Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My Badger 5 had a "feature" where if you overloaded the grind chamber ever so slightly, it would explode the trap under the sink and spew water and foodstuffs all over the interior of the cabinets. Although I love excitement as much as the next guy I am sure you can see why this is sub-optimal. Enter the Evolution Compact. PROS: 1. Installation took 15 minutes from start to finish. I can't stress enough how easy it was. The plumbing rough-ins are identical and the overall footprint is about the same. 2. This thing is nearly silent when it's running. While the Badger was appropriately named, I'd call this one "Silent but deadly." 3. The grinding capability is superior to the Badger in every way. While I haven't stuffed it with potato peels or shrimp shells, I cannot wait for the opportunity to push this to its limits. If I have a p-trap explosion again I will be incredibly surprised. CONS: 1. Expensive - I went with this over the Waste King L-8000 for ease of installation, but it's nearly twice the price. I doubt it's twice as good. 2. Slow drain - The Quiet Collar Sink Baffle is the key to the quiet operation - While the Badger's sink baffle was open and allowed food/water to drain easily, the Evolution Compact is much slower/tighter. This is because a "water dam" forms on top of it to keep the sound down. When you operate the Badger or Evolution Compact dry, they sound nearly identical. With the water running, the Evolution Compact is almost completely silent. It's still a pain in the butt. 3. When I installed the Badger 5, I took about a half an hour to square up the sink flange and make it perfectly straight. Upon installing the Evolution Compact I overtightened it ever so slightly and moved the flange about 5 degrees. Naturally, this makes me want to burn my house to the ground as it's obviously ruined. You may be more tolerant than me, though. UPDATE 1/20/16: I have come to hate this disposer. Yes, it's still silent. Yes, it's reliable. But it is amazing to me the things that this disposer WON'T grind. Lemons, brussels sprouts, garlic peels, sausage casings - All of them will sit in the chamber indefinitely, no matter how long you run the unit. If I had to do it over again I'd spring for a higher-end unit or a Waste-King. Disappointed.