What's the availability of parts like on them?
They may be cheap reasonable but if they are a sob to find parts for when they break and / or customer service totally stinks then that would be a big factor why some might pass them up.
Aaron
super easy and in USA I think Washington state actually. Parts are plentiful somewhat expensive but not disproportionally so. Customer service is better than expected.
i personally think people get overly hung up on the Drum vs. Air roasting deal, one way or the other. I wouldn't hesitate to get an Ambex or Probat if the price was within a shot of the Sonofresco. Like i said it makes sense when you are getting into their bigger roasters, assuming you are roasting coffee in those amounts means they are making money. But on the smaller commercial batch sizes even at full retail the sonofresco is a steal.
Two thoughts come to mind.
For an aspiring roaster, who knows he wants to end up roasting on a 10K or larger, a 2K Ambex will teach him skills that wouldn't carry over from a Sono. Not that big a deal, but applicable.
In the long run, I'd bet my Ambex is cheaper to use and own. I can roast 25# of coffee on a lb. of propane. Compare that to how many kilowatts a Sono would use for 25#. And, for the three years I've owned it, I have put zero parts/repairs into it. A Sono has annual servicing needs (I don't know that for a fact, but read it here recently). And for the 4-5 years that barko78 owned my roaster and used it for thousands of lbs., I don't believe he replaced any motors, valves, bearings, etc. Try running a Sono for 10,000lbs. and add up the costs, and then realize my Ambex is good for another 10,000lbs.
Then look at the capacity issues. Smksignals has himself a 2# roaster, and you have either a 2# or a 1#. If that's a capacity you can live with and can roast what you need for a week in a couple hours, that's great. But what do you want to roast with if you need 100# per week?
1. good point but if you're gonna drop $15k on a roaster and a bag of coffee in, I bet you go through some free training from the roaster
. Now if you want some practice before your next roaster job, then I would suggest get a job as a barista first and then hang around the roasters and cross train.
2. Electricity? none? other than the computer and ignitor but that would be negligible. propane or natural gas- no electric roaster sonofresco so I would go several months on a single propane. Now I have natural gas which is....so amazing.
3. My annual servicing needs is $150 per 2-3 years lately (last 3 years) it's been nill, on a used unit. so I guess you can if you aren't careful damage the thermocouple($75) or crack the glass($100-200). I had an ignitor fail once $150. But it would take a whole heck of a lot to use that for justification. In the around 10 years I have owned a son fresco I have replaced the thermo couple twice, the glass once and the ignitor once....definitely lot's of coffee has moved through the roaster.
4. Capacity is where the sonofresco actually is deceptively awesome. I run a lb and I know what setting I like, then i have a choice; I can do dishes, laundry, run a few miles, make an espresso, watch some tv. Put the lb- 2 lbs in the bag, quick clean, repeat every 20 min. You can roast several lbs with a 2lb er in a couple hours and still have a lot done. In other words with the right precautions I don't have to babysit the roast. Sure I can make sure things are good but if it's cleaned there isn't any worries.
