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Well I finally managed to satisfy my curiosity for a user friendly "decent" grinder and picked up a Wega instant (AKA K3 touch) to see if it's a worthwhile upgrade from the SG. Had a brief play and pulled some good shots already. Some observations:
Soild build like all the "decent" grinders, can't see these sort of grinders wearing out with domestic use.
Relatively mess free, some stray grinds but certainly manageable.
Can dose either through the timer (one or two shot) via the tongue or via main switch. I believe the K3 touch does on demand with the tongue press in one of its modes? Adjustment is under grinder (what were they thinking??) and no PF holder. Looks like current version has addressed both of these issues.
Top burr is mounted on a spinning plate on the bottom of the top burr carrier. This bottom part sits in three grooves with a bit of play, although the play appears to be only in the adjustment plastic ring, and doesn't affect the position/spacing of the burr, just means you need to be consistent in referencing your collar position to return to a previous grind setting.
I guess without a worm adjustment, if the burr was solid mounted on the carrier (like a cimbali junior) the friction of the grinding could rotate the burr/carrier assembly and adjust the grind setting while grinding.
There is some sort of rubber flap in the horizontal chute between the burr chamber and the outside sloped chute so some grinds remain in this area until pushed out by fresh grinds. I will remove this and see how it effects things, hopefully it will still be mess free.
It still baffles me why most (all?) grinders have this horizontal section, why don't they make it on an angle to minimise grinds sitting around?
Noise wise it's probably a bit quieter then the SG but definitely sounds more solid/quality.
It is much larger then the SG (obviously) but hopper less it's still quite short, although the WAF is definitely lower. Working on that one!
I did experience some clumping that some people complain about but it was only when the grind setting was too fine, otherwise it's not an issue.
The gloss black paint (it's a couple years old) has a nice subtle pearl/mica finish when the light hits it. Longer term I am thinking of re painting a bright silver or even better stripping the paint and buffing the bare alloy. Has anybody done this?
Another upgrade project would be a digital timer.
Taste wise it's hard to say at this stage, I know the SG well after three years and just new to this one but have had some great shots. They do seem to have a different flavour in the espresso shots but maybe that's just me imagining things? The shots did seem to taste more "bright" and "fruity" from the K3. With more familiarisation the K3 should trump the SG for consistency/quality in grind, based on the fact all the grinding components are housed in chunky metal (instead of plastic) and are more heavy duty.
Overall it's a great grinder, my concern of it being more messy than the SG proved largely irrelevant, and represents great value (seen the push version for ~$400 at one of the sponsors before), it's probably the cheapest of the "real" grinders.
Hopefully the above info will help those that are theorising a similar upgrade.
Cheers
Soild build like all the "decent" grinders, can't see these sort of grinders wearing out with domestic use.
Relatively mess free, some stray grinds but certainly manageable.
Can dose either through the timer (one or two shot) via the tongue or via main switch. I believe the K3 touch does on demand with the tongue press in one of its modes? Adjustment is under grinder (what were they thinking??) and no PF holder. Looks like current version has addressed both of these issues.
Top burr is mounted on a spinning plate on the bottom of the top burr carrier. This bottom part sits in three grooves with a bit of play, although the play appears to be only in the adjustment plastic ring, and doesn't affect the position/spacing of the burr, just means you need to be consistent in referencing your collar position to return to a previous grind setting.
I guess without a worm adjustment, if the burr was solid mounted on the carrier (like a cimbali junior) the friction of the grinding could rotate the burr/carrier assembly and adjust the grind setting while grinding.
There is some sort of rubber flap in the horizontal chute between the burr chamber and the outside sloped chute so some grinds remain in this area until pushed out by fresh grinds. I will remove this and see how it effects things, hopefully it will still be mess free.
It still baffles me why most (all?) grinders have this horizontal section, why don't they make it on an angle to minimise grinds sitting around?
Noise wise it's probably a bit quieter then the SG but definitely sounds more solid/quality.
It is much larger then the SG (obviously) but hopper less it's still quite short, although the WAF is definitely lower. Working on that one!
I did experience some clumping that some people complain about but it was only when the grind setting was too fine, otherwise it's not an issue.
The gloss black paint (it's a couple years old) has a nice subtle pearl/mica finish when the light hits it. Longer term I am thinking of re painting a bright silver or even better stripping the paint and buffing the bare alloy. Has anybody done this?
Another upgrade project would be a digital timer.
Taste wise it's hard to say at this stage, I know the SG well after three years and just new to this one but have had some great shots. They do seem to have a different flavour in the espresso shots but maybe that's just me imagining things? The shots did seem to taste more "bright" and "fruity" from the K3. With more familiarisation the K3 should trump the SG for consistency/quality in grind, based on the fact all the grinding components are housed in chunky metal (instead of plastic) and are more heavy duty.
Overall it's a great grinder, my concern of it being more messy than the SG proved largely irrelevant, and represents great value (seen the push version for ~$400 at one of the sponsors before), it's probably the cheapest of the "real" grinders.
Hopefully the above info will help those that are theorising a similar upgrade.
Cheers
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