Well built, easy to use, and produces a quality roast.
Positive Product Points
A roaster you can use straight out of the box. The two pre-sets are a big help.
Negative Product Points
It is quite noisy. If you manually put in a program and you unplug it after you finish useing it, the program is lost. The time and temp LED is at the base of the unit and to see it you have to bend over. It could have been built in such a way that the LED could be angled upward so as to be viewed while standing.
Detailed Commentary
Overall it is a good sturdy machine with a powerful motor to agitate the beans. I do use a few different programs i came up with, but i find that the pre-sets will satifiy most of my roasting needs. Though in the beggining it is difficult to hear the 1st. and 2nd. cracks as you gain experience useing it, you tend to tune out the motor noise and are able to hear the cracks. That was my experience. I also take a folded towel and put it under the unit which helps to muffle some of the noise created by the motor. What made it easy for me to use right out of the box is the experience i got by useing the Fresh Roast +8 before i bought the I Roast. If i would have bought this machine first i would probably burnt a batch or two of beans before i got the process down. Even with the pre-sets i have never let it run to the end of the program before i reach my desired roast. I have always had to hit the cool button to stop the roast process.
The one thing that i like the most about it is being able to put in your own programs and get those one of a kind roast. I roast the same bean useing different programs that i put in, and enjoy a different taste.
Buying Experience
I bought on-line from Sweetmarias. Received very well packed and in a timely fashion and with detailed instructions from Tom on how to best use it.
Three Month Followup
Have had no problems with the machine. Has satisfied all my expectations. Would buy again.
One Year Followup
Still roasting coffee as well as it did the first day that i tried it. Have had no problems with it. I have owned it almost two years. I roast on the average of 3 times a week, and have roasted three times back to back within an hour of the first batch after cooling the machine down. I would not hesitate to buy this machine again.
