# New Arrival Quamar M80E Very first impressions!



## Shakey

Quamar M80E (Polished aluminium)Just out of the box!

Very first impressions - sits nicely next to Cherub - not too big with 500g Hopper.


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## garydyke1

Video of it in action plz


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## fatboyslim

Looks fairly similar to the Rocket ed. Mazzer Mini-E Chrome. What size are the burrs?

Hopefully you won't have issues with static.


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## shrink

63mm burrs, 300W motor... so kinda like a super jolly, in a mini-e case

mate, whats the total height including the new 500g hopper... i've just become slightly worried that it might be too tall, seeing it next to your cherub!!


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## garydyke1

The mini-e

Power Watt 250 Grinding blades (ref. 189D) mm ø 64 (21/2 inches) Grinding blade speed g/min 1400 (50 Hz)

M80E

•Motor power: 300 Watt

•Swedish steel flat burrs 63mm

•Speed rate: 1400 rpm


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## glevum

very nice, love to see it in action!


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## IanP

Looks fab! Shiny, shiny and appears to be a quality piece of kit. Interested to know how it works out..... will it outperform the ubiquitous Vario, and show up mini e as well? Great stuff..... and a bit envious too!! Enjoy!


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## painty

Aesthetically it looks more refined than mini-e, which appears a bit clunky by comparison. We look forward to your findings Shakey...


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## Shakey

Shrink,

44cm total height. Struggling with instructions at the moment but I'll get there!


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## Southpaw

Looks good - this might be a winner on the domestic/grind/price/when-will-it-all-stop quandry.


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## painty

Have you got a plug converter for it?


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## shrink

rolf advised me just to put a UK plug on it. Cut the old one off and put a new plug on. No warranty issues and all his UK customers do it apparently.

This should have no bother showing up a mini-E thanks to a bigger motor, it has more aggressive burrs so grinds much faster. Most info I'm getting suggests a double is about 6-7 seconds. A mini-E takes a fair whack longer than that. The only place that the vario would score a win, is on retention. The quamar will still retain a fair bit. But as with the MC2 when i had it. I just flush out 5-6g at the start of the day to empty the chute of stale grinds.


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## Shakey

Still fiddling!

I saw a link that showed a Danish guy setting his dialled between 6 & 7.

On my unit it will not dial around that far.

Shrink are you on-call 24-7?


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## Shakey

I did as suggested and just replaced the plug.


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## painty

shrink said:


> rolf advised me just to put a UK plug on it. Cut the old one off and put a new plug on. No warranty issues and all his UK customers do it apparently.


I'd wondered whether that would void the warranty so ran my imported Mini through a converter. (Should probably get around to changing the plug now after 10 years







)


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## shrink

Shakey said:


> Still fiddling!
> 
> I saw a link that showed a Danish guy setting his dialled between 6 & 7.
> 
> On my unit it will not dial around that far.
> 
> Shrink are you on-call 24-7?


I work in the world of internet... so always have access to the forum


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## Shakey

I meant a home visit to help!!!


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## shrink

oh i see haha.


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## garydyke1

shrink said:


> rolf advised me just to put a UK plug on it. Cut the old one off and put a new plug on. No warranty issues and all his UK customers do it apparently.
> 
> This should have no bother showing up a mini-E thanks to a bigger motor, it has more aggressive burrs so grinds much faster. Most info I'm getting suggests a double is about 6-7 seconds. A mini-E takes a fair whack longer than that. The only place that the vario would score a win, is on retention. The quamar will still retain a fair bit. But as with the MC2 when i had it. I just flush out 5-6g at the start of the day to empty the chute of stale grinds.


The mini-e took >25 seconds for 18g, single dosed, fine enough for a VST basket. (it was about 20 seconds with a full hopper)

The royal 7 ish seconds for 18g, single dosed, fine enough for VST basket. (about 5-6 seconds with a full hopper) Bare in mind the royal is 900W and 83mm !

My guess this grinder would be in the 10-15 second range single dosed. probably 8-12 with a full hopper


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## shrink

well the videos ive seen doing grinding suggest its a bit faster than that! definitely nowhere near 12 seconds for a double. It takes a VARIO 13 seconds to do 18g, and this grinder has more speed and more power. I could understand maybe 8 seconds.






