the student machine has a bi-mettalic strip that is a protection against overheating and burning out when the motor gets hot it cuts out :irked:
we trailed one and it packed in halfway through the 3rd tan it took over half an hour to cool down and restart,
both motors are 400w output but the minimist light (student package) is a much smaller sized motor and it cannot cope with the stress, your friend would be better off spending the extra £65 to get the full size maximist 5008 in my opinion, as this would save her from having to upgrade later on and pay the full cost of a 5008 any way
If however its just for home tanning and shes only doing a couple of tans a day with time in between then the maximst light is ideal, there are pictures of both machines that carry the MAXIMIST name on my profile page they are very different hth