Vendo Vue 40 vs. Dixie Narco Bevmax 4

[UTvend 0]

Hello,

 

I have been researching various glass-front soda machines and have narrowed my choices down to the Vendo Vue 40 and Dixie Narco Bevmax 4. I currently operate snack machines but don't know much about glass-front soda machines. I intend to place the machine in an office breakroom with roughly 250 employees. My questions are as follows:

 

1. Which machine is best?

 

2. Are refurbished machines safe to purchase, or is it better to fork out the cash for a brand new machine? 

 

3. What types of mechanical problems have you experienced or heard of?

 

Any help or information you can provide will be greatly appreciated. 

 

Happy vending!

[AZVendor 2,544]

Welcome to the forum.  It's good that you came here to ask prior to buying one.  The Vendo Vues are horribly designed machines and they have been very problematic for everyone that has one as Vendo still hasn't successfully come up with good updates to them.  The general consensus is to stay away from them as the bottling companies have also decided to do.  The Bevmax 4, on the other hand, is finally a great version that DN has produced since the Bev 2 and 3 were their horse collars for a few years.  Now they have all the bugs worked out and the Bev 4 is a very dependable machine.  You should be able to find used Bev 4's with a little work though it's hard to find machines at the moment you need them and you might have to buy one from a refurbisher at a premium price.  I would try that before buying a new one though because the price of new will give you a coronary.

[moondog 1,786]

Hello,

 

I have been researching various glass-front soda machines and have narrowed my choices down to the Vendo Vue 40 and Dixie Narco Bevmax 4. I currently operate snack machines but don't know much about glass-front soda machines. I intend to place the machine in an office breakroom with roughly 250 employees. My questions are as follows:

 

1. Which machine is best?

 

2. Are refurbished machines safe to purchase, or is it better to fork out the cash for a brand new machine? 

 

3. What types of mechanical problems have you experienced or heard of?

 

Any help or information you can provide will be greatly appreciated. 

 

Happy vending!

The Vendo Voodoo (aka Vue) is a machine that you should avoid at any price.  The Bevmax 4 is probably the favorite but many of us have also had good luck with the Royal version.  My biggest complaint with the glassfront machines is that they only hold about 400 drinks which is just not big enough for a really large account or even a couple of my medium sized ones either.  Personally, I prefer the big Royal stack style machines that hold more than 800 cans or a lesser amount of Monsters and bottles.

Edited March 6, 2015 by moondog

[Sparta_Automation 70]

I have a voodoo 40 and have regretted it about 6 months after purchasing this machine.  They are hard to fix, hard to get help on, and try to find a local person that can fix....good luck.

 

DN's are good machines.  I also have a Royal 500 robotic soda machine and love it.  Voodoo40...not so much

 

Travis

[jim lee 4]

Welcome to the forum.  It's good that you came here to ask prior to buying one.  The Vendo Vues are horribly designed machines and they have been very problematic for everyone that has one as Vendo still hasn't successfully come up with good updates to them.  The general consensus is to stay away from them as the bottling companies have also decided to do.  The Bevmax 4, on the other hand, is finally a great version that DN has produced since the Bev 2 and 3 were their horse collars for a few years.  Now they have all the bugs worked out and the Bev 4 is a very dependable machine.  You should be able to find used Bev 4's with a little work though it's hard to find machines at the moment you need them and you might have to buy one from a refurbisher at a premium price.  I would try that before buying a new one though because the price of new will give you a coronary.

On the Vendo Vues, is it bad mechanical design? Or is it the electronics that are a mess?

 

-jim lee

[rmorris1953 558]

Make sure it is a true Bevmax 4 and not a upgraded 2 or 3. To upgrad a 2 or 3 means it has to be pretty much gutted and start over from the beginning. Just changing a few parts isn't enough. 

[UTvend 0]

All of your information is very helpful. I have been leaning more towards the Bevmax so this has confirmed my decision. I have never put in credit card machines, so would it be worth exploring that route as well? 

[AZVendor 2,544]

On the Vendo Vues, is it bad mechanical design? Or is it the electronics that are a mess?

 

-jim lee

It's both.  The hand that grabs the products is a clusterf#@% and the harnessing is a nightmare.  It also doesn't take much effort to defeat the delivery port in an attempt to steal product which then breaks the machine.

All of your information is very helpful. I have been leaning more towards the Bevmax so this has confirmed my decision. I have never put in credit card machines, so would it be worth exploring that route as well? 

The card reader is a very good idea if your sales volume will support it.   The machine is MDB so the card reader is an add-on to that.  If you have the rounded front facia around the validator then you'll need a new facia that provides a hole for the card reader.  If you need that then send me a PM and I can get one to you.