Good information here thanks.
I'm now looking for the best price and had considered buying used or perhaps a returned unit. After doing the research it's obvious that having the warranty is critical for mechanical issues so I emailed Picobrew to see if the warranty is transferable and below is the response I received back. I emailed in the morning and was surprised to have a response back in an hour unfortunitly it wasn't the answer I was looking for.
Anybody know the best prices out there? I'm thinking about buying the version with out the keg and using one of my ball lock corny kegs and cutting down the pick up tube a 1/2" to save a bit of $$$ Looks like $1850.00 without the keg is currently the best buy. Hoping maybe next week there might be a holiday special at one of the suppliers.
1). Simply the best customer service one could EVER experience.
2) Just make sure your kegs have the standard corney relief valve. The reason is that they now have a spunding valve developed for the Pico that simply screws in and replaces the corney valve thus ending the need for any kind of airlock during fermentation. This also provides the added benefit of fermenting under pressure which allows higher fermentation temps with no Off flavors.
These guys are very good, and very smart on several fronts from enzyme technology to engineering and computer sophistication.