$300 is a lot for a coffee grinder, but I'm happy with the purchase!
Positive Product Points
Quiet and effective. Even, consistent grind perfect for espresso. The espresso filter holder works well.
Negative Product Points
A bit of ground coffee ends up on the table instead of in the filter holder.
Detailed Commentary
Main thing is that it does a wonderful job of grinding coffee, and I'm really pleased with the espresso I'm making now! (I use a consumer La Pavoni.)
The grinder is good-looking and not as bulky as I'd feared. It fits my counter fine. It seems really solidly built and makes minimal noise. No problem running it early in the morning when everyone else is asleep.
It took me a little while to figure out how to set the coarseness of the grind: high numbers = coarse. And when I initially set it to an extremely fine setting, the beans wouldn't feed at all. Then I moved it to a setting of about 20, and it works perfectly. I haven't gone back to the extremely fine setting to check whether the beans feed now. I've had zero problems with the issue of "large" or "oily" beans.
I don't regret getting the "doserless" version. It is perfectly convenient, and I suspect I'd have found it annoying to have to fiddle with doser settings and to have more parts to clean.
I just noticed on the 1st-line web-site some very strong advice to change grind settings only while the motor is on, at risk of voiding the warranty! This seems a little counter-intuitive, so I'm glad I came across it before damaging the grinder. I don't recall seeing this guidance in the user manual.
Buying Experience
1st-line got the grinder to me within about 48 hours, without any special shipping fee. The bean hopper was chipped on arrival; I emailed 1st-line, and they shipped me a replacement almost immediately, no questions asked. Thus, overall an excellent buying experience.
Three Month Followup
Still good.
One Year Followup
This machine has held up perfectly under daily use. It remains solid and reliable and gives a nice uniform grind. Now that I've lived with it, though, two inconveniences:
As others have noted, larger and more oily beans often don't feed in well, and I have to stop the grinder and push beans down with my fingers.
Since the vendor (not the manufacturer) says not to change the grind setting unless the machine is running, this becomes a 2-person job: one to hold down the power button to keep the machine grinding, and stabilize the receptacle, the other to twist the grind setting. Pretty inconvenient.
