I am a self professed ice snob - when I got an Ice machine in my garage it was one of my best days ever... Have been through 10-15 machines over the years both at house and at work shop, I am a cheep bastage, here are my thoughts. My assumption is your usage will not be considered high volume in the world of ice machines - you will use a lot over some short time periods, but not high volume every single day.
1. Don't buy used - I have bought several either at auction or estate sale and repairs were more than new before it was over.
2. You dont need top of the line high volume commercial unit - Hoshizaki, Manitowoc are great machines but expensive. But you do probably want a "commercial" machine, not little kitchen unit.
3. Think about where it will be placed - wide open room or in a closed in area like closet or nook. They need cooling and "air cooled" (not sure correct verbage, wide open with lots of air flow available) is less expensive. Also the more compact the unit needs to be, the more expensive.
4. The simpler (less electronic controls) the machine the better - Not sure if you can get them anymore, but the best machine i ever had was almost 100% mechanical (floats, switches, etc.). They seem more robust in general and very simple to repair. The main problem I have had is circuit boards etc. going out - hard to troubleshoot, expensive to place, and impossible to "southern engineer" in a pinch.
5. If my assumption on your usage is correct, you can get a lower capacity "24 Hour Ice Yield" (Ice yield big driver of price) but get a high quality bigger/oversize storage bin and then add insulation. You dont need something that will make 100 pounds a day, but you might need 300 pounds + over a weekend.
6. Keep it clean - put the biggest multi-stage water filter you can find in front of it and and add extra AC style air filters if it will be in any type of dusty environment.
7. Type of ice you want - If you want high cooling capacity (long lasting like cooler use for harvested game etc.) you want full cube or at least half cube. People love nugget (Sonic type) or flake for drinks but they melt quickly etc. Besides Full Cube ice just looks better for a high ball of your favorite bourbon.. Here is a decent buyers guide
https://www.katom.com/cat/ice-makers/the-commercial-ice-machine-buyers-guide-for-every-type-of-ice-maker-from-cubers-to-flakers.html8. BE AWARE - Drainage needs - Ice machines produce a lot more waste water drainage than you would think. They have rinse cycles where they run water through the mechanism and the bin drains all of the melt. When you pick a place to put it think about where it will drain. If you just drain it onto a grass/dirt area you will have a permanent mud hole. Just FYI - In city limits I think the law is it has to drain into sanitary sewer, not storm water etc. Best setup I ever had was draining it into a dog bowl that overflowed on a concrete deck that had a drain to a "french drain" - dogs had year-round clean cool water.
My go-to for the last several machines is "scratch & dent" (no warranty) simple, lower end machines. I have a small local (Katy/West Houston) Ice Machine company that sells and maintains. They keep their eye out for any scratch & dent or refurb units.
Hope that helps.
