flexible and will not block out as much noise or damp vibrations as effectively as a heavy cast iron sink. I have found the overall noise level to be a lot like the Badger 5 that I replaced. My wife thinks it sounds a bit different but neither louder nor quieter. It also depends on whether this is your first disposer (it is certainly louder than not having one) or a replacement. Bottom line, it's typically run for a few seconds, with the water running too, as you are cleaning up after meal (not in the middle of the night when everyone's trying to sleep) and it's no louder or quieter than the rest. I wouldn't let that be a deciding factor unless you have different criteria. If so, you can pay twice as much for that other "Elite" one by another manufacturer that is CR-rated as the quietest one. In my case I couldn't justify the added cost. What's up with that scary loud noise when you turn it on? There are some reviews that make this sound like it is eating a spoon (a LOUD, disturbing, and/or startling snap or click noise, etc.). I have to say that was one of my biggest reservations when I ordered this thing, having read the reviews. A fairly large slice of reviewers commented negatively on it. Here's my take... The motor is 3/4 HP compared to my little dinky 1/3 HP motor on my old one. That is a lot more horsepower and, consequently, a lot more torque. The little "teeth" that do the waste grinding that sit in the base of the chamber spin freely. When you turn it on, the little grinders snap into place like how your head gets whipped back on one of those crazy spinning carnival rides. It's just from centrifugal force setting the blades into place. The fine print in the directions tell you that it is part of the anti-jam mechanism. It's not startling or even disconcerting to me or my wife. We didn't blink an eye. I couldn't scare my children by turning it on. It just makes a bit of a click when you turn it on. No biggie. Full disclosure here - ours is mounted to the bottom of a heavy, porcelain coated cast iron sink. Our sink may be better at handling the torque and may dampen the sound and vibration more than a thin stainless steel sink. Our sink weighs probably 75 pounds. A stainless steel sink weighs 7 pounds. A heavier sink can probably handle a garbage disposal operating under full load better than a flexible, lightweight sink. That's not why we got the sink but I think it's probably a benefit to damping sounds and vibrations. Some folks knocked the instructions. Take heart. It appears that the Waste King guys have heard the criticisms from the negative reviewers. I am guessing that they have been re-written to better explain the installation because they are really easy to follow. My best advice is this: don't be afraid of a difficult or confounding set of installation instructions. It is really easy. Here's what you do. Go to youtube.com and search for a video on How To Remove Your Existing Garbage Disposal because this is the hardest part. You will find one that matches yours. Watch it. I started removing the Badger incorrectly, stopped, watched a video, and then it was a piece of cake. In my case, I shouldn't have removed the three long screws before removing the body of the old one. You do it after it is disconnected. READ the instruction manual carefully. Then go ahead and youtube the Waste King installation video. It is very easy once you see it done. No filing or grinding gaskets, and Good Lord, no car jacks under your sink please. If it is hard then you are doing something wrong. STOP!!! Review the procedure. Start again. The directions are actually very explicit. The parts are well labeled. The diagrams show you what to do. The videos show you what to do. If you prepare yourself (15 minutes of reading and watching videos, tops) you will fly though the installation and be a happy person. Regarding the comments that the EZ Mount is flimsy or cheap or plastic, I have to respectfully disagree. The purpose of the lock ring is to compress the rubber gasket tight enough to make a seal so the thing doesn't leak. It doesn't need to be made from titanium or cast iron. Just because it isn't made from a rare earth metal doesn't make it inferior! It keeps the price down and works (so far) flawlessly. I did not need to tap the ears with a small hammer to get it to slide to the fully locked position - I was able to twist it into place with my bare non-Superman hands. I did not need to put dish soap on the ear slots but the directions suggest doing that if it is difficult to put into locked position. Removing ALL the old mounting hardware, cleaning everything really good, and installing the EZ Mount was truly a very easy and thoroughly explained process. No leaks at all on my first attempt! As advertised, it does come with a corded plug so it will need an outlet. My old Badger was a direct wire. Some folks tore out the cord and the strain relief as a fix and hard wired it like their old one. Some folks put an outlet in, which I found that to be a 15 minute job. I didn't want to mess around with chopping out the stock cord and putting in a new one and messing with the strain relief replacement. I thought the new outlet process was much easier because, heck, the wire's already there and that's always the hardest part of wiring a box! I shoved some of the extra length of the existing wire back into the hole in the wall that it came out from. I thought carefully about where the new box should go so the body of the disposal didn't hit it. I screwed it to the back of the cabinet, poked the wires into the box, screwed them to a new receptacle and, voila!. NOTE: IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING WITH ELECTRICAL WIRING, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS YOURSELF. If you do, be sure to kill the power at the circuit breaker and it is probably the easiest box you will install. Just make sure it is securely mounted into something besides the flimsy back panel of the cabinet. I think those are all the important items I wanted to share. The removal of the old one, cleaning the sink hole, and putting in the new box took about 35 minutes start to finish. I wasn't rushing but I was well prepared and had everything ready to go. Plumbers Putty was needed for install. Make sure you have that on hand. There was a thin rubber gasket that went under the flange (between the top flange and a stainless steel sink) that I didn't use because I didn't have a stainless steel sink. The one tricky thing I recall from the directions is that the same procedure is repeated twice in a couple of places - one for using the existing Badger mounting hardware and one for if you are using the EZ Mount system. If you are using the EZ Mount, make sure to SKIP the paragraph that is describing the work as it applies to the Badger mount. That's about it. I had to cut 3/4" off the black waste discharge pipe (90 degree elbow piece that screws into the new disposal) so that everything fit with my old plumbing. I loosened up all the slip joints on the old plumbing so I could wiggle things around as needed, aligned everything, and tightened the plumbing back up. New install was completed in well under 20 minutes after the removal and outlet installation. I hope this helps some folks who were undecided about this product. How can you ignore a 10 year warranty on something that is well below the price of competing models? No regrets here - we've had it almost a month now and use it daily. We can FINALLY grind those lemon and lime wedges!!! One last thought - Beef bones? I see that Consumer Reports tests these things by measuring the fineness of the grind using beef bones. Do people really put beef bones down a garbage disposal on purpose? You might think I'm babying mine, or maybe that's why I didn't have excessive vibration when I use it, but I'll put the beef bones in the trash and grind up the rest of the stuff with this and be just fine for many years to come, I hope!