ButterflyEffect, not sure if you already have that $300 roaster, but I made instructions on how to quickly and easily mod a $20 popcorn popper to make a decent roaster: If you're wondering if you'll dig it, might be worth dipping your toe in this way first. Cheap. Easy. Fun. They changed the design of the popper I used in the tutorial, but not meaningfully. Same instructions should apply now.
holy shit I even shared that way back in the day amazing, will refresh myself on this
Ha, nice. Yeah, it's interesting. A lot of the cheap home roasters don't yield that much more capacity than a popper. I'm guessing at your mentioned price point you're looking at something like a Behmor, which actually will net you quite a few more grams per roast. If I was paying money for a home roasting machine, I wouldn't go any lower than one of those, else the popper mod is more compelling. I actually have wanted to go old school cowboy-style and dry roast in a cast-iron skillet once I take my grill out of the garage. I think with this lockdown that is going to happen...