Instead of buying a new Sunpentown, I bought a very old (but like new) 1470 watt Galloping Gourmet Convection off ebay for about $50 (lucked into a local pickup). I rewired to have separate cords for the heater (which gets controlled via my Arduino and an SSR) and for the fan. I've never done a side-by-side comparison between a Sunpentown and a GG, but the GG is very heavy duty and, I believe, higher power.
-Phil