On Tue, 23 Jul 2013 14:02:02 -0400, DerbyDad03 wrote:

Unless you prefer a lot less noise from your disposal. It's up to
the user if 'almost silent' is worth the extra cost.

The only problem I had was determining the noise level.
For example, the box may say "lower noise", but, what's that in
decibels or whatever they measure GD noise values by?

The Consumer Reports article on garbage disposal units
was (nearly) useless in this respect.

So, fundamentally, if you're comparing two garbage disposal
units at the hardware store (like I was), what do you have
to go by other than?

a) Brand (it seems these are highly incestuous, I bought ACE
since I was at an ACE store; but I highly doubt ACE has
anything to do with the manufacturer who is probably one
of the 'standard' manufacturers)
b) Price (I paid $179 + tax, for example)
c) Horsepower (I replaced a 1/2 HP GDU with a 3/4 HP GDU)
d) Warranty (I find these useless in most cases, so I ignore
unless the warranty turns out to be the *only* deciding factor)

Noise would be a great deciding factor, but, how do you know
which ones are quieter than others simply by looking at the
writing on the box?