Good for this level of grinder. Definitely worth the money.
Positive Product Points
CONICAL BURRS!!! easy to use
Negative Product Points
static...although not anymore (?) grinds bin 'walks' i dont think its all that pretty (i hate the way plastic looks)
Detailed Commentary
This grinder is excellent! FOr 100 dolars, i dont know, but for 50 definitely. I bought this at a starbucks one payday. It must have been on sale because all the other prices i have seen are @120. I have a brevile 800esxl (dont criticize me, i know it...) and with the pressurized baskets it seem sto do fine. I recently discovered the hack that can make the grind finer. YES!!! i knew that it wouldnt grind fine enough and that if i upgraded machines that i would inevitably have to get a new grinder and i feared that even with the nonpressurized krups baskets (on the way!) that i would not get a decent shot around 25 secs because of the grind. But the modification worked excellent! There are many websites with instructions and even some on this site so i wont go into that for now.
The conical burrs are good because they dont heat the coffee as much as flat burrs and they last pretty long. A definite plus
Also the machine is easy to use...turn a knob ( a caveman could do it!)
I dont know why i had static problems in the beginning and not anymore. It may have been old beans as they are drier w/o as many oils, but i have no problems with static since the very early stages of the machine.
The grinds bin 'walks' and so sometimes coffee gets spilled on the counter but this is easily fixable. I have thought about gluing a thin piece of felt to the bottom of the bin.
Plastic..ugh! enough said. (my breville may not be the best machine, but it definitely looks nice!)
I dont work for starbucks! I hate starbucks, they just happened to have a cheap burr grinder (the only other one i knew of was a capresso for 80 and that was too much)
Buying Experience
I had ordered my espresso machine off of ebay and knew i would need to upgrade from my blade grinder. The decision was a bit impulse and felt a bit frivolous to me at the time. I had money and it was burning a hole in my pocket. But i am so glad that i did buy the grinder. I bought it at a local starbucks. It was cheap so i dont know if it was the display model or what, but it works wonderfully.
