Bought a new grinder!

Picked up my first electric grinder off the bay tonight, a Gaggia MDF! I feel like I got a good deal considering it was over $100 less than they retail for. I had been looking at the Baratza Preciso but couldn't get past all the bad reviews with quality issues for almost 3 times as much. I hope it's in great shape and from what I can tell from the listing it will be if it was actually only used in a home for a year.
I have been using the Hario Skerton and it was doing fine for drip and aeropress but not as good for the occasional press pot. It was also not working for my Gaggia Baby Twin, setting 1 was too fine and 2 was too coarse, plus it took too long to grind at 1. I tried only lightly tamping at 1 and got a few good results but it was so easy to choke the machine. Even with a heavy tamp at 2 it came streaming through at 10-15 seconds.

Had a question for any owners of the MDF, are there any issues dosing into other containers besides a PF? From a few videos I watched it looks like you can tilt the container right at the edge of the doser and dispense into that. Seems like it would work if I wanted to use my aeropress or filter for drip as well.
I was also wondering if any Baratza owners have similar quality concerns or are the bad reviews only coming from people who don't care for their grinders properly? I read about many issues with the plastic burr holder breaking/deforming. I typically maker 1-2 drinks per day and was hoping that would not cause issues with any good grinder but I didn't want to chance it.

Congrats! Hope it is everything you want it to be.

-jim

jhadsell1883 said:

I was also wondering if any Baratza owners have similar quality concerns or are the bad reviews only coming from people who don't care for their grinders properly? I read about many issues with the plastic burr holder breaking/deforming. I typically maker 1-2 drinks per day and was hoping that would not cause issues with any good grinder but I didn't want to chance it.

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My Preciso just turned 3 years old and........I just replaced the upper burr holder (plastic). It cost me $4 (so I bought 2) and took about 5 minutes to replace. Funny part was that I found that it was broken while doing my monthly cleaning and it had little to no effect on grinding. (ie: my espresso's were still coming out the same and at the same grind settings) Anyway, I thought it was time to get a better more commercial grinder and started researching. I settled in on a Quamar M80E, which has large burrs and is more of a commercial grinder with good reviews. After I got my new parts and got the Preciso back up and running, I did some more research on single dosing, which I do exclusively, and found that most commercial type machines work better with beans in the hopper, and they have some retention. I'm still researching my next grinder, but as of right now I'm sticking with the Preciso. If the burr carrier cracks again, I have an extra, plus I ordered most of the other plastic parts that are replaceable at very reasonable prices. Here's a review that helped me decide: http://coffeegeek.com/proreviews/quickshot/baratzavirtuosopreciso/details

I dose 18 grams of beans 2x each morning. Occasionally an additional 2x in the evening. That's not a lot for either the grinder or espresso machine. Also, my Preciso pulls double (or triple?) duty, as I use it to grind for French Press and Drip, which it does an equally good job on. Once I decide to upgrade, I plan on using it for those two functions exclusively. The benefits of the Preciso to me are that I can single dose with little retention or 'popcorning' and I can dial it back and forth between brew methods. It gives a good consistent grind and I pull very good consistent shots each morning.

All that being said, I'm sure you'll enjoy your MDF. Get it dialed in and pull some shots!!

I have had Preciso for about two years. I use it twice daily, grinding for espresso 75% of the time. From my research, if you are doing espresso grinds, the price point for the Preciso is about as low as you can get if you want any kind of consistency. I have been very happy with it. I just replaced the upper burr holder as described by toyman. I found out it was cracked when I noticed that the adjustment of the grind did not seem to be working correctly, and I could not obtain consistently good shots. When I cleaned and looked at the ring, I could see the crack, and that it was not holding the upper burr solidly.

Early on in my ownership, I also made some adjustment in the the plastic ring that gauges the fineness of the grind. That requires some dis-assembly, but with the excellent online instructions that Baratza provides, it was not too difficult.

My experience is that Baratza provides excellent customer support and service. Replacement parts are reasonably priced, and shipped quickly. They are one of the few companies that assist the owner in troubleshooting problems and then fixing them with online tutorials, or by calling them o the phone. It's not just, "Send it to us and we'll take a look at it." In contrast, my Rancilio Silvia espresso machine, which I really like, has virtually no manufacturer support. If you want to fix problems yourself, then you have to rely on the online owner community for advice and help, which by the way is very good.

All in all, I am happy with the Preciso. To move up in quality would require another few hundred bucks, and only using it for 3 doses per day, it is pretty hard for me to justify that.

