IMAWriter Senior Member Joined: 4 Jul 2002 Posts: 5,475 Location: Brentwood, TN Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Nothing at the moment Grinder: Vario-W,Preciso-Esatto/KyM... Vac Pot: Adcraft SS, Yama 8 cup Drip: Brazen.Chemex, Hario, Clever... Roaster: Behmor 1600, CO/UFO combo
Posted Sun Mar 8, 2009, 2:47pm Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
Lifestar Said:
Well the downside is I came down with the stomach flu on Thursday and my stomach is still chruning if I east anything stronger than toast. Wonderful beans showed up on Friday and I cant do a thing with them.
weiv Senior Member Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 29 Location: Burlingame, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Silvia Grinder: Rocky
Posted Sun Mar 8, 2009, 8:18pm Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
My Vario arrived Thursday. After a few days, I found it was very easy to dial in a good grind level. It is relatively quiet. Portaholder works, but not as well as I would hope on my bottomless portafilter - I still have to be careful. Timer function is neat, but I pre-dose (regular/decaf combo and what not).
Today I cleaned my Rocky with doser in order to figure out which one goes up for sale. Rocky is heavier, louder and way messier. The same amount of coffee put in produces much less ground coffee (the rest stays in Rocky).
With this knowledge, if I had to choose between a new Vario and a new Rocky, I'd easily go for Vario. On the other hand, if you already have a Rocky that works well, the situation is more muddy. Vario is definitely a generation ahead of Rocky. It dials in more precisely, it is less messy (although if you pre-dose, the last few seconds will throw grounds all around the counter top). Noise wise, Vario seems to be a bit quieter. Speed is about the same (again, I pre-dose, so the last few beans take more time than if the hopper was full). With Rocky, I had to put duct tape in doser to sweep properly, I replaced the hopper cap with click-clack, and I removed the shield in the hopper. At the moment, I have no obvious needs to do any modifications on Vario.
I'll wait a few more weeks, but I think it is Rocky that will go.
IMAWriter Senior Member Joined: 4 Jul 2002 Posts: 5,475 Location: Brentwood, TN Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Nothing at the moment Grinder: Vario-W,Preciso-Esatto/KyM... Vac Pot: Adcraft SS, Yama 8 cup Drip: Brazen.Chemex, Hario, Clever... Roaster: Behmor 1600, CO/UFO combo
Posted Sun Mar 8, 2009, 9:16pm Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
weiv Said:
My Vario arrived Thursday. After a few days, I found it was very easy to dial in a good grind level. It is relatively quiet. Portaholder works, but not as well as I would hope on my bottomless portafilter - I still have to be careful. Timer function is neat, but I pre-dose (regular/decaf combo and what not).
When you say "pre-dose" do you mean "grind by the dose?" That is, putting only the amount of beans you wish to grind? Wasn't quite sure what you meant. Sounds like you did all you could with your Rocky. Please keep us up on your Vario adventures!
acp Senior Member Joined: 8 Mar 2009 Posts: 7 Location: The Great Northwest Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Mar 8, 2009, 10:14pm Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
So for those of you who have one, how easy is it to learn the control panel? Is it intuitive? Logical? Accurate? I've been thinking of upgrading from the Virtuoso and this looks pretty nice.
weiv Senior Member Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 29 Location: Burlingame, CA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Silvia Grinder: Rocky
Posted Mon Mar 9, 2009, 9:29am Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
I'd say there are a wee bit more buttons than I like. I'd probably go for another lever to select manual/espresso/drip/french timing. Grind setting is definitely different than Rocky or another grinder where you make adjustments by rotating the hopper. However, once you try it a bit, it is not hard to get comfortable with. As for accurate, I guess you are really asking how repeatable it is. That I don't know yet - I didn't go through enough coffee to say.
Posted Tue Mar 10, 2009, 11:48am Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
Well, I've had my Vario for all of 20 minutes, but I seem to be suffering from similar problems to DaveZ, only I haven't even it made it operate successfully once. All I get are blue lights and counting timers, but no motor. There was no manual of any kind in the box (I don't know if that is normal) that I could find, either. The only thing I could think of is that the hopper seems to sit a little loosely at the top, so maybe I need to lock it in more, though I have my doubts since there appears to be very few ways to insert it. DaveZ seems to have found a workaround by fiddling with the sequence of button presses, but no dice for me.
Anyone else overcome this? I hope it's only a hiccup, though I can see myself hoofing it back down to the Green Beanery in the near future.
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