Affordable & minimal yet very capable roaster. Love it!
I have been using an Ikawa Home roaster, a smartphone connected automated air roaster. I bought this SR540 mainly as a backup but also hoping to fill the gap of Ikawa, lack of on-the-fly adjustment capability and too small batch size (50g!)
My very first couple of batches weren't great, but I got used to the controls quickly, and now I can track the target profile pretty easily to get great results. I thought the Ikawa would be still my main roaster while playing with different roast levels or new beans and SR540 is for roasting known bean + profile combinations. But it turns out I find myself using SR540 a lot more often because it's fun.
Some people recommends keeping the temperature control at somewhere around 7 - 9 and just change the fan speed, but in my case, I have to turn it down to 1 to avoid the temp going up too quickly, even with a 130g batch. Perhaps it has something to do with the ambient temperature and the power outlet wattage, and I might have to make some adjustments in winter.