New kegging setup- piece together or buy package?

Gearing up to buy some kegging equipment soon- as I'm sure there is some money to be saved by shopping around piece by piece, is the time spent worth the money saved vs., say, the 2-keg Brew Logic package at Midwest that's going for $200?

I have a mini-fridge that is going to house them with picnic taps for now (baby steps), but aside from that, I don't have any other equipment in-hand that would deter me from considering a package deal.

Any thoughts or advice is greatly appreciated. Cheers!

 

I went with a kit and I've been very happy. The only thing I replaced were the taps, which tend to stick shut. After breaking a couple tap handles using pliers to unstick them, I picked up some Perlick 525SS taps, which are a much better design and never stick shut. BUT, they're about $30 each.

 

Kegconnection.com is the place to go. Excellent customer service, and their kits are great. I just called them and had them put together a custom kit for me, worked great. Top notch construction! Price was right too.

 

I'd start with a kit too. I did, a one tap setup. I have since expanded by adding a manifold, a refrigerator and 3 taps!......I keep seeing these "real" setups from closed bars on craigslist and just drool....more space would mean even more brews

 

Thanks everyone. Looks like the kit will be the way that I go. I need to educate myself on regulators. I see a few people on here who are willing to throw down for more expensive regulators, where as far as I understand, a regulator is a regulator is a....

The custom kit sounds like a great idea. That will also give me the opportunity to get longer lines the first time instead of buying a package with shorter ones than I intend to use.

 

2nd on Keg Connection. It comes pretty much ready to go. All you need to do is go fill up the CO2 (there's a place in Independence off of Noland or Praxair off of 435) sanatize the kegs and lines and you are ready to go.

 

I'd definitely recommend a kit. When I was pricing things out, I had a spreadsheet open with the cost for each component to order separately, and it wound up at least 30% more expensive to do that instead of a kit.

As mentioned, its worth calling the places you're ordering from. If you don't want a particular component, or want something different, most places I've heard of will change things around. You won't get the same deal, but it'll be better than buying things you don't need and then immediately replacing them.