It's my first Hottop and as with the iRoast there's a learning curve. Not hard to program once you get into it. Lots of options but the programming mode is pretty logical and intuitive. After 4 roasts with the preset curve I programmed in my first custom profile today.
Great roaster. So far the espresso from the first few roasts has a deeper roasted character than the iRoast. I do prefer it. The manual mode lets you raise or lower the temp at any stage up to the max for that stage to turn on or off the heating element to speed or slow down the roast if you want. Fan speed is programmable. The Hottop is a serious roaster and I expect it to outdo the iRoast for roast quality once I understand it better.
FrankenHottop replaces FrankeniRoast2 pic:
