I received my R2 Pro a little over a month ago and have been very pleased with it. I came from a Fresh Roast 800 with extension tube, so I cannot draw comparisons to the R1 but I can say that after a few learning roasts, I’m producing coffee that tastes as good or better than the FR800 (but in much larger batches!).
As far as bugs, I had a weird glitch when I did a 3rd back to back roast. The roaster dropped out of roast mode mid-roast and refused to go back until I hard booted it. After that happened, I realized there was a much newer firmware available. I updated the firmware and have had no issues since.
Yeah…MUCH larger batches! Lol I started off with an FR-700 which connected via usb to my pc and allowed for stored roast profiles. It is sitting in my closet where it has been for about ten years. I didn’t get to the point of producing really good roasts on it and gave up rather quickly. No extension tube, so very tiny batches. I expect I could do more with it now, but why bother as I have an HT and will soon have a Bullet.
Good to hear about the power levels. I was hoping that would be the case. As for cleaning, well it shouldn’t be too much different than for the HT. I routinely clean the chaff tray, remove the drum and vacuum inside the roasting chamber, clean the sight glass.
I’m glad the R2 is quiet…it might help to hear the cracks. Reliability shouldn’t be an issue, so I’m ready to get started. Once it arrives!
That is what pisses me off about tech support. I’m telling them I have burning plastic smell and warped plastic and they say “no that isn’t the issue”.
The between batch routine on a Probat is pretty simple. Just dump a new batch in. And then at the end of the day or week empty the chaff container.
With the Bullet:
chaff container empty, but be sure to check the rubber plug. And make sure the rotation of the chaff basket collar isn’t off, otherwise it can me with airflow.
chaff basket swap every two batches otherwise it throws off airflow. They come out hot. (Plus the cleaning later on to get rid of the oil build up)
checking for stuck beans in the temp probe or bean chute
checking for dust build up in the door (if dust builds up, it tends to lead to beans eventually getting stuck between the door and drum)
cleaning the IBTS before or after a few sessions or every session depending on the amount of roasted coffee.
making sure the fan is on underneath the Bullet to prevent over heating
swapping out chaff and dust filter for the cooling tray
And while roasting keeping an eye on the bean chute plug. It can get knocked askew or completely off.
Turning off the cooling tray fan without accidentally changing other settings or even ending the batch (not a Pro issue)
Confirming the temps and power draw are not out of spec. (Constant issue on the R1 in warmer climates)
And if you want to monitor airflow temp, that is a whole additional thing with note taking.
You get used to the little things, but there are more things to keep track of that can mess up a batch. I’d say bigger machines have a much more tedious deep clean. So I’m not really talking about the amount of work, I’m just talking about focus. On a bigger machine I find my focus to be on the roast. With the Bullet I have to constantly be aware of all the little things, since they can just come open or fall off, or build up real quick
I am probably one of the unlucky ones, lemon for lemonade, my R2 Pro from Sweet Maria’s was delivered just before Christmas:
I was watching the Aillio unpacking video and pausing between steps. this is not a cheap machine, and I wanted to do everything right.
The shipping box looked great, no dents, scrapes and tapped well.
Packing inside look good, packaged nice, made easy to remove for main box with pull handles.
unboxed everything on the garage floor, and put all the packing back into main box.
I lifted the Bullet and put on my work bench.
I unpacked all the parts from the cooling tray, at this point I did notice a difference from the video to what I had, the Control housing was already mounted onto the Bullet, and the video showed the step of mounting the control housing to the bullet.
I removed the protective film from the control housing glass face, and immediately notice the glass was cracked at all the silver screws. On further inspections of the control housing the plastic housing was cracked in several places and chucks of plastic missing. I searched all over for the pieces of missing plastic control housing, box, packing, floor, bench…not luck. This was very concerning to me that the broken parts were not in the box, lead me to believe this product was package broken at the factory.
Stopped what I was doing and email Aillio support. They got back to me in a few days from Taiwan, surprised so fast considering the Holiday.
Matt from support, wanted me to power on the unit, and run a seasoning roast, to see if I needed a new housing, new control unit, or a complete replacement. With the time difference I did the steps the next day.
I powered on the unit, everything seem to light up ok, but when I cycled through the preheat process, something was moving in the drum and when I opened the door a plastic piece of the control housing come out. How in the world did that get into the drum? and now I am really concerned about what is inside the drum and quality control at manufacturing.
Second issue, could not get the bullet to connect to my MacAir 2022, all updated, using supplied cord. Determined the issue was hardware when I removed the supplied usb cord and noticed the control housing usb connector coming out of housing. I could push it in and out with my finger
I manually set the seasoning setting and started the first seasoning process. everything seemed ok, but as the temp was getting closer to preheat temp, smoke was coming out the back, thinking it was factory oils burning off, but had a burnt plastic smell.
Third issue, the speaking is not working, not prompts to charge beans.
I was able to get to second crack and dumped beans in bowl of water.
Emailed Matt all my findings, he called later that evening and said he would send out a new Control unit. The lemon road process has started.
