Q Air

Check out this video by Coffee Chronicler. Iirc he favorably compared the performance of the Q Air / Q to that of the Comandante C40, saying that it's "suspiciously close". Meaning it performs almost as well as a much more expensive grinder. Meanwhile iirc he rated the C2/C3S very low on both pourov

Ideally speaking none below 10k are good for esp. But if u insist to have them kaise bhi then get king grinder p2 or 1zpresso q air. U can have occasional espressos in them.

Buy the 1zpresso Q Air instead. C3S can't grind for espresso you'll need either the C3ESP or a custom burr plate for the C3S for it to be able to grind for espresso.

At that price range, you have 3 options: 1zpresso Q Air, Kingrinder P2 and Timemore C3S. All are more or less equally good. I use the C3S and dont think I'll be upgrading any time soon. However, none of them can grind for espresso reliably. So if you do plan to get into expensive machines eventually

1Zpresso Q Air has been absolutely perfect for the Picopresso. It’s small form factor lends to easy transport as well. I was thrilled to find out it fits in my backup Aeropress too! Just know it’ll only grind maybe 19-20 grams max per go, (not an issue for Pico).

The grinder issue must be addressed before choosing the machine/method. Unless you don't care much about taste and just want that espresso-like texture, then go ahead. But IMHO, the grinder is way more important than the brewing method. Someone already suggested the KINGrinder P2, but I’d also sugge

Timemore c3s or 1zpresso q air both i great for aeropress not sure for espresso

The C3S is good of espresso style grinding , but the K2 is good for pour over. The better in this price range will be the 1zpresso Q Air.

For a similar budget to c2, you could consider the Q air by 1zpresso. It is capable for espresso grind.

In this budget theres not much espresso capable grinders but the 1zpresso q air sure is a much better espresso grinder than the c3s and also cheaper than the c3s.