I replaced a Santos 4 with the Philos a coupe of weeks ago. We ordered direct from Mazzer so £770 ish to them then a £150 customs charge to UPS on top - so a LOT of money in total. It took less than a week to arrive, was well packed (all cardboard, no polystyrene).
Its a lovely bit of kit. Very solid to handle and use (and the Santos is not exactly flimsy). The adjustment dial is very nice, you can do it single handed but using both hands feels a bit more ‘mad scientist lab’ to me :D
Coffee is nicer than from the Santos - but then going from 3 steps of usable adjustment to nearly 30 should be reflected in better coffee. I’ve never used a niche and was very tempted but my machine is large (Astoria Greta) and im used to the Santos so both Niches looked a bit small. And we preferred the styling of the Mazzer (mine is black).
Compared to all the DF stye grinders, I like that the Mazzer doesn’t have bellows and just doesn’t make a mess. I believe the new DFs are less ‘chaffy’ but some of the videos look like wedding confetti.
I can’t imagine you’d be disappointed if you bought the Mazzer, and I’m sure you could sell it for a good price if you did want to change.
PS - anyone want to buy an old (pre 01 dialing code) Santos 4 :D
