Don't worry to much Pete, I think you will find just like those reviews the machines will be the older models that had many bugs to still work out.
Don't be so harsh on your love of chrome,
, we all have our thing.
You will love the Behmor, it will get you great roasts that can be tweaked enough to make nice improvements from roast to roast. The geek support for the Behmor is very high so lots of people to get advice from, and for the price it really is hard to beat. For the times you are forced to roast inside the afterburner is a really nice feature. Your voltage may be fine but the slightest change can make a difference so I suggest getting a Kill-a-Watt ($25) to see when there may be low voltage times during the day, not a bad utility to have to check other appliances and what they may be drawing in power.
See, I really am trying not to be such a roast Nazi. I recognize my insanity and acknowledge I can't change myself so I will try to limit what I impose on others and expect from them.
After all it is the passion for the bean we share and I want as many people to get the most from every cup and you are doing this.
A few more things with the Behmor.
The new chaff collector seems to add a little time to the roast so folks have been doing a 1:30 minute preheat before starting their roast proper.
Opening the door after 1st crack is a good way to get a longer finish if coming into first to fast and hot.
Cracking the door during the cool down cycle and then opening completely will help cool the beans much quicker.
Ira's BehmorThing is a very handy tool for keeping track of your roasts. There is an apple app (if you have an ipod touch or iphone) that is rather nice called RoastTimer which I use even if I am not trying to track a roast just because it is a timer counting forward instead of backwards, a timer and note pad work just as well though.
I found that roasts in the Behmor are best when under 18 minutes, over that they just get baked tasting.
I think the new Behmor comes with the small grid drum standard, if not let me know and I will send you an extra one I have that is still in the box, I added it to the cart twice by accident.
After adding beans to the drum give it a good shake to get any small shards or beans out before the roast.
Happy Roasting
.
Edit: Raisin beat me to the Kill-a-Watt info...that stuff in red is about the old Hottop and not the Behmor but great advice on what to do if there is a chaff fire in the behmor.