Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

[leonardopm]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

2mcm,

Even if I had one I live in Brazil...pretty far to send a grinder. I believe Cuppacoffee sells the Vario, or maybe Im wrong.

About paying by the test, I (innocently) thought that as a sponsor he would have interest in better testing the BCG800 against the Vario, what could really help the market to know better the product and probably increase his own sales of Breville grinder, but it seems that Im really wrong, judging by this position.

If I need to pay a sponsor for a test to know a little more about a new product he sells, I think really must spend my money getting a Vario.

Leonardo

[cuppacoffee]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I believe that inserting the results of a HOME and well known grinder would bring a better idea of BCG800 grind quality

No Leonardo, what it would do is compare the grind quality to another type of grinder.  In your case, youre interested in comparing it to a Vario; someone else may prefer comparisons against a Rocky, and so on.  Nothing wrong with that though there are many choices.

Leonardo, as Ive made you aware, the BCG800 is advertised on the USA website for $199.  Not so far from Brazil, and not a big risk when you already have so many positive comments in this thread.  

For $448.89 the Vario is available from Amazon (CS members who are now having thoughts of saving 50% by purchasing from OS, forget it - 110v plus the freight will kill any savings).

So I suggest you choose one, buy it, and enjoy it.

If however anyone would like to donate their newly purchased grinder to me for a week or two while I find the time, is willing to pay me a modest fee, and would then like to post the results freely in the name of science, then together we can make Leonardos dream a reality.

Takers?

[sossy]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Hi all

I am a proud and happy owner of this fine grinder. A couple of weeks ago, I took apart the burr grinders to give it a good clean. When i put it back together again, it wasnt grinding anywhere near as fine as it used to. Most likely my fault, I could have dropped a shim.
So anyways, I emailed Phil McKnight for the shim kit, and got a response straight away (on a Sunday!!) Great service.

I received the kit within a couple of days, and had a go at installing them

My question is, how do you figure out how many shims to put into it, without overdoing it.
I ending up putting an extra 1mm shim in, I found that anymore, and if I tried to wind up the fineness, I would get a slight whining noise , which could have been the sound of the burrs starting to touch?

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated

Glen

[>mcknightp]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Hi Glen, what you need to do is put the minimum number of shims in the grinder so it grinds fine enough for your own individual setup. I like to see maybe 2 or 3 marks on the scale still left on the LCD which means youll still be able to go finer once the burrs season. Its a bit of trial and error but worth it.

Cheers, Phil

[leonardopm]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Dear Phil,

Could you inform if the BCG800 exists in 110v, in any part of world?

Thanks,

Leonardo

[pjchris]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Its available on the North American and Canadian Breville websites so yes, its definitely available in 110v.

Peter

[cuppacoffee]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Dear Phil,

Could you inform if the BCG800 exists in 110v, in any part of world?

Thanks,

Leonardo

Im not sure how many times youd like to hear this and from how many sources, but as I have already informed you via pm Leonardo, and mentioned above, your closest supplier is in the USA where 110v is standard. So the answer to your question is still yes.

[leonardopm]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Sorry Cuppa, but you only said to me that dont have 110v equipment and told me to ask Breville USA. I dont think it means that there is a 110v version.

Besides that, how can I be confident about it if in the own Breville USA site it says that product only has 220v version...would you be confident after reading that?

Other point is that I live in BRAZIL, not in the USA. Here in Brazil is common to have cities with 110v and others with 220v, depending on the state. Never went to USA before...how could I possibly know about USA equipment voltage?

Leonardo

[bikpaintr]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Besides that, how can I be confident about it if in the own Breville USA site it says that product only has 220v version...would you be confident after reading that?
Leonardo

I brought this to the attention of customer service at Breville USA last week & if you check their site today you will find the correct (110-120v) information.

Placed an order for the grinder last week & also have a shim kit on the way. Looking forward to trying it out & comparing it to my other conical.

Does anyone know if Breville sells replacement burr sets (upper/lower) for these grinders?  All I saw on the U.S. site were upper burrs for older models but no complete sets.

[leonardopm]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

JohnB, thanks for answering.

Just curious, what conical do you have?

[bikpaintr]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Just curious, what conical do you have?

The Breville will be up against a Compak K10 for espresso use & a Bunn G3 modified with Ditting 804 machined burrs for brew grinding. Im not expecting any miracles from a $200 grinder but the comparison should be interesting.

  The Breville will be the grinder I bring when Im charged with making the coffee/espresso at a friends home or when we load up the Touring for a road trip.  As long as it turns out an acceptable (IMO) cup of vac pot brew & a decent shot with the Microcasa Ill be happy. Feature wise I already like the design much better then the Baratza Vario I owned for a couple months last year.

[leonardopm]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Well, decided to buy one and test by myself.

Its not very clear how good is this new grinder from Breville, but I decided that could take such a risk, since it costs US$ 199,00 in USA (far less than a Vario).

Besides that, its grind quality is probably better than the modded BCG450XL I own, and almost certainly is no worse than that. So, in the worst case Ill be paying US$ 199,00 to have some extra (desirable) features and a very beautiful appearance (BCG450 is kind of ugly).

Also asked Phil a shim kit...hey Phil, counting on your support, thanks!

Thanks for all you that helped me to take the decision, even those who were a little impatient with my questions... ;D ;D

Hope to come back soon to add some personal experience to it...

Leonardo

[Mono]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Well done Leonardo. Yep at less than $200.00 iT is a relative low cost purchase. Hard to figure how one can go wrong
Enjoy..........Steve

[Valvster]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Leonardo I have been following this thread and your questions for some time. I received my Smartgrinder yesterday and have only had 2 shots from it...you will be impressed.
Im a total newbie to this home coffee thing but there was a huge leap in taste compared to the BCG450.
The missus complains it looks like Robbie the Robot sat on the kitchen bench but my coffee making is now mess free and she even reckons it tastes better than most coffee shops.
Next step, single wall non-pressurised baskets for the Breville Cafe Roma.
Oh, and a proper tamper instead of that idiot plastic thing.

Valvster

[mitto68]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Gday all,
Purchased this grinder yesterday and so far i am very happy with it, mind you it had to improve on my em480 specially the noise. One question though I have a 6910 and when I dose into the single shot basket i find i have to use the 2 shot setting amount to fill the basket. It seems to be working this way but what do I do if I want to fill the double shot basket?
cheers,
Mick.