Capable but lesser-known commercial grinder- second hand bargains often available.
Positive Product Points
Fast output Great adjustability (micrometric model) Very solid
Negative Product Points
Poorly translated instructions Very tall with full size hopper
Detailed Commentary
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I bought this second hand on ebay for £80 ($120) and it was in a usable, but extremely dirty state. I downloaded a parts catalogue (Click Here (www.fracino.com)) and an instruction manual from the Compak website and set so work. After a lot of swearing and soaking the parts in Puly Caff I had a clean and sparkling machine and subsequently ordered some replacement parts, bringing the total cost to ~$150. I can confirm that the grind adjustment, which needs to be unscrewed to access the burrs, is a real struggle to remove when the machine has not been cleaned for years.
Since it has been up and running it has worked beautifully. This is a commercial level grinder and is set to compete in the market with the Mazzer super jolly. In fairness I can only compare it to a Mazer mini that I have had demonstrated and, unsurprisingly, it is faster due to its larger burr size and more powerful motor. The grind consistency appears excellent with no clumping or production of dust. As would be expected from this level of machine it is perfectly capable of producing a machine-choking grind with ease. The micrometric adjustment system works well and allows easy fine adjustment, but would be hard to quickly adjust from espresso to other coffee grinds.
Overall this is a very capable grinder which I would not hesitate to recommend. It does not appear to have a large presence in N America and here in the UK it can be seen as the Compak K6, the Wega Max 6.4 or the Fracino C6. Spares were initially hard to locate but Compak in Spain were quick to reply to an email listing UK suppliers.
