Second hand grinder advice

[SuperDavid]

Hey guys,
I recently found a em6910 in the work bin and its in perfect working order, I'm making some very nice coffee with it.
But I'm finding my porlex hand grinder is making things a bit tedious and slow. My daily coffee machine before the 6910 was the ROK presso. So now I'm looking to make things faster.

I'm trying to spend under $250. I've considered buying the cheaper sunbeams and adding shims...and then I thought about the breville smart grinder 820, Which for the price might be my best option for getting a fine enough grind.
But then I was looking online for second hand commercial grinders and a couple pop up here and there for $200 and less.
Is it worth even considering these second hand commercials for those prices?

I've attached a couple of pictures of one I've found for $150. Does anyone know what sort of grinder it is?

[artman]

The smart grinder pro works very well and is often on sale for under 200.

A commercial style grinder (unless there is something seriously wrong with it) should work well and for ages especially if you fit new burrs. Most are built like tanks.

Sorry I don't know what grinder is in the pic.

Cheers

[artman]

Forgot to add, the above is based on DIY ability to clean/service etc. if you need to pay someone you might as well put that to a new K3 or similar.

Cheers

[SuperDavid]

thanks for that! Not sure about fitting burs myself. The problem is I dont know that much about coffee and grinds, so unless the grinder didnt run or something very obvious was happening I doubt I'd know if the grinder was ok or if the burs needed changing.

[shortblackman]

Lido. A hand grinder that's far superior to the porlex ( I own both) . It might stretch your budget, but not by very much. Takes about 20 seconds to grind a shot and the quality is great. Surely as good as an electric at twice the price. Try Talk coffee for this.

there is a new model: "lido e" it can dial in accurately more easily than previous models (like mine) due to a less 'steep' thread on the adjustment collar.

[SuperDavid]

looks like a nice hand grinder! Chews those beans up very quickly! I think I still have my heart set on an electric though

[kesa32]

Go the Breville 820 pro then, for the money it'll grind really well and they have a 2 year warranty

[SuperDavid]

This seems like a good deal for $250

edit....turns out its not located where I thought it was.

[mrvautin]

Lido. A hand grinder that's far superior to the porlex ( I own both) . It might stretch your budget, but not by very much. Takes about 20 seconds to grind a shot and the quality is great.

I have a Porlex and I agree it takes a little while to grind (I would say somewhere between 1-2 mins for a double shot ~17 grams) and I was looking into getting an electric lately. I'm not familiar with the Lido but it looks like a non ceramic version of the Porlex. Is there any other differences which the Lido has which would speed up the grind and make it superior?

Note: I prefer hand grinder for portability. A 20 second grind sounds much better than an electric for my needs.

[LeroyC]

Yeah a Breville Smart Grinder is probably a good idea for someone without a lot of experience. A 2nd hand commercial machine could be awesome, but it's much more of an unknown quantity.

[mike123]

I have a mazzer mini & was after a second grinder for decaf & different single origins as i like to change beans a lot (have a few roasts at any one time)
Have a porlex & the slowness led to that being relocated to work
I got a Lido 3 as i realised for a small footprint grinder that has zero ground retention that i can measure in my 18g, grind in 20 secs , then repeat with a different coffee, no electric comes close.
I wouldnt disregard the Lido lightly. My friend has a Rocky, tried my Lido & went & bought one & now barely uses his Rocky

[shortblackman]

I have a Porlex and I agree it takes a little while to grind (I would say somewhere between 1-2 mins for a double shot ~17 grams) and I was looking into getting an electric lately. I'm not familiar with the Lido but it looks like a non ceramic version of the Porlex. Is there any other differences which the Lido has which would speed up the grind and make it superior?

Note: I prefer hand grinder for portability. A 20 second grind sounds much better than an electric for my needs.

I wouldn't say Lido is simply a non- ceramic Porlex. It's in another class.

Without giving specific sizes, the Lido has steel burrs, and they are bigger than the Porlex (~twice as big= fewer revs needed) .
The handle is very solid, connected to the spindle/ axle, so it doesn't fly off. The centre burr set is held in place very firmly as its connected to the body of the grinder at the top and bottom. (No jiggly centre part > much better consistency of grinds.)

But for portability, Lido is a solid little thing, about 2 kilos(?)/ 30cms high. Porlex just fits in your pocket!

To me they're both good value grinders, but they are in different classes.
hope that helps.

[SuperDavid]

I did like the speed of the lido, but to change the grind did look very fiddley. I couldnt find a video of the updated lido e, I'll have to look again.
I'm still undecided.
What do you guys think of the ROK Coffee grinder?

I keep seeing more cheap commercial grinders, but there are so many unknowns with them. If a commercial grinder broke down or the burrs were no good I'd be up for some serious money to fix it up.

[TC]

I did like the speed of the lido, but to change the grind did look very fiddley

I can't see how or why it would be classified as fiddly?

Adjust coarser or finer and use locking ring to ensure grind stays set at what you set it to. No different in concept to a whole heap of commercial grinders in that many have some form locking mechanism.

[alexsmith]

If you can it's best to buy a brand new grinder unless you know the person who used it. In the past I bought a 1 year old grinder which didn't hold for one month.