Braiins Mini Miner BMM-101 vs Avalon Nano 3S – Which Quiet Home BTC Miner Should You Buy?

Key Takeaways

 

• • If you want the lowest possible power draw and a neat integration with the Braiins ecosystem, pick the Braiins Mini Miner BMM-101.

• • If you want more hashrate, more heat, and a “mini-heater” miner with both Wi-Fi and Ethernet, pick the Avalon Nano 3S.

• • Neither device is a classic “ROI machine” at residential electricity prices; treat both as hobby / learning / solo-lottery or background sats-stackers.

• • At the same electricity price, the Avalon Nano 3S costs roughly 3.5× more to run than the BMM-101, but delivers ~6× the hashrate.

• • For very small rooms or tight power budgets, the BMM-101 is easier to live with. For colder rooms where a little extra heat is welcome, the Nano 3S is often the more satisfying choice.

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Hashrate, Power Draw and Efficiency

From a pure mining perspective, the Avalon Nano 3S is clearly the heavier hitter:

 

• • BMM-101: roughly 1 TH/s at about 35–40 W.

• • Nano 3S: 6 TH/s at roughly 140 W.

If you look at J/TH (joules per terahash):

 

• • BMM-101: ~35–40 J/TH (e.g., 40 W / 1 TH/s).

• • Nano 3S: ~23.3 J/TH (140 W / 6 TH/s).

That means:

 

• • The Avalon Nano 3S is more efficient per hash: it uses less energy to produce each terahash.

• • But it also draws about 3.5× more total power than the BMM-101.

So the trade-off is:

 

• • BMM-101 → lowest possible impact on your power bill and circuits; easy to run in any corner.

• • Avalon Nano 3S → more hashrate and better energy efficiency per hash, but you must be comfortable with ~140 W running continuously.

For most hobbyists, the key question is:

 

• • Do you want something that is “barely noticeable” on your electrical consumption?
    

     

    • • BMM-101 wins.

• • Or do you want more real hashrate, with a cost and heat output you can actually feel?
    

     

    • • Avalon Nano 3S wins.

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Noise, Heat and Apartment Friendliness

Both devices were designed to live in real homes, not warehouses, but they behave differently.

Braiins Mini Miner BMM-101

 

• • Noise: typically around ~40 dB in a normal room – similar to a quiet office or a small fan at low speed.

• • Heat: at ~40 W, it outputs roughly 136 BTU/h – you will feel a warm stream near the exhaust, but it will not function as a heater for a room. (Braiins Mini Miner BMM-101 Review)

Avalon Nano 3S

 

• • Noise: listed around 33–40 dB in quiet modes, and can climb toward ~50 dB in higher fan modes. In practice, that means “soft fan noise” that you notice, but that does not dominate a living room if placed a couple of meters away. (Avalon Nano 3S Review))

• • Heat: at ~140 W, it outputs roughly 477 BTU/h. That’s enough to meaningfully warm up a small office or corner of a bedroom over time, especially in winter.

In short:

 

• • If your room is already warm and you are sensitive to any extra heat, the BMM-101 is safer.

• • If you actually want a mini-space-heater that also mines, the Avalon Nano 3S is built exactly for that use case.

In both cases, placement matters:

 

• • Put the device on a solid surface.

• • Leave clear airflow behind the exhaust.

• • Avoid tight cabinets and soft surfaces that trap heat and amplify fan noise.

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Setup, UX and Ecosystem

Here is where the two devices feel very different.

Braiins Mini Miner BMM-101

 

• • Ecosystem: tightly integrated with the Braiins stack (Braiins OS+, Braiins Pool dashboards). If you like having one vendor for miner firmware, statistics, and pool tooling, this is a big plus.

• • Networking: Ethernet only (RJ45). That keeps stale shares low and makes the device stable over long uptimes, at the cost of needing a cable or Ethernet bridge.

• • Interface: web UI on the local network plus a small front display (depending on firmware/batch) for quick stats.

• • Onboarding: plug PSU + Ethernet → find IP on your router → open web UI → add pool URL and BTC address → you are mining.

This is ideal if:

 

• • You already use Braiins tools.

• • You want a “plug-it-in, set a pool, forget it” style desk miner that is hard to misconfigure.

Avalon Nano 3S

 

• • Positioning: part of Canaan’s “Avalon Home” line – a device explicitly marketed for home users who want a friendly, heater-like BTC miner. (Avalon Miner – Canaan Official Shop)

• • Networking: both Ethernet and Wi-Fi are available, which is convenient if your router is not near the final placement spot. (OneMiners – Crypto Mining Hosting)

• • Interface: web dashboard over the network; vendor tooling and documentation are oriented toward simple BTC mining with limited need for tuning.

• • Onboarding: plug in the included PSU, connect via Ethernet or join Wi-Fi, log into the web interface, set pool and wallet, and you’re running.

This is ideal if:

 

• • You do not care about a specific ecosystem and just want a simple, heater-style miner.

• • You might move it around the house and sometimes rely on Wi-Fi instead of cable.

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Solo Lottery vs Pool Mining with These Miners

Many buyers look at these devices as solo “lottery miners”. The idea: leave them running, and one day you might hit a full BTC block reward. It is important to understand how unlikely that is.

Using the solo odds framework from a dedicated solo-mining guide (assuming ~600 EH/s network hashrate and ~144 BTC blocks per day)

 

• • Avalon Nano 3S (6 TH/s) ends up with roughly 0.05% chance to find at least one block in a year of continuous solo mining.