Hope this helps.

Matt

I do not have any first hand experience outside of Mazzer and Baratza.

The issue with the Baratza grinders is user failures (to follow directions) and design. They use plastic burr holders and adjustment wheels which have a tendency to fail (crack/break) when the grinder is adjusted without it running. Mazzer gives the same warning to its customers "turn the grinder ON before making any grind adjustment changes" and their machines are block milled and machined steel and aluminum.

The nice thing about the Baratza grinders is that you can find "I broke it" or "it needs work" grinders for a song. The price of the parts to get it back to new are about the cost of shipping them to you AND they are very simple to repair (if you know how to twist a screwdriver you are qualified).

I will be interested to see what you think of your new grinder. Please post updates!!!

Thanks for the info on Baratza! Seems I have been reading reviews from users who do not read their manuals or watch videos on how to maintain grinders. I appreciate your comments and you have restored Baratza to trusted company status for my future consideration. I should have known but sometimes it is easy to get lost in reviews and second guess your gut feeling. I am comfortable with replacing parts on a grinder after a few years of service, especially if it doesn't cost much and is well supported.

I received shipping notification last night on the MDF and am thinking it is probably going out today. I will be "patiently waiting" for delivery notification like all of us here do

Let us know what you think about the MDF after you have used it for while.

Matt

Got the MDF a few days ago and it seems to work well. Gave it a thorough cleaning since it was used and had lots of dried coffee beans/oil called on in the grinder area.
I haven't used a doser before so I'm not quite sure when I should start pulling the lever. I have been putting in the beans I need each time and grinding it all then pulling multiple times to break it up and dose a little at a time.
Another question for any MDF users, should the lever spring back after it is pulled? I have to move it forward and back manually to dispense the coffee

+turtle I'll respectfully disagree that the burr adjustment ring fails only by users error, more due to repetitive vibrational loading. To do what it has to, protect the burrs, it has to be a sacraficial component. But it's really a small item based on manufacturers ease of access. That said the Precisio proved to be a very stable machine once I found the nominal range of a favored coffee. Use as a widely changing grind just requires having a few of the plastic rings to hand.

To the OP: congratulations and enjoy the coffee!

Merle said:

+turtle I'll respectfully disagree that the burr adjustment ring fails only by users error

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Ahhh..... Maybe....

I have owned Baratza grinders for decades and never had one fail on me (outside of pilot error when I foobared up a ceramic to steel burr exchange on my Vario-W).

I have had a Maestro plus for as long as they have been on the market and it is still going strong. It is now at our cabin in the great white north doing minimal duty (though when I am there I am there for 4-6 months straight and it does get used once or twice a day during that time)

I do not change settings unless the grinder is running (was told this when I talked to them on the phone when I bought my first grinder from them).

I will sort of agree that they are built to have "cheap" parts failures (plastic burr holders / plastic adjustment rings) rather than expensive failures (motors/transmissions).

I have purchased a number of "it does not work" Baratza grinders and almost all have been failures of the adjustment ring or the drive gears in the transmission in the older models. The older models DID have a design flaw but this was corrected and upgrade parts are very inexpensive.

Jeff, my sister has owned and MDF for a few years now. When it was new the doser lever springed back to position about a year ago the spring wore out and now the lever has to be moved back and forth manually.

When I've used her MDF I let it run for about thirty seconds to fill up the doser and the I dose in to the portafilter.

xillion said:

Jeff, my sister has owned and MDF for a few years now. When it was new the doser lever springed back to position about a year ago the spring wore out and now the lever has to be moved back and forth manually.

When I've used her MDF I let it run for about thirty seconds to fill up the doser and the I dose in to the portafilter.

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Thanks for the info, seems to be a common issue but not a huge deal since it still works. From what I have seen it wouldn't be to difficult to repair, just not real cheap. I think I'll keep using it as is

Hey Hi. I have the MDF, had it for over 10+ years. It's a great grinder. Instructions for taking it apart and cleaning it are out there someplace, I've done that every couple of years. Yes the lever should spring back. Mine ultimately broke and the plastic base that a screw fits in to was broken. I epoxied the screw in, got the spring hooked back on and it was fine for a couple more years. I ultimately bought the entire whole plastic hopper as a replacement from Electra-Craft out of NJ, it wasn't too much money. The new hopper looked nice and shiny, not full of oil and crud! You don't really need the spring to function, but I just got tired of it broken. Other than that, no problems. In my opinion, in the $200 buck range, it's the best out there. Good luck!