Ok. Now I'm going to throw you for a loop. My husband says ... what about the Hottop? I know it's a lot more expensive, but would I get that many more years out of it and would the roasting quality be noticeable to me?
I started with the Behmor and learned a LOT in the first two years. My routine was to roast three coffees each week (12-13 ounces each). It was great to roast my own coffee, but I couldn't match results from Intelligentsia, Klatch, Counter Culture and Batdorf & Bronson.
There were certain coffees that I wasn't excited about (some Ethiopians, Colombia and Costa Rica) - especially based on reading what others were saying about their roasts. This was about 40% of my total coffees, which was frustrating to me. I am a
fanatic about roasting logs and taking notes. I had some coffees where the roast would be great one time, then not so the next time around. Eventually I felt that I could no longer improve my roasts on the Behmor.
I decided to save my $$$, and moved up to the Hottop. I immediately noticed better results on those coffees where my Behmor results were "so-so". There was about a six month learning curve, but most of my knowledge from the Behmor came in handy. I'm now at the three year mark on the Hottop, and I am still loving the results. Not sure if I will ever "need" another roaster, but they continue to improve, and get more expensive.