Too expensive for what it does, non durable, has no advantage over an air popcorn popper
Positive Product Points
Can view beans
Negative Product Points
Poor Quality More for show than practicality Too costly for what it does.
Detailed Commentary
I bought this roaster and was excited to own it at first. It looked pretty and worked fine the first few months. Then it started taking longer and longer to roast the same amount of coffee. By then it was December and I thought it was because of the colder weather (I live in Central Texas where it hardly if ever gets very cold). Then during the warmer months it continued to take longer and longer until it was taking over 30 minutes to roast 4 ounces. I contacted Hearthware at that time and left several messages on the phone to no avail. Finally I got hold of a real person who told me to leave an e-mail to some manager and I did. I did not get any reply. Then I threatened to expose their product in reviews. At that time I got an e-mail from someone at the company asking me all kinds of investigative information which I replied to. Then she figured out that I was beyond the warranty period and that I could purchase another I-roast for a 20% discount or buy a base for my useless roaster for over $100. Naturally, I did not want to through away good money after bad money. I wrote back telling her I will describe my experience with the product in reviews and let the people decide. I never heard back from the comapny. I would never deal with this company. You will be much better off using an air corn popper for a few dollars than paying such a huge amount of money for a machine that is not durable (many people do not get their money's worth out of it, except those who have interest in promoting this product!). The air popper that you can get at thrift stores works wonderfully (it should be the type that blows hot air from vents on the sides): It is faster, less noisy, gives more even roast, and if it breaks you throw it away and buy another one for a few dollars.
