I’ve never fixed a broken Encore or Forte, I thought you were going to teach me what goes wrong on them.
So it’s the gears that break?
I know you said you have never even looked at the Forte, so how do you know they can be recommend as a BIFL grinder?
The Forte (Baratza’s semi-commercial model at around $800 new) might be a plausible BIFL grinder for the average person.
Interesting opinion.
What makes this a better grinder than the $60 Encore? Like how is it so vastly better?
Because they use the same internals. Same exact motor. Just has a different shape on the output shaft.
I wonder if the Forte breaks as easily as the Encore?
The OP is in Canada.
The Canadian version of Timbuk2 would be PAC Designs, but PAC Designs are much higher quality and a bit more expensive also. They are professional level products. Literally every element on a PAC bag is higher quality… Fabric, stitching, hardware, straps, padding etc. PAC is literally top quality possible.
Getting ahold of these bags is a bit of a dark art (always has been) but I think they have a Facebook contact.
Encore isn’t much of an espresso grinder either.
Incorrect. The encore has 40 grind size levels. It is literally an espresso grinder.
In the range of 1-20, the entire grind output adjustment is around 400 microns. The slope on the burr adjustment in these first 20 clicks is 80 degrees. The actual vertical movement of the burrs across the range is only 70 microns (or about 3.6 microns per click!!!), but because the plane between the burrs is angled, each click registers about 20 microns in grind fineness adjustment.
It might not be the best espresso grinder made but it’s the best entry level brand at this price. You will only be disappointed by comparing it to machines multiple times the cost. It is not a 5 star machine but its not terrible.
Do you know what the difference is? Between a general purpose grinder and an espresso grinder?
The OP was asking for a BIFL grinder with a maximum budget of $100.
Exactly. I use one during camping and when the power is out.
The skerton is a funny grinder where it makes a very consistent finer grind (like espresso levels), but does a lot worse for coarse grind (drip / french press / pour over) where it loses consistency when the burrs are further open.
Its exactly opposite of most hand grinders where its strong at the one thing that many cheaper manual grinders don’t get right.
I have a camping espresso press so it suits my scenario.
I resell electronics and a lot of related stuff so I have gone through a lot of items over my career. My insight into what breaks and what doesn’t comes from seeing hundreds of used items weekly. I’ve handled many many brands of grinders and refurbished a bunch of them. I have 2 Baratzas I’m selling right now and sold a Hario earlier today. I also sold another Baratza part this week.
I never claimed the Baratzas don’t ever break, but the motors last decades and everything else is cheap and simple on them, they are made to be serviced, which makes them extremely good value. This is why they are a good recommendation for the super cheap price. I know iof no sub $100 grinders that don’t have some problem eventually. Think of the price tag. A $60 grinder is dirt cheap.
Baratza Encores currently cost about $60-75 on eBay on the lower side of the price range That would be a used working machine covered by a money back guarantee. A couple have sold for just $50-55 in the past 90 days.
I don’t dispute some of what you’re saying about a commercial grinder like that $1200 Bunn G1, but that grinder only has 7 grind adjustment settings. It’s really not comparable to an espresso grinder. The special feature of the Bunn is grinding a pound of coffee in 30 seconds. Like you can’t get an espresso shot calibrated with that style of machine. Of course, that’s not a home machine and it’s not really designed for the purpose of a careful grind size / weight. However, end of the day, that grinder is $475 for a used model. If a Baratza lasts 20 years for $60, is a Bunn 10X as good?
What would you recommend that not Baratza for a, sub-$100 grinder that’s repairable and maintainable?
Baratza grinders are not the nicest grinders known, but they do sell every part and you can replace the burrs.
Like I recently sold a KitchenAid double burr grinder that runs double the price of a Baratza Encore. New burrs are not available and all the parts of the KA are breakable glass and unobtainable for repairs. That to me seems crazy, but the flip side is that a $60 Encore is a screaming deal at that price level, for the features of being 100% repairable.
I’ve refurbished about a dozen Baratza grinders (many old and heavily used) but I have only ever seen one with a motor issue (worn brushes). The most common issues are damage to the plastic exterior parts from being dropped. The main mechanism is surprisingly durable.
Is there a better $60 grinder you’re aware of?
https://www.baratza.com/en-us/landing/product/parts
Part cost is VERY reasonable and they ship cheap and fast
As far as I can tell, the top line Baratza models use the same gearbox and motor as the base models
Baratza will sell you the main circuit board for under $15 and the gear box rebuild for like $10. In my opinion that’s admirable. Talking like BIFL ethics, the company obviously wants you to be able to repair any issues, versus being disposable.
( Silly question: why do you own a Skerton, and why isn’t it broken?)
For espresso or drip?
The only (finely adjustable) espresso grinders < $100 are probably going to be used or maybe Baratza brand. Baratza does sell many of the replacement parts online, but occasionally the designs get updated and older models can be hard to repair without having to change lots of internals. The models share a lot of their internal designs however and they are quite durable. Used baratza is around $60-75. Burrs can run $40.
Hario makes some good simple hand grinders that you can get new burrs for. The skerton model can screw onto a mason / ball wide mouth jar if you break the glass canister. They can usually make an okay espresso grind but definitely a tier below an electric machine for quality and speed. Hand grinders take about 3 minutes a shot if you are grinding finely. For drip grind levels these are fast enough.
