Encore

I'll paste my usual recs at this price point from cheapest up. Definitely drop the sage smart grinder, it is no longer a good option. Baratza Encore ESP - This is your basic low budget option. Conical grinder, high retention, plastic exterior, low quality internals including plastic but they compens

Yeah... I had the exact opposite customer service, with the previous model of encore. Same burr holder issues. I had to change it 3 times. Each time, in the EU, parts were not available so I had to get them from Canada. Each time, shipment was 2 times the price of the part, and baratza ignored all m

I also setup my new w65 this past week as an upgrade from a modded baratza encore. The encore with the plastic catch would always pull out some retention and make a bit of a mess around the grinder. After running the w65 for the first time I was a little surprised that there was still some grind end

The Breville Bambino Plus is a great option, especially if you can secure one around $350-400. The machine is very competent in both shots and frothing, though do not expect extremely high end with either. It is incredibly fast to heat up, versus more fancy boiler heat exchange units. For the price

I have a Baratza Virtuoso. It is a heftier Encore with the addition of a timer that is very easy to adjust in tenth of a second increments, making it easy to dial in and retain not only the fineness or coarseness of the grind but also the amount.

I never had a rock or anything in my beans and my Encore ESP broke in the same way. I wonder if higher-end Baratza's are still quality, but IMO gone are the days that a lower-end Baratza will last. My last one lasted 10 years, latest one lasted 5 months.

When my Encore ESP died, I got a Starseeker E55 Pro for ~$200 something (I'm not from the US) on ali express. Having used it for a few months, I can say I'm pretty impressed with the quality. It's considerably better than the Baratza, better build quality, grinds faster, less noise, less retention,

I know this conversation is old, but do not buy Baratza! We've had 2 versions of this grinder. One broke after 9 months, so we replaced it with the Encore ESP. I got 4 months out of it before it broke. Never changed the settings on it, kept it clean, never dropped it or anything. It worked great unt

I’ve got the gold standard entry/beginner set up and it’s amazing. Regular bambino (not plus) and a mokkom 64mm flat burr grinder. Both go sale regularly and would cost 411$ combined plus tax. you’ll hear a lot of baratza encore and df54 but both are quite a bit more expensive and from what i’ve rea

There are many complaints here about Baratza plastic burr holders breaking way too often. I quit using my old Precisio because of it. I notice it's still a problem with the new Encore line.