JS:
I wish you lived near me. You make alot of sense. And to answer your original question --there is as much difference in phone systems as in cars. You're in the market for a small phone system--a small car; not a sports car nor a pick-up truck. NEC, Inter-Tel & Comdial make pretty good cars, pick-ups & Semi-trucks. --but NEC & Inter-Tel are the Jaguars & Lexus and Comdial is the Chevrolet or Ford. Both Ford & Chevrolet make some good products but they aren't a Lexus. To compare the products is an unfair comparison. If you have the budget for a Lexus--don't even bother with the Ford.

The Comdial DX-80 will compare feature-wise & capacity-wise with the NEC & Inter-Tel but probably cost less; but the Comdial is not an NEC Elite IPK.

You now have 10 lines/18 phones...is it a possibility that you will double in the next five years. How much will it cost to expand your system of 10 lines 18 phones? The DX-80 can only go to 16 lines--but be quite OK(56 phones) on the station side. It will then have to be upgraded to the FXII--an unproven upgrade to be sure. The NEC & Inter-Tel have a much easier time of expanding. Not a cheap thing to do, for sure,--just easier IMHO. But find out how much to expand--how much for a phone--how much to add analog phone--how much to add a line card..etc, etc. Can the VM & phone system be programmed easily from a remote location. Can you yourself call in and change the main VM greeting--(business is closed because of a snow storm). Those are features. The Comdial can do all of that---easy. But it's not a Lexus.

Rockford VoIP