I dug out my French press this evening after a long time of no use. Made some coarse ground and went about making 12 oz with my usual method. Now I remember why I really like the Aero. The press mouth feel isn't as smooth as the Aero and there was too much bitterness. This is with a full bodied, almost dark chocolate deep earthy type of roast that shouldn't have that characteristic.

I do enjoy a good press, but I would say that pressing is an art unto itself.

I'd kill for a decent automated press... hmm. 

Which model do you have Don?  Looks like a good possible gift.

@Quest: what beans have you tried so far?

No one has mentioned the Clever Coffee Dripper.  I think it is much better than an Aeropress, and even cheaper.  Sweet Maria's sells them, and has some info about how to use them.

I've been roasting at home for a couple of years now.  I built a PID temperature controller so I can program the amount of time it takes for the beans to get to a particular temp in the roast cycle.  I also use it for sous vide cooking, but that would be another thread.

If you want to start to control your roasts, get a big variac, and separate the fan power from the heater power on your air popper.  Plug the fan directly into the wall, and then you can control the temp with the variac, using a candy thermometer to check the temperature.  This is what I did before I built the PID.  I still use the variac to lower the fan speed towards the end of the roast. 

Of course, you could also go full PID right away if you want.

The variac can also be used to slowly power up old audio equipment, or DIY projects.  If something bad starts to happen, you haven't powered it all the way up, so you can quickly turn it down and possibly save some components.