Baratza Vario-W Coffee Grinder - Baratza 985

This is my 3rd espresso grinder and it is by far my favorite one. Previously I had a cuisinart grinder, I returned it after using it for one day, espresso went all over the place and the grind quality was all over the place, so for a while I would just have the coffeeshops grind my coffee instead (which I have since learned was a terrible but I was using a super-auto so it didn't make that much of a difference).Once I got the Breville BES900XL Dual boiler I decided I needed a real grinder as well, so I initially purchased it with a Breville Smart Grinder. For about a week I wasted bags after bags of espresso(*tears up remembering the bags of wasted honolulu coffee company/gimme coffee/intelligentsia*), I thought that maybe I was in over my head with the machine and I should have just gone back to my Jura. But I decided to change the grinder since I read others were getting inconsistent grinds from the smart grinder.With this grinder, I had to adjust the grind settings twice, and I didn't have to touch it as long as I had the same bag of espresso, and I would get great shots from my BES900XL shot after shot. With the smart grinder I had two big issues, inconsistent weight dosing it would vary from by 1-4g _everytime_, even more if you adjust the setings. Also, I noticed that at the finest grind setting it was still fairly chunky. It was pretty much night and day difference with the Vario's the grind quality and accurate weight based dosing.The only negative thing I can say is that when I first needed to clean it, I thought I could just take it apart and brush it down, but the upper burr is installed very tightly and unless you have a tool that can provide you leverage there is no way your going to get it off don't even bother trying unless you want to cut up your fingers. I contacted customer support regarding this, and they were very fast to respond but their recommendation was to use Grindz/Puro to clean the grinder every month. (Luckily amazon has 4 for 3 promotions for Grindz and Puro so it was fairly cheap to buy supply for a year.)

Price is absolutely the only reason this doesn't get five stars. Grind is amazingly uniform and the built-in scale is such a time saver when pulling multiple shots back-to-back. I thought having so many steps was a gimmick at first but no longer. Very useful feature for dialing in the perfect grind for different roasts and brewing methods. Still smarting over price but if it tells you anything I have no regrets and would buy it again.

This was my first powered grinder, so I'm not able to make any comparisons. But, here are some observations...Pros:- The scale is very accurate, and works well- Grind quality looks to be very good for fine to medium sizes- Reasonably quiet and fastCons:- Static is an issue. It might be because it's winter, but sometimes it's bad enough that it defeats the purpose of the scale, because there's a significant amount of grounds in the bin that won't come out via gravity. So much for the special anti-static plastic.- I learned that a coarser grind requires an adjustment to a screw, which (after eventually grabbing a flashlight) I realized wasn't present/installed. This, combined with some scrap marks at the bottom of my bin, it makes me wonder if I got a refurb unit.- The two adjustment levels are just attached via bonded plastic, and one came loose after only a couple weeks. You think at this price, metal levers would be in order.- The screen quality is disappointing, and I could do without the blue light.- The cord holder, at maximum capacity, leaves a lot of exposed cord...seems like a strange design decision.Maybe the unit I got was a bit off, but at this price, the execution needs to be spot on, and it wasn't. I've heard good things about the Preciso, and the price is almost half this, so I'll probably try that instead.

This is a fantastic home use bur grinder. Because I use it for drip or poor over brewing I ordered steel burs from the manufacture as the provided ceramic grind too fine for those brewing methods. The grind is very consistent and the micro and macro grind settings are great at delivering the perfect grind based on the bean, and humidity. The scale with auto shut off is nice too but after 5 months of use it has stopped working properly and now I weigh the beans before putting them in the hopper. This is why it only gets a 3 out of 5.

This does exactly what I wanted: It lets me micro-adjust the size of the grind, and guess what? I can tell the difference between microgrinds right away, both from the behavior of the espresso machine (how fast the drip comes out) and from the taste. This has opened up my espresso technique considerably. It's true what they say: A good grinder may be even more important than a good espresso machine. I particularly like the automatic dosing by weight. No more guessing how long to let the grind go before cutting it off! Every time, the dose is just the right amount! (You can adjust it up or down.) Machine was easy to figure out, and it doesn't build up crud or dirt anywhere. Fines stick in a few corners of the dispenser basket, but they don't build up, and it's not a problem. I won't go into the many thoughtful ways this machine was designed for the frequent user: I'll just say that once it was on my counter, I knew I wasn't ever going to need a different grinder. I've had it nearly a year now, and I'm just as happy as I was the day I started using it.

Works well but occasionally burrs get jammed and need to be cleaned. Baratza has a great support team and excellent service, all by email.