Originally posted by WACoffee
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Firstly, ask 5 CS'r's about grinders and get a dozen opinions... so here's mine.
Presumably you are in West Oz (or Washington State US?). If so, I have three Mahlkoenig Varios (not for sale!) - you are welcome to come and play with one in my micro kitchen and see what you think if that suits (PM me). Works well with either a 6910 or a Decent DE1. BYO roast for testing.
BTW, I have 2 * gen2's (2013 / 2014) and 1 * gen3 (2016?). For some reason the gen2's are slightly quieter than the gen3, although none are noisy. BTW, all are Swiss made - and it shows.
IMO for the Turkish to espresso range of grinds (i.e. your espresso need is within their sweet spot) the Vario (with the standard ceramic burrs) has thrashed every other grinder anywhere near their price for flavour in the cuppa. The reason is pretty simple. Unlike conicals (i.e. Niche) which have a twin peak particle spread (i.e. complete with too many unwanted fines), the flat burrs of a Vario have been tuned to give a very narrow, precise particle spread in the Turkish to espresso range only. Outside that range, they are pretty poor. Most flat burr grinders - even monsters with huge diameter burrs like my Bo-ema RR45 - are tuned to give a wide range of acceptable grinds, whereas the Vario gen2 onward simply doesn't. Jack of all trades, master of none vs precision.
FYI, the original Vario does have a wide grinding range and is only a mediocre grinder for espresso. The gen2 and gen3 are totally different performers from the first model - hence some early reviews actually describe an entirely different mechanism / beastie.
The Vario also has truly minimal grind retention down to the last dose. Unlike those grinders when people measure a dose and only place those beans in the hopper the Vario does not rely on the weight of the beans in the hopper to give an even feed / particle spread. A friend summarized it neatly: "What else would you expect from Swiss engineers?".
That flavour in the cuppa is why I bought a second one a few weeks after my first one. Then I was sent a set of Mahlkoenig Vario "optional steel burrs" for coarser grinds when a near new gen3 was also up for grabs cheap...
The worst feature of the Vario is a trade off - place a Ditting commercial grinding module in such a compact package and the adjusters are delicate. Never let a "brute force idiot" anywhere near a Vario. My oldest Vario has done a number of stints in a cafe and survived over 300Kgs of use (and a dozen or so different baristas) without a problem (or, impressively any noticeable wear - those burrs are tough). Yet I keep seeing Varios where the adjusters have popped out (or even been bent out of shape - shudder) - a sure sign of abuse. The manual states the motor should be running when adjusting the grind finer (doh: been doing that to all grinders since 1970...) and presumably the same "brute force idiots" cannot read... BTW, unless the adjusters are actually severely bent, resetting them is an (unnecessary) 5 minute fix (requiring a PH#2 to remove one screw).
I hope this helps,
TampIt
PS: The bean feeding issue: L3ninja's https://coffeesnobs.com.au/grinders/...tml#post668759 says it all. The Niche may well be another one of the few grinders immune to that issue.

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