After experimenting for a few weeks, I think I've finally settled on a setup I'm happy with and wanted to get some opinions from people with more experience.

Current setup:

• Bitaxe Gamma (~1.1 TH/s @ ~18 J/TH)
• Solar powered whenever practical (using a portable power station)
• Braiins Pool
• Lightning payouts directly to my Speed Wallet using my Lightning Address

Goal is simply to stack sats over the long term rather than maximize fiat profits.

I originally started on ViaBTC Smart Mining, but I wasn't a fan of having rewards routed through CoinEx and converted to USDT. Since this is really a Bitcoin hobby project, I'd rather just receive BTC directly via Lightning.

I also looked into Mining Dutch because of the profit-switching feature, but I decided simplicity was more important than chasing every last percentage point of profitability.

I'm not expecting this little miner to make me rich. For me it's about learning Bitcoin mining, supporting the network, accumulating a small amount of BTC over time, and having a fun project that's mostly powered by solar.

For those of you running Bitaxes:
Would you stick with Braiins or choose another pool?

Is there anything you'd optimize in my setup?

Have you found any meaningful increase in earnings from profit-switching pools like Mining Dutch, or is it mostly negligible for a ~1 TH/s miner?

Any other tips you'd give someone who's just getting started with hobby mining?

Thanks in advance. I'm enjoying learning this side of Bitcoin.