I was probably being overly sensitive. Sorry :) 

I ask genuinely, sorry if I offered you somehow. This clarifies more for me, thanks for sharing your miner alternatives ad current setup.

deSign_r

Stacker Saloon

saloon

I’m trying not to take offense to what you’re telling me. I’m pretty sure I know what I need to run a mining rig considering I run 4 of them.

I don’t have the full Apollo units, just the miner units. They offer multiple variants, some that include a PC and others that don’t. I chose not to buy the full units because I can provide my own “head” to drive the miners. 

I don’t solo mine, I run with a mining pool, so no, I don’t need a bitcoin node myself to run a miner. The pool provides that infra for me. 

I do happen to also run a bitcoin node, but it’s independent of the miners. 

I think the other units to consider are the Canaan Avalon units, and probably others. 