Introduction

The Merrychef Connex 12 has been available in the UK for the last 3 years and is one of the best selling high speed ovens available. Unox released the UNOX Compact Speed Eco at the start of 2025. It is very keenly priced – almost £2K cheaper than the Merrychef Connex 12.

We wanted to see what the difference in performance would be, using classic coffee shop & cafe sandwiches. We’re also going to look at the size of the ovens, the interface, ease of cleaning and service & back up.

 

The Cheese Toastie Comparison

In this test we’re using some of Jason’s Sourdough and a 5 cheese mix with 100g of cheese. With toasties using this type of bread it is best to cook them shut as they crisp up very well. Both ovens have a 1KW microwave but the programming for each is slightly different It took a little bit of playing around to get a good finish and hit a good internal temperature (shown below). The Merrychef Connex 12 does have greater flexibility in terms of browning as the fan level can be increased in 10% increments. The UNOX Speed Compact Eco allows you to choose 1 or 2 fan levels. The result is a slightly more even browning on top with the Merrychef. However the core temperature with both ovens using 80% fan was slightly hotter on the Unox.

In the end, I adjusted the time on the Merrychef to 1 minute 10 seconds and reduced the Unox to 1 minute 15 so almost identical cook times 

The Bacon & Brie Panini Comparison

 

For this comparison I was using basic Panini bread from Morrisons. One golden rule on cooking the crispier / crustier bread in the high speed ovens is to cook the sandwiches OPEN if cooking at a very high temperature (eg above 250C). If cooked closed, the bread becomes very unpleasant (and you’re more likely to get a dentist’s bill than see a repeat customer….) .

In both instances the Panini cooked in 1 minute. The Merrychef came out slightly warmer in this instance but you would not know they came out of two different ovens.

 

How Easy Is Each Oven To Programme?

So annoyingly, Merrychef have stopped doing on site training – which when you’re spending this amount of money on an oven – feels like it should be included. Should add that we offer free training to anyone within 100 miles of our HQ and we also send out training videos on WhatsApp etc whenever help is required. Merrychef have introduced a new training video guide which is very good but it’s not the same as someone showing you how to use it first hand.  The Unox does not include any on site training. If that is a deal breaker for you, Panasonic do include nationwide free training on the SCV3

Both the Merrychef and Connex 12 do come pre-programmed with all the classics you would expect on a cafe / sandwich shop menu. Both are easy to programme. Thankfully you do not have to go through sub menu after sub menu to edit programmes. Recipe files can be edited by simply clicking on recipe and holding down the button. Both screens look good but I think the Unox has the edge with the larger more vivid screen shown below.

Which one is better for Front of House Service?

A bit like phones, all of the ovens are beginning to look the same – and the customer is unlikely to take too much notice. However one thing that did jump out when we were testing is that the Merrychef is noticeably quieter when in standby compared to the UNOX. In a busy cafe, this may not be a factor. The Merrychef is slightly narrower at 355mm wide vs the UNOX at 424mm wide so if counter space is tight, every millimetre pay count!

 

Which one is easier to clean?

Both ovens take about 15 minutes to clean and both talk you through to clean the ovens with the ‘How To’ guides. Both ovens require a cleaner detergent. A bottle of cleaner from PartsTown should last about a month and costs £15 (July 2026).  Merrychef has recently launched a cavity liner. It’s not cheap at £250 but having tested it, it reduced the daily cleaning time from 10 minutes to 1 minute and you do not need the bottles of cleaner. Combining the time saving and the chemical purchase saving, we 100% recommend it with all new Connex 12.

 

 

Warranty & Service

The Merrychef Connex12 comes with a 2 year parts and labour warranty. This can be extended for up to 5 years (roughly £575 per year). The UNOX is supplied with a 1 year parts and labour warranty. Given the price difference this is fair. Merrychef are still the market leaders ‘when’ not ‘if’ there is a problem. Typically an engineer will be site within 48 hours (Mon-Fri). The current first time fix rate is around 98% which is superb. Merrychef use their own engineers who carry all of the standard parts.

We’ve only sold a few UNOX Speed Compact Eco and so far we have not had to make a single engineer request (which is great!). UNOX use 3rd party engineers and repair time is more likely to be 3-4 days. For some sites, the high speed oven is a critical piece of equipment and that maybe too long to be out of action.

 

Which one would we buy….?

This is really going to come down to budget and urgency of service. I am a person who likes very long warranties and the ability to keep extending the warranty for up to 5 years is a big factor. However, for a new business £5000+VAT is a large chunk of money and a UNOX Speed Compact ECO at nearly £2K cheaper would be less of a risk. So without sitting on the fence too much it depends on your business: for new businesses the Unox is a great option from a cost perspective. For busy sites that fear equipment failure the speed of repair on the Merrychef maybe the most important factor.

If you’ve got further questions please do get in touch with us here!