Soooo, I've been contemplating a roaster for quite some time. I've done a good bit of research and I THINK I'm down to a Buckeye BC-2, Arc-800 or Aillio Bullet. The BC-2 and ARC-800 are fairly close in price (approx $5,500). The Bullet is a bit less @ $3,500. Obviously, the price of the Bullet is attractive but an additional $2K is not a huge consideration if a gas drums is decisively better. This will be for home roasting. I have no intention of starting a business. I'd rather buy good equipment the first time. Experience tells me I will end up there anyway! I don't know that the BC-2 and ARC are decisively different aside from a small capacity difference. Both are nicely packaged and get good reviews. Buckeye gets really good support feedback. With the Bullet being electric and using its own software it is the most unique in the pack. Have seen many great reviews but have read some concerns about the software vs Artisian. Appreciate any thoughts and feedback. Thanks!

All good options. If you don't need the capacity, also consider the cormorant, which roasts about a 600g. I decided against aillio because I didn't like proprietary parts or software, but I totally understand why many folks like it. I've heard some concerns about airflow, too, but not sure if just nitpicky

While I have not used any of the roasters that you are considering, I do have a cormorant and love it. Feel free to ask any questions you have about it.

It is a nimble roaster with good gas control, airflow adjustments, as well as a diffuser that allows you to choose direct or indirect heating of the drum.

Also, if you search here on HB there are threads on each of your choices so there is ample research if you have the time to dig around.

I have used a Huky since 2017 and bought a Bullet in November 21.

I've not been able to get the same roast quality from the Bullet than I can the Huky. Still investigating it and while the roasts are improving, I have not achieved the former quality.

The Huky has a lot to be desired regarding workflow, so were I buying again and money/ space weren't issues the ARC, Buckeye, or Mill City would be on my list. The next step down would be the Coromat as it's a more elegant but seemingly equal in-cup to the Huky.

A tangental departure would be an Ikawa. Small batch sizes are offset by set and forget repeatability. My importer's cup roaster now uses the Pro instead of their 3-barrel Burns sample roaster.

pcofftenyo wrote:
...the ARC, Buckeye, or Mill City would be on my list. The next step down would be the Coromant as it's a more elegant but seemingly equal in-cup to the Huky.

I am not aware of why the Cormorant would be a step down...genuinely not aware, not arguing that it isn't. It would be good for the OP if you could say why you think that.

I can make at least one point supporting what you say and that would be service. Johan (of Cormorant) offers tremendous support and is generous with his time BUT he will walk you through fixing your roaster via skype. I imagine the ability to have Mill City fix any issues with your roaster is some part of the price difference. In fact that was the route I was going to go before discovering the Cormorant even though I have no regrets.

We like our BC-1

I have a Bullet. It's a massive improvement over the Behmor that it replaced. Much more control and it really can do a 1kg roast. I typically do 907g roasts since that's roughly 2lbs. As a induction heated roaster I'd describe it as better than electric, almost as good as gas. I plug mine into a 30 amp circuit but a 20 should work as well.

The software works ok-I use a linux laptop. You can use artisan. I gave it a try but didn't see enough of a improvement to switch. I'm not a fan of the roaster's design. A bit too much form over function: I really prefer dedicated knobs and switches over the modal design of the Bullet where function buttons must be pressed to access different controls. The software solves that for the most part but I think I'd prefer to make changes on the roaster and just let the software record those changes.

For the money I think it's a great roaster. My complaints aren't show stoppers. Mine is an older model (version 1.5). It's been a reliable workhorse. I'm strictly a home roaster doing a couple of pounds every 1.5 weeks or so.

I went with a BC-2 when I upgraded and have no regrets. Also looked at the others you mention - they also may have been good or better choices, but I didn't go down those paths.

I think I had to contact support about one issue, and that was caused by me not noticing the power supply was set for 220 and I was using 110. Flipped the switch over to 110 and all was well. So BC support may be good, but I just haven't had to use it, really.

Glancing at the current ARC 800... it has stirring arms in the cooler, which is one difference. I see ARC is advertising RTD temperature probes, and 4 probes in total, so that's a little different than BC-2 (two conventional probes BT/ET). Personally, I wouldn't want the stirring arms, and don't think I would use the additional two temp probes, but I've been thinking about tryint to swap an RTD into my BC-2 BT. I think the BC-2 is nicer looking, but that's subjective, of course... i really like the looks of the BC-2's OMRON temp gauges.

Availability could be a tipping point... it was one of the factors for me (I bought an in stock BC-2).

Got a bullet in nov 2021 ... just cracked over 80kg on it.

The bullet is best described as machine that will get you extremely good roasts if you put away any misconceptions about it being electrical. I regularly roast 800g batchs on it I usually do those fast 10min roasts easily.

It got everything you need in a small package. Power, Airflow Control and drum control in a small package.

Their software is far superior to artisan since it has bean logging in the cloud. Laptop broke? No biggie everything is logged.

Only issues that it requires some experimenting and understanding roast concepts to make a decent roast. In addition, Having an external exhaust fan is semi-mandatory to have consistency in your roasts.