I started by using a 16x24 bottler with flat rack for filtering. That was OK, but very slow. I used that thru the 3rd season when I made 32 gal of syrup. At that point I bought a 7" short bank filter press (3 sets of plates) and wow, what an improvement. While I bought a gear pump press (I was not aware of hand pump ones at that time, if they were available), I have since added 2 more sets of plates so I now have 5 sets @ 7", and once the gear pump got tired rather than rebuilding it for about 80% of the price of a new one, I got an air diaphragm pump. That was another huge improvement. My point is, that a filter press, hand pump version or electric powered pump can grow with you, and it rarely loses much value if you decide to sell it to upgrade. The only down side I see of the popular hand pumps is that most if not all are 5", where much more common ones with electric or air diaphragm pumps are 7" and 10" with even 15" and 20" for the big guys.
On my 5 bank 7" press I frequently do 30-45 gal on a set of papers, except it falls to about half that at the late season. When I bought it as a 3 bank I got about 60% of that. A 7" press gives you 49 sq. " in each plate, a 5" gives about half that so it should give you about half as much.
Much of your choice should be based on your plans to grow over the next 5 and 10 years. Most of us do not guess well beyond that, in fact it's very common to grow faster in the 5 yr. plan than originally thought.
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.