500g Automatic Coffee Roaster Machine for Home Use Wth Smoke Filter(Suitable for Light Roasting), The Smoke Pipes (Suitable for Medium and Dark Roasting) and Chaff Collector

I have been using this roaster for seven months now, roasting 400 gram batches every 1-2 weeks. Overall, I am very pleased with the product. I bought it to replace a Behmor roaster, and this roaster outperformed the Behmor in multiple ways. It roasts a 400 gram batch to Full City+ in around 10 minutes. It gives a consistent roast every time. The chaff tray makes for easy cleanup. There are a couple of things I don't like. The motor that drives the roasting drum is noisy, which makes it difficult to hear first crack and impossible to hear the second crack. The smoke filter cannot handle the heat of a Full City roast and will fail after a few roasts. This is not mentioned in the users manual, but when I contacted the company they said the filter should only be used for light roasts and the exhaust pipe used for darker roasts. I purchased a replacement filter and some hi-temp resistant foam filter sheeting. I cut the foam to size and put a couple of layers under the filter and one above it. I haven't done enough roasts to see if this fixes the problem. Be aware that a lot of smoke and smell will come from dumping the beans after roasting, which cannot be avoided. I highly recommend using the Assist mode when roasting, as you need to control when to stop the roasting , especially if you are doing a darker roast. The instructions in the manual are OK, but it is difficult to refer to refer to them while in the middle of the roast. I created my own instruction checklist which I will attach to this review. You can see my setup in the photo. I roast on my range so I can vent directly to the range hood.

I've been roasting coffee for over 15 years, most of that time on a Behmor roaster. I had updated it over the years, changing the chaff collector and updating the control panel. But it finally bit the dust and I set about looking to get a new one. The logical choice was to go ahead and get the Behmor 2000AB Plus. The price had certainly gone up from my initial purchase (Quite a bit! Had cost around $299 and now sells for $479), and there were a few new features, but the it was still pretty much the same machine.I started looking around at other offerings and came upon the Precision roaster. True, it cost even more than the Behmor--basically $500--but I was intrigued with its features and the reviews looked good. So I bought it. So far, after 20 batches or so, I'm very pleased. Most of my comments are comparisons with the Behmor.First, the electric control panel has some great information. You can readily set the roast profile you desire (if you don't want to do it manually, yourself), see temperatures, monitor the ROR of the beans, and adjust power and fan speed. You can use the presets, override the program in semi-automatic mode, or adjust everything by hand yourself in manual mode. The display is easily visible and doesn't get washed out in bright sunshine like the Behmor did.Second, the machine has some nice features. It has a REAL preheat. Beans are introduced when the chamber is up to temperature. With the Behmor, you put the basket in the machine from the start and everything was brought up to temp together. You could do a sort of preheat--turning on the machine without the basket at first and shutting off to add the basket and then starting again--but you had to deal with hot surfaces and the fact that if the chamber were allowed to get TOO hot, it wouldn't allow you to restart without cooling down first. Ugh!Which reminds me. Unlike the Behmor, the Precision does NOT have a dratted fail-safe that will automatically switch to cool down if you fail to hit the Start button in the allotted time. That was the one thing about the Behmor I REALLY disliked.There's also a sampling spoon where you can pull out beans to inspect for degree of roast. You can actually SEE how far along the beans are! With the Behmor, you had to look through a small window, possibly through the perforations of a chaff collector, and into a rotating basket in a chamber with limited lighting. The light bulb in the chamber didn't shed all that much light. And sometimes, no light at all--danged bulbs burned out all the time.The Precision also has excellent chaff collection. A lot of chaff remained trapped in the Behmor basket, so you'd take the basket out when the roast was finished and shake it like crazy for a while to get more (but not all) of it out. Some folks used a small vacuum to help. The Precision beans come out super clean with the big chaff collection tray catching just about everything.Finally, with the Precision, the beans are dumped into a cooling tray at the end of the roast. I've seen some comments from users who say they don't think the temperature drops fast enough and they buy a separate bean cooler. Seems to work fine to me (though, then again, I roast outside and the Fall temperatures are conducive to quick cooling). And the beans cool a LOT quicker than in the Behmor where the cooling cycle is cooling down the roasting chamber at the same time as the beans.There are a couple of things that could be improved. The written instructions, while not hideous, could be better. You'd think companies that spend money on engineers to make a good product could outsource manuals so they would be of similar quality. Also, the section on cleaning and maintenance could be improved. What is the recommended frequency of disassembly and cleaning, for example? They do have a video online showing the tear-down process but you have to go hunt for it. And you need to be careful with the electrical wire connecting the head unit to the rest of the roaster. I only just did my first cleaning the other day, again after 20 or so roasts. Actually quite clean. There was a bit of chaff on the heater shield, but that was it.I cannot speak to the smoke filter unit or the alternative use of the supplied chimney pipe. I use neither and just roast outside.Finally, I don't want to seem as though I detested the Behmor. I used it for 15 years and roasted LOTS of coffee! Can't complain. But I do enjoy using the Precision a lot more for the reasons described above. Now, if it will also last me 15 years or so... :-)

I've been using a Gene Cafe roaster for years but decided I wanted more control so I looked at the reviews of this product and bought it. It arrived last night and I unpacked it. The only issue I had was that the tools and control unit were packed inside the bean output drawer and became jammed...like desk or cabinet draws can be when something is sticking up too high. I had to take part of the unit apart to unstick the drawer. If you wonder where the tools (scoop, spoon, brush, and control panel) are pull out the bean output drawer. If it won't open turn the unit on the side and remove the bottom screwed enough to pull the bottom plate off a bit to unstick the drawer. My advice to the manufacturer is to package theses in another box and not in the drawer.This morning I did a test roast. I roasted about 400 grams of wet hulled Indonesian Flores Kamodo beans from Smokin Beans. I used the automatic mode 033 for dark roast wet hulled beans and followed the directions. The roast was perfect! The smoke filter was great and didn't set my garage fire alarm off the way the GeneCafe usually did.I like having the unit preheated so the beans are not baked as the temperature increases the way it does in a GeneCafe. Same with the cool down as the beans are spread out in the cooling tray as soon as the roast is complete.I'm looking forward to working up to a complete manual roast with the detailed control over temperature, power, fan speed and time. This roaster gives you everything from full automatic to full manual with an assist mode in between.The footprint is a bit larger than the GeneCafe and the power cord could be a bit longer but overall it looks like it's going to give me more control over the roast and I can roast a full pound of beans unlike the GeneCafe. It is also considerably cheaper than the GeneCafe...until new tariffs on China go into effect that is.