• • BMM-101 (1 TH/s) is at roughly one-sixth of that chance, on the order of ~0.01% per year under the same assumptions.

The exact percentages move with network hashrate and difficulty, but the message does not:

 

• • Both devices are true lottery tickets in solo mode.

• • Avalon Nano 3S is “less bad” for solo odds because it has six times higher hashrate.

Practical framing:

 

• • If you want consistent payouts, you point both miners at a pool and treat them as quiet sats-stackers.

• • If you like the romance of “maybe one day I hit a block”, you can dedicate some time to solo endpoints – but keep your expectations firmly in hobby / entertainment territory, not as an income plan.

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Power Cost Examples: How Much Do They Cost to Run?

Using the power draw numbers from the individual reviews, here is a simple picture of daily and monthly power cost at different electricity prices.

Assumptions:

 

• • BMM-101: 40 W 24/7.

• • Avalon Nano 3S: 140 W 24/7.

Electricity cost table (24/7 operation)

Tariff (€/kWh)	Device	kWh / day	Cost / day	Approx. cost / month (30 days)
0.10	BMM-101	0.96	€0.10	~€3.0
0.10	Avalon Nano 3S	3.36	€0.34	~€10.1
0.20	BMM-101	0.96	€0.19	~€5.8
0.20	Avalon Nano 3S	3.36	€0.67	~€20.4
0.30	BMM-101	0.96	€0.29	~€8.7
0.30	Avalon Nano 3S	3.36	€1.01	~€30.2

A few observations:

 

• • The Avalon Nano 3S costs roughly 3.5× as much to run but delivers 6× the hashrate.

• • If you are extremely power-price sensitive, the BMM-101 is easier to justify as a “background expense”.

• • If you are already paying for electric heating in winter, the Nano 3S can replace a small part of that heater load while also mining.

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Use Cases and Buyer Profiles

When the Braiins Mini Miner BMM-101 Makes More Sense

Choose the BMM-101 if:

 

• • You want the smallest possible power footprint while still mining real Bitcoin.

• • You prefer Ethernet-first reliability and already like (or want to learn) the Braiins toolchain.

• • You plan to run multiple different mini miners in one home and want at least one that barely moves the power needle.

• • Your living situation has strict limits on heat or power draw (e.g., summer in a small apartment, shared electricity bills, or fragile circuits).

• • Your primary goal is learning, monitoring, and improving your stack with very low operating cost.

Typical scenarios:

 

• • A miner on your desk next to your router, running 24/7 as a “live BTC node of hash”.

• • A companion device to more powerful miners, serving as a low-risk testbed for new pools or config changes.

When the Avalon Nano 3S Is the Better Choice

Choose the Avalon Nano 3S if:

 

• • You want more noticeable hashrate while staying firmly in “apartment-friendly” territory.

• • You appreciate a device that doubles as a mini-space-heater in cooler months (140 W of continuous warm air).

• • You need flexible placement (Ethernet + Wi-Fi) and might move it between rooms.

• • You prefer a single device that feels “worth it” in terms of both heat and sats, compared to several tiny miners.

Typical scenarios:

 

• • A small office where you were going to run a 150 W electric heater anyway – the Nano 3S simply replaces that with a miner.

• • A living room corner where a soft fan tone is acceptable, and the stream of warm air is actually welcome.

Running Both Together

For some home-mining enthusiasts, the realistic answer is “both”:

 

• • The Avalon Nano 3S acts as the main winter heater-miner in the living room or office.

• • The BMM-101 sits closer to the router as a low-power, always-on test and monitoring device in the Braiins ecosystem.

This combination gives you:

 

• • Diversity of vendors (Canaan + Braiins).

• • Diversity of power levels and heat outputs.

• • More flexibility when electricity prices change through the year.

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Decision Cheat-Sheet

If you want the quickest possible decision, use this simple matrix:

• • Pick Braiins Mini Miner BMM-101 if most of these are true:
    
    • • You care more about low power and low cost than about hashrate.
    • • You are curious about Braiins OS+/pool tooling and want a tight integration.
    • • Your room is already warm; you do not want an extra 140 W heater running all day.
    • • You like the idea of multiple tiny miners rather than one bigger “mini-heater”.

• • Pick Avalon Nano 3S if most of these are true:
    
    • • You want measurably more hashrate while staying quiet and compact.
    • • You like the concept of “space-heater mining” at a modest power level.
    • • You want both Ethernet and Wi-Fi available out of the box.
    • • You accept a moderate increase in your monthly electricity bill in exchange for more sats and more warmth.

 

Verdict: Braiins Mini Miner BMM-101 vs Avalon Nano 3S

• • Choose the Braiins Mini Miner BMM-101 if you want a minimal-impact desk miner: extremely low power, clean Ethernet networking, and tight Braiins ecosystem integration. It is ideal as an always-on, low-risk way to learn mining, watch stats, and gently stack sats.

• • Choose the Avalon Nano 3S if you want a quiet mini-heater that also mines: more hashrate, better efficiency per hash, and a stream of warm air that actually changes how a small room feels, while still being apartment-friendly in noise and size.

If budget allows, many home miners eventually like having both: a tiny Braiins-powered desk miner plus an Avalon Nano 3S as a winter heater-miner. But if you must pick one today, anchor the decision on your power budget, heat tolerance, and ecosystem preference—that will naturally point you toward the right side of this comparison.