Michael from funinacup had a client with a doser version the other day, and commented to me that it was fast grinder.


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## painty

It's unlikely to be faster than an SJ I'd guess


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## garydyke1

shrink said:


> well the videos ive seen doing grinding suggest its a bit faster than that! definitely nowhere near 12 seconds for a double. It takes a VARIO 13 seconds to do 18g, and this grinder has more speed and more power. I could understand maybe 8 seconds.


The video doesnt say how many grams , a light or dark roast, or, what basket. Ive seen videos of mini-e's filling a basket in about 8 seconds but there is no way in world the shot would be any slower than about 15 seconds, even in a normal 'double basket'.

You'll have to wait and see. Videos plz : )


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## shrink

I will certainly be interested to see how quick it is. There are some reports of occasional stalling, which suggests they have put a fairly aggressive burr set in there for a 300w motor, so i'd guess all things being well, it should be fairly fast. I'll know by next week


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## painty

A machine running at 12 bar will need a finer grind than one set at 8 bar, too, so it's difficult to compare like with like for grinding times...


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## shrink

Well shakey??


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## Shakey

No pressure then!


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## Callum_T

Its easy to make a grinder look fast..... a 'coursely' ground dose of 18g will go waaaaaayyyyyy quicker than super over fine dose of 18g - the real question is speed when its dialled in along with the roast profile.

This grinder does look interesting i cant help but ponder maybe too much of the product budget was in that electronic timer doser than into the all important burrs and motor - would love for one to be up at the grind-off but they don't meet the pricing specifications.


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## shrink

Indeed it's a solid £100 cheaper as just a doser version. But the same can be said of the mazzers. It costs about the same in doser form to a basic mini. But mazzer ask a lot more for the e version.

Lets be brutally honest, even a robur probably costs about £50 to manufacture. All expensive grinders are a rip off. It's a shame we have little choice.


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## Shakey

I'm a tad confused in that I had picked up on a thread from another forum that shows the dial on M80e set between 6 & 7 as an optimum. I'm sitting around the 15 mark to get a suitable grind! A 'stopper' screw prevents me getting near six and anyway that would be far too fine a grind and would definitely choke.


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## Callum_T

shrink said:


> Lets be brutally honest, even a robur probably costs about £50 to manufacture. All expensive grinders are a rip off. It's a shame we have little choice.


Fully disagree with this - COM is a very complicated subject. Mazzer is expensive because it has Mazzer written on it. Also noting that a replacement Robur burrset to me and you is over £200 (Retail yes but it shows something!)

I agree all grinders carry a large price tag - but this is because of a) their lifespan - even in their designed environment b) the amount of money to be made in the coffee industry.

I was thinking to myself about cost - looking at everything i own to do with espresso most of it i wouldn't have paid the RRP of it mainly because its absolutely ridiculous and I'm a student.

This grinder looks promising - I like it, just what use is a pretty grinder that doesn't impress your tastebuds. Its why I'd love to have a play, I'd love for people to buy a quamar over a mini e.


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## Callum_T

Shakey said:


> I'm a tad confused in that I had picked up on a thread from another forum that shows the dial on M80e set between 6 & 7 as an optimum. I'm sitting around the 15 mark to get a suitable grind! A 'stopper' screw prevents me getting near six and anyway that would be far too fine a grind and would definitely choke.


All depends where 'absolute zero' - burrs grinding together is in relation to where the sweet spot will be - I wouldn't worry about it if extraction is all good


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## coffeechap

second these sentiments really, the mazzers cost what they cost based on industry recognised advice and a sloid marketting strategy, that strategy is reflected in the price, they are very well built and £50 is just a tad bit far fetched. I too would love the quamar to be a fantastic grinder as it is super competitively priced, i think it will match and beat the mini e, but the fiorenzato it is based on is no match for an sj.


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## painty

Shakey said:


> I'm a tad confused in that I had picked up on a thread from another forum that shows the dial on M80e set between 6 & 7 as an optimum. I'm sitting around the 15 mark to get a suitable grind! A 'stopper' screw prevents me getting near six and anyway that would be far too fine a grind and would definitely choke.


Do they give you a rough starting point index like mazzer's little sticker?


