I ruled out solar models, as I wanted something that could run all the time, and I knew that the plastic panels would not transfer heat as well. I ruled out alcohol-fuled ones as they are noisy and only run for a few minutes - at least I feared them walking off a table and starting a fire. So LTD model it was, and I wanted whichever one was "nicest."
I narrowed it down to a Kontax Ross-Yoke model (which I thought would be the most visually-interesting), or a CarlAero from eBay. I have no way of knowing for sure which one was better, but decided on the Kontax as it cost less and I found very high res photos of both, and the arms for the flywheel looked to be machined more precisely.
It took seven days to arrive from England to the US. The quality/look of it has exceeded what I had hoped for. it will run off my hand (and my hands are not even warm as far as hands go) with the gentlest spin. I don't have a tach, but it spins rather fast on my Apple AirPort router. I still don't know for sure if this is better or worse than the CarlAero, but I really can't imagine that this could be better than it is. But I am interested in comments from people who own both.
