Grinder is junk. Grenaded 2 of these in 4 months grinding once a day for press pot perhaps 10 second grind a day.
Positive Product Points
Well, it grinds for my press pot nicely. Fairly quiet.
Negative Product Points
The internals are junk. The first one lasted 2 months, the second replacement under warranty.. lasted 2 months.
Detailed Commentary
This grinder did a fine job for my press pot. It's fairly quiet, grinds at a reasonable speed and puts out a nice even grind.
However, at least when grinding loosely for press pot. The burrs seem to pack the beans in. Even with twice weekly cleaning, the burrs just lock up. This causes a gear inside to (I believe) bust a tooth. Once that happens it's over, no more grinding. This is with daily use, around 10 second of grind per day. I don't believe that's excessive by any stretch.
I went through 2 of these, current one just killed itself this morning. This is on FC+ beans, so it's not like the beans are particularly hard.
The general quality is rather shoddy as well, both would sometimes not turn on when I turned the timer dial. The second one would vibrate the dial knob loose every so often. Annoying and really no excuse for that.
On a good note, the first replacement went easy. I did however have to get someone at SweetMarias involved, my attempts to contact Baratza directly resulted in nothing.
** UPDATE 02/25/2009 - I emailed Baratza (using a contact I got last time) and they offered to send a replacement with the nylon gear swapped out for a metal one from a Virtuosa. If that solves this problem I will continue to use the grinder. It does grind well for press pot.. when it's working. I'll post a follow up in three months.
I'd have to say that their support is good, once you get a hold of someone. Easy swap out (they send a new one with prepaid return shipment tag.. just box up the old one and your done).
Buying Experience
Purchased from SweetMarias, and as always the buying experience was smooth. They helped with the first replacement (Baratza didn't respond to my requests).
Three Month Followup
The 3rd replacement (where they replaced the plastic gear(s) with metal versions from the Virtuosa) has been performing well since replacement. Their customer service is excellent (once you get a hold of someone), warranty service is good.
Hopefully they will start using the gear(s) from the Virtuosa on this model. If they do that I'd change my rating to a very good.
One Year Followup
I've stopped using this and modified my Rocky to grind for press pot. Many times with lighter roasts this grinder struggled to grind the beans. I don't recall what type(s) off hand, but Rocky eats them up without any problem so... I'll just stick with that.
I really liked the smaller form (takes up less space than rocky) however it just couldn't seem to handle some harder beans.