While I waiting for a new control unit, I thought I would take a look at the usb connector on the control unit and take it off, reverse mounting procedure. Doing this really showed how damage this unit was, it’s cracked all over, unscrewing the glass cover, chucks of glass came off, the housing was cracked all over, so much I only had to remove 2 of the 4 screws holding the board to the housing. After loosing the board the usb connector stayed in the housing hole, off of the board. Looking at the board and connector it seemed this should be more protective and better built. For what this devise does, temperature and how it is used, this usb connector is going to get used. There is even another usb connector on the board, probably for diagnostics, and it is connected the same way, and will probably never be used. (this might explain all the usb connection issues I have read?)
The damage to the control unit is amazing consider the box is in pristine shape. I am very concerned and disappointed.
When you spend this type of money, you do expect more, but that’s just how it is sometimes. From a $500 Behmor to $5000 Bullet in the hopes to increase knowledge with more professional equipment, knowing I am not going to get 10X roasted bean quality. I get that things happen during shipping, but this seems to be a manufacturing issue, and when that happens corners get cut, I don’t get the correct cooling tray until 2025. I don’t have high hopes for this machine, lemon road, but maybe I will be able to update positively after everything is working?
that sucks…it seem Aillio wanted to rush out a new product, and I get the need, but nothing is updated for the R2 versions: website, roast world and community. I guess I will see how I am doing in 3 years.
It depends on the complexity of your issue or the nature of it.
Aillio tech support does not acknowledge convective roasting in the bullet. So they won’t look into anything to do with air or airflow. Yet they install an airflow sensor on the R2 and R2Pro? Seems a bit like they are admitting airflow is importantly enough now? Yet they still disregard my findings. I even had to prove to them that my board had power issues. That was almost a 2 year process. They are pretty bad at listening to customer input, so if they don’t discover the issue or it isn’t plainly obvious, they kind of write you off.
I have seen this before: its like the connectors on the R2 Pro, we spent a lot of money on drum, sensors, and heating, so lets save a dollar on usb connector and cooling tray connector, the lack of function controls by using less function buttons, chaff collection screen, and most concerning manufacturing issues.
Yes, understandable in some ways and nearly h forgivable in others. Haha. I don’t know why, but I hate pressing “-“ 9x to turn off the cooling tray fan.which can also end up adjusting the fan or drum in a back to back roast. I should have made my own cooling tray a long time ago.some of the mods and diy’s here on the forum are down right genius
I am sorry that your Bullet was damaged during shipping, and you feel disappointed.
It seems like all your issues stem from the broken control assembly (except the smoke during seasoning), so I am confident that once you receive the spare part, your R2 should work.
Just to shine a light on a few things. We had the new shipping box tested by a 3rd party to ensure that it could pass the standards for being dropped etc. They did this on all sides and corners and it passed.
Needless to say it was a big surprise to learn that some Bullet’s control panel were damaged during shipping (you are not the only one).
We have since removed the control panel and require users to mount this as part of the setup routine. All damaged control panels will of course be replaced by us.
As for the USB connector this must have been broken during the impact as well and should explain your connection issues with RT.
I can assure you that we use only high quality components from the best manufactures and our goal is to have the highest reliability possible.
Please let me know if your new control panel fixes all the issues. Your feedback is really appreciated.
I’m wondering if my R2 Pro will arrive DOA. Their saying yours isn’t the only one that was damaged doesn’t breed confidence. I realize they are watching out for themselves, but we customers should also be protected. Aillio has a well earned reputation with the R1 lineup that they need to live up to with the new lineup. I’m hoping they take care of things properly.
Well, that is true. Yours has had problems that by now they should have fixed. It just sounds like the R2 units are having lots of problems with lots of units. I haven’t read of that many R1’s having problems. Then again, most of the folks commenting on their R1’s are the people with functioning units. It would be helpful to hear from more users like yourself who have faulty units.
Well, the Aillio brand is a “disruptive” sort of brand. Which means they are comi from a tech and branding world instead of old world or specialty roasting. So you’re going to get more branding quality than ground up quality.
That being said, induction is pretty simple mechanically, and a rotating drum is pretty basic, so there isn’t a whole lot to break when things are working well for you. The company has a lot of potential. Just they’re still new and so they are an unknown. But home roaster machines aren’t really a competitive space yet, so perhaps in that regard they are quickly establishing a niche, but at a pretty high price. For $5K, espresso machines are better built and better performing, and coming from Centennial legacy companies sometimes, and they’re aren’t even pretending to be “pro”.
But in terms of your machine arriving DOA, I think you have a good chance of it arriving in good condition. And there is a lot to like about some of the changes they made. I used to have a faulty board that pulled extra power. It made the steps too big, but extra power is really useful. So hoping you get a good one
I roasted on Hottop from 2001-2020. Great machines. As soon as I found out about the R1 I bought one and have no regret. I dont post much but read and learn from the community and am always interested and learning from their roast profiles.
My R1 had a IR sensor issue shortly after purchasing. Aillio provided great support and it operated flawlessly the remainder of its life. Perhaps Im weird or in the minority, but I cleaned and maintained my R1 religiously. I thought enough of the build quality to take pride in its maintenance. In my opinion, Its similar to firearms. A hurricane and 9.5ft of surge killed my R1. As soon as I have a space to continue my favorite hobby, Ill be ordering a R2 without hesitation.