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## shrink

Shakey said:


> I'm a tad confused in that I had picked up on a thread from another forum that shows the dial on M80e set between 6 & 7 as an optimum. I'm sitting around the 15 mark to get a suitable grind! A 'stopper' screw prevents me getting near six and anyway that would be far too fine a grind and would definitely choke.


Normal. The top burr carrier screws on in about three different places. Your setting is simply determined by where the top carrier was first screwed in. Just use what numbers work for you. It's a meaningless scale. Has no relation to anything


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## coffeechap

you should still be able to get them realigned each time you remove the top burr assembly, didnt reasise the thread engages in three differnet places, the mazzers only engage in one and thus the dial goes back on the same way it came off!!


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## Shakey

That makes a lot of sense and is a great help guys - off to Edinburgh to collect more beans!


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## Shakey

No no guide at all and the manual is pants.


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## shrink

oh i forgot you were scottish borders









well genuinely if you do need a hand, I'm happy to come help out









but in general i'm told they come out the factory not a million miles off espresso. So my approach would be to see how it grinds out the box and adjust from there. Moving in fairly big steps at first (5 notches or so) until I'm into espresso range. With that approach, it shouldn't be taking you more than 5-10 shots to get it in the range it needs to be.

Be aware though that brand new burrs need some wearing in as it were to take the absolute crazy sharpness off them and settle down to their long term profile.

That'll take quite a bit of beans, during which you''ll notice some variation in the grind.


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## Shakey

Shrink,

You are right on the money. I'm now back close to the setting it arrived with and starting to get some decent shots. I am just back from Edinburgh laden with beans ready to fine tune this evening.

(If you are ever down this way let me know.)


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## shrink

theres a lot of things at play here... apparently the sticker that denotes the position on the adjuster was changed between the old style and new style and as a result the numbers used to be around the 6 mark, but are now between 12-15.

as I said, its a completely arbitrary figure, it means nothing to anyone else but yourself. Its a nice way to keep track of what your settings are, but not a reference between units, since theres no way to verify how the sticker was applied, and if the adjuster was screwed on in the same way.

Glad you're getting there though. Can you share any more impressions? As I'm about to place my order in the next day or two, some real information on how you find it would be mega useful.

In fact if you have time, I'd love to come and see it before ordering mine!!


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## Shakey

You are more than welcome. I'll pm you.


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## shrink

garydyke1 said:


> The mini-e took >25 seconds for 18g, single dosed, fine enough for a VST basket. (it was about 20 seconds with a full hopper)
> 
> The royal 7 ish seconds for 18g, single dosed, fine enough for VST basket. (about 5-6 seconds with a full hopper) Bare in mind the royal is 900W and 83mm !
> 
> My guess this grinder would be in the 10-15 second range single dosed. probably 8-12 with a full hopper


Just coming back to this old post Gary. The quamar did as I expected, 7 ish seconds for a grind fine enough for a vst. 18g medium/dark roast. Even quicker on light roast. The mini-e sounds horribly slow! Are the burrs made of cheese?


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## garydyke1

Not sure, I have no idea why anyone would ever consider one!


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## shrink

ive no idea how mazzer have managed to make it so poor. They could easily up the motor speed a little, put the more aggressive burrs from the SJ into it, and sell it as a compact package. Hell if it made them happy, they could charge the same as a super jolly. People who want the compact package would probably still go for it.


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## garydyke1

The speed issue wouldnt be so much of a problem if the grind quality was half as good as the Royal. When I had them both dialled in next to each other it was like night and day in the cup


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## coffeechap

The problem is the mini is still primarily sold as commercial machine, mazzer could design a purely home use machine that might be something. Upping the speed of a motor is not really the answer as the faster a motor spins the hotter the grinds get, therefore just because a grinder chucks coffee out at a vast rate of knots it does not mean the quality is that good, the royal grinds at a much slower spin speed over the greater burr set which means a much cooler grind.


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## shrink

im not talking about a faster motor in the mini.. just one with more torque.. e.g. a 300w rather than a 250w. That would allow them to use bigger burrs without risking stalling. and therefore get more grind output for the same rotational speed. It doesnt make sense for them to handicap a grinder so badly with burrs that seem to be made for stroking kittens, not crushing coffee.


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