Nicely styled, compact footprint and very quiet.

Grind adjustment requires three hands, burr carrier has a very loose tolerance.

The Rocky DL was my first real grinder purchase ever.  I bought it based on its long history as a good multi purpose grinder and its huge user base.  After spending the money that I did on it, I just wasn’t happy.  After a week it went back to Chris’.

I’m not saying it’s a bad unit.  It’s just that my personal opinion lead me to believe that for the money spent, it should have been better.

The top complaint is the burr carrier.  There have been a number of recent posts regarding out of alignment carriers and the infamous Teflon tape mod.  What it comes down to is there is way too much play in the upper carrier.  Again, for the money, you would think this would not be an issue, especially for such a highly regarded grinder.  After using two wraps of Teflon tape, the carrier firmed up and performed how I would expect, but every time I cleaned the unit, I’d have to re-tape it and that’s a hassle I shouldn’t have to go through just for it to work right.

I spoke with Chris after all this and he said flat out, "If you need to put tape on it, then there's something wrong with it."  So I sent it back and told him to send me a new one and he said he would inspect it prior to shipping.  I got a call back not an hour later and Chris said he had opened up 4 other Rocky's with one of his techs and was surprised that all of them had some wiggle in the burr carrier.  By comparison he checked a MACAP which was rock solid.  So I canceled the replacement and looked elsewhere.  I know a Rocky vs. MACAP is not a fair comparison, but the carrier is arguably the key piece in the unit to get a consistent, reproduceable grind.  It shouldn't be so loose.

The adjustments are nice and fine, but I had a hard time mastering the hold the switch, press the lock button and turn the dial with only two hands routine.  The very first thing I would have done was the constant on switch mod.

I loved the style and its look.  The smaller footprint and overall size attracted me as counter space is at a premium.  It was incredibly quiet.  I figured it would be much louder than the cheapy nearly a burr grinder that I was using previously but I was amazed that overall it wasn’t that much louder (as compared to the Tranquilo that I ended up which is wicked loud).

Cleaning it was easy enough, although the stop screw that Rancilio puts in the hopper is just annoying.  The finger guard manages to trap about 6-8 beans in the screw holes.  But it does keep the beans from bouncing out so I left it.

If this unit was under $200 I would say it’s worth it.  But overall, until they tighten up the burr carrier tolerances, I don’t think it’s a good buy.

Bought it from Chris' Coffee and was very impressed with his customer service and attention to detail.  I'd love to buy from Chris again for that alone.