Buying an ASIC miner is a better option than buying ZEC at the current price. Based on profitability calculations, the machine can pay for itself in about three months. Personally, I expect the price of ZEC to decrease in the near future, so holding the hardware presents less market price risk compared to holding the coin directly.

In general, any mining machine should ideally reach ROI within a year. Considering this ASIC reaches ROI in about three months, the investment is considered solid and significantly safer than buying ZEC directly.