There are plenty of good higher end grinders. I had a Rancilio Rocky that I got second hand, made in 1985, used multiple times daily for years and only needed a small repair to the Doser lever spring. I changed the burrs a couple of times and gave it to a friend and it’s still running perfectly as a 40 year old workhorse. Not fancy but quite solid. The only real weak point is some plastics on the case, but they sell replacements. The designs have been fairly maintained over the years and parts are available. I’m pretty sure that if I bought a new Rocky it would outlive me today. A used rocky is about $125 USD @ eBay, street price for new is about $275. They are not the most finely adjustable if you want to fully nerd out on espresso but you can make a damn good shot.
You can get a permanent reusable buy it for life scissors for each room. Confuses future archaeology but screw those people.
The TKWide line are very nice! The lids for these go inside internal threads on the flask, they are a completely proprietary standard that cannot be swapped to other brands.
Klean Kanteen or Hydroflask. You’d be looking at a vacuum insulated double wall tumbler flask. They have multiple volume sizes that share features and lids. (Eg, 12/16/20/32/42 oz). The latest generation of either brand do not leak.
Their replacement parts are pretty spendy on their .com web store (shipping is brutal) but people sell them retail or used on eBay.
The 2-1/4" wide-mouth lids from Nalgene, MSR, Klean Kanteen, Hydro flask and Camelbak usually share the same thread pitch but don’t always seal.correctly on the top gasket in all combinations. However there is some brand interoperability but its something you need to test for leaks.
I recommend a silicone sleeve bumper on the bottom to prevent dents.
Another good brand is Yeti but they use all proprietary lids and standards. I think the wall thickness on Yeti is possibly the highest making them super durable. The straw lid is called the Rambler. These are pretty expensive.
If you want it to last a long time, the best finish is always just the brushed polished bare stainless with no paint to scratch or chip. Otherwise start adding stickers over chips and scratches.
Once you render a blender into powder, you have to start with a new one next time because of the laws of physics and entropy.
(Just kidding.)
I’ve fixed a bunch of things but not that specifically.
I’d try spraying the speed control knob with contact cleaner because it sounds like that might be the problem. (Available at any auto parts store in a spray can). Or use 99% isopropyl if you have that available.
If cleaning the connection doesn’t work, you can then replace the whole assembly, the new part runs about $20 incl shipping if you’re in the USA.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/326749491891
That’s a non genuine 3rd party Comparible part. The genuine one is on Amazon for about $60 but I am not sure if it’s 3X as good. Your call.
If I’m not mistaken it would be the 2-wire version but ou might want to look inside and confirm before ordering.
(I’m guessing here, but what I think is happening is that the potentiometer is so dirty it’s like a crackily speaker or volume knob that is sometimes cutting out completely. I suspect it’s wired so that it goes full speed and the knob steps down the speed. So when it cuts out at the knob the motor defaults to full blast.)
I used to buy about 800 pounds of salvage electronics a week which I would then resell. I’ve seen and evaluated many brands of used older electronics.
For a blender, I’d recommend a Vita-Mix (5200 / 5500), then KitchenAid. Third tier would include Breville or Ninja.
We use a Vitamix 5500 here. A few benefits of the simple design are that the lid has no moving pieces or hinges or locking mechanisms… It’s just a flexible rubber dome that doesn’t crack if you drop it. The blender jug has the blender blade and a very large sealed bearing. You can swap the entire item out as a future service. The motor bases are extremely high quality. I can’t recall seeing any that were ever broken. They seem to rely on solid state electronics and big mechanical switches nstead of fancy displays and microcontrollers and LEDs – most common points of failure on the competitor’s products.
The biggest issue with most blenders is that they are overcomplicated. For example, a ninja blender has detection switches to ensure that the jug is correctly locked to the base and the lid is locked to the jug. If a tab or pin breaks it disables the blender. They could have just designed the shape so that you can’t have the jug halfway installed instead of adding electronics that fail when they get wet or damaged… Bad design choices.
My only warning for Vitamix is to avoid the white color motor base. That color will take on UV damage and turn obviously yellow over the years.
I would not hesitate to buy a well used working Vitamix in the used market. I have seen many units from the mid 1990s and up that run like new.
Used coffee grinders get oily / have grinds inside that need cleaning. About half of them had a missing hopper, lid, knob, canister etc.
I have had a dozen+ BARATZAS, but only about 5 or so Encores.
Out of all of the machines I’ve had, I had one that had a failing motor, and one had a failed timer switch from someone forcing it to far. However I’ve replaced multiple timer switches because on 20 - 30 year old machines the new knobs don’t fit without changing the timer also (different shaft shape, same timer). It’s super cool that you can install the updated parts with no issues.
Once I had a machine where the wire had been knocked off the momentary micro switch.
A lot of the machines I’ve had have been heavily used… Like in a university break room or a corporate coffee area. Like probably equivalent to 5-10X what a home used would do.
Back around 2005-2010 I also owned one for my own use.
Isn’t that a $5 semi-external part that you can change without tools and without opening the machine? Like just twist off the hopper by hand and it’s accessible?