Aiming this at no one in particular.

I like the magnets. Centering catch cup. Easy to dismantle the chute. Panels clipping off and on with ease, no screws required. Hopper lids sliding into place. They are a very clever and very elegant solution. I have no idea why they are suddenly the target of negative comments.

I also accept the limitations of grinders, so long at the sellers are transparent about them.

The Duo is exceptional, no question. One of my favorites for sure.

But others like the DF64V or DF83V, whilst not equal in several respects, have their place in the coffee community too.

Yes, you’d better feed Nordic Light beans slowly, and yes you are best to hot start and no it can’t grind green beans like the Duo.

But the DF64V/83Vs are an example of grinders that perform well overall and those areas where they fall short of the Duo’s world leading standards, can be managed. So long as the sellers (not the influencers, we know they are a mixed bag) are up front about the capabilities of the grinders then we go into the purchase with our eyes wide open.

VS3 is another example of a grinder that is never going to live up to the level of a Duo’s performance but has its place in the world of prosumer grinders nonetheless.

To go into negative mode about grinders that fail to come up to Niche standards is a bit like comparing various cars to a Mercedes. Of course most of them are going to fall short. That’s not to say they are necessarily deficient.

It’s just a shame that we can’t take grinders for test drives.

In summary, yes the sellers need to be clearer about a grinder’s capabilities and limitations. But provided they are, then you are able to practice Caveat Emptor. An example of a reseller that does a reasonable job of pointing out limitations is Josh at Alternative Brewing - see his YouTube channel and this video at the 11:56 mark

    Mine arrived this morning. Haven’t checked alignment, but tested on about 4 cups so far, set to 600, medium roast beans, cold starting. It’s quiet, fast, fluffy grinds/no static. Definitely on first impression an upgrade on my niche zero. Shots pulled on the Evo and seemed to look good to my untrained eye. Will need to do some proper taste testing later.

      tompoland I don’t think it’s target of the negative comments. The comments were that makers are focusing on those instead of the essential functionalities of a grinder. Those are nice to have, but the must have are missing.

      would I love something like magnet catch for my NZ dosing cup? yeah sure

          Mine arrived today as well. Managed to spend a bit of time with it. Checked alignment and to my surprise it’s pretty good out of the box.

          Had to adjust the zero on the dial a little and run 300g of old coffee through it.

          Retention without the bellows is around 0.5g and does come down to 0.1 with bellows on initial testing.

          It’s extremely quite without any beans in and quieter then Niche when grinding unless on full 1600rpm.

          I’ve settled at 600rpm at the moment.

          Managed to get few coffees as well which were very good but I am biased and wanted them to be good.

          As others reported it does have quite a strong smell out of the box.


          mailto:kafar@btinternet.com

            We

            LMSC well, not sure but ACS had it for about 8 months. During that time they completely rebuilt it, and I opted to have the pump upgraded to rotary. They upgraded internals to add configurable pre-infusion and strengthened subframe, which is good as the pressure stat did blow before. I did ask if they had identified the issue with the water/springs - they said complete rebuild and fix sorted it, but no more. They had to wait for parts for the group, so hopefully some magic has happened….

            No issues so far (fingers crossed). Definitely working well since, although I probably need to schedule to have a look inside in a couple of months just to be sure. Very thankful to them for sorting.

            The only downside being the lost 8 months of use/warranty, but during that time I made a lot of pour-over so feel it was like a form of espresso mindfulness sabatticle, that probably taught me something useful on Saturday me level.

                danielpugh Great to hear all the rebuild and upgrade. I am sure she will serve you well for a long time. Enjoy! :-)

                    LMSC pretty confident at this point. Very happy with her, if a tiny bit envious of the vostok. Bound to be the usual occasional replacement/tinker required, but even if it died completely at this point I’d be getting the same again.

                        danielpugh if a tiny bit envious of the vostok

                        Hope the upgradeitis doesn’t bite you soon. Cheers mate. Let’s know how you are getting on with the grinder. :-)

                          danielpugh

                          I agree with the comparison.
                          I like my Argos but the Vostok beats it hands down.
                          It should though given the price difference and development time frames.

                              Amberale yep, I think more like an apples to oranges. Argos is a tiny thing and so heat management is a real factor in every shot. For what I’m using for it’s perfect (tiny office so 1-2 cups with gaps as well as backup when servicing the EVO).

                              I think it would be really cool to combine the technology in Argos in a larger form like the vostok with improved thermal management e.g. dissipate heat via cooling, and it’d be quite something. Imagine an EVO with app, integrated with weighing scales, where the boiler and group automatically self adjust to deliver a set temperature at the portafilter…

                                delta76 I don’t think it’s target of the negative comments. The comments were that makers are focusing on those instead of the essential functionalities of a grinder. Those are nice to have, but the must have are missing.

                                Exactly.

                                Contact me

                                  So initial feedback is that grinder seems fine. Hectic at work, so not got a lot of time to play about but it arrived with decent calibration as far as my basic tests can tell (dry wipe marker). No static which is nice.

                                  Greyest area for me is the dial/end cap. I’ve managed to get the main part on with the silver arrow/sticker at the top each time which seems to have alluded some. The dial itself has a grub screw to calibrate. Seems to have slipped a few times which is a little strange. After taking it off I think this part feels like the weakest link. basically the grub screw is pressure on smooth metal. It’s quite a tight dial so think that it slips a bit occasionally. Its a small grub screw so I don’t want to strip the threads, and realistically it’s pushing directly against smooth metal without any which is unlikely to give.

                                  How to fix this is a good question, maybe a second grub screw and a pressure spreader circlip. Or just notched for the grub screw to grip. A decent product designer/engineer would know more than me.

                                  Also found that pressure on the dial (pushing towards the motor) can be transferred to push the burrs to chirp. Presumably against the springs, but slightly surprised me. Vaguely remember someone mentioning something similar on ek43. Others will obviously know more than me and have better info/opinion

                                  Neither are deal breakers for me. Suspect this might be an area they improve next.