Great macine for the money, Highly recommended! However I am having a service problem with Baratza at the moment. Stay tuned!
Positive Product Points
The Maestro Plus has been wonderful. It is a pleasing addition to any counter. The hopper is not too large, ensuring fresh beans in the hopper. It is almost idiot proof, very user friendly and very easy to adjust grind. It is a good weight, solid and wont move easily. There is a wonderful button on the front which enables any user to grind coffee right into your porta filter. Another timer switch on the side which I really havent used yet. One can control grind size from turkish to press pot needs. Just Great!
Negative Product Points
no doser, so that you have to guess (get used to how much coffee you want in the porta filter if you dont use a measuring spoon. Also after using it a few times always coffee grinds on counter. That is about it
Detailed Commentary
I have only enjoyed using this grinder. Large selection of grinds and ease make this for the money a great purchase. One has to personalize the grinds for your espresso machine. The markings for espresso grind were way too fine for my Sylvia and so the coffee would drip very slowly. I had to actually use a grind much coarser.I have been using Illy beans and Intellegentsia Black Cat beans. It has been great. I haven't used the timer yet so I cannot comment. I highly reccommend this grinder. I seriously gave thought to getting the Rocky, but to tell you the truth after using this machine for a few months, it is not neccessary to spend another 100.$
Buying Experience
I have purchased two Sylvias from 1st line coffee. I was happy with their service. When I bought this grinder from them I also bought a bag of 2 lbs of coffee which came stale. I emailed them of this and they have never responded. So I now feel lukewarm to them for further puchases.
Three Month Followup
I have been using the Maestro Plus daily. I have run into a significant snag, in that when I have changed grinds a few times from press pot to espresso grind. I cannot get back to a fine enough grind for espresso and the Baratza service guy is not very availabel and when I did speak with him he said he couldn't help me unless I was in front of the machine. I have called him numerous times while in front of the machine and I keep getting an answering machine. Then he calls me back while I am at work. It has been frustrating. Initially when I did speak with him he assumed the problem was me in that I changed the grind without having the machine run during the change. He didn't ask me to describe what had happened. As I had been changing the grind while the machine runs. I called !st line and they keep referring me back to Baratza for service. I am in the process of re-considering my recommendations of this grinder. Mostly due to the service problem. I will wait until I get through this prior to making any conclusions. Stay posted.
