I'm a babe in the woods when it comes to roasting, but at this point, the Freshroast plus8 was 80 bucks well spent and I have now roasted a dozen times with great success and am drinking a latte from the CCM Costa Rica hardbean as I am reading this thread and am in, uh, nirvana.
Granted, the Freshroast roasts in small batches, but that seems to be a plus for me as I enjoy watching the roast and do it every 2-3 days now.