# A marital harmony grinder?



## JaymeeH (May 29, 2015)

Please advise! I need a different grinder that will make happy mornings in our house. With a 1 year old it's very difficult to get the time to tinker with grinds and take time weighing each shot. My wife would especially like something that requires less thinking and care at 6am. She's not up for the nerding and testing I want to do.

So in what appears to be the opposite of what people go for on this forum I'd like something that meets the criteria below, if such a thing exists within my budget.

Quick to adjust with clear delineation so I can write a grind setting on each bag of beans.

Measured doses, preferably with manual override.

If it could quickly switch to aeropress grind that would be handy but I have my porlex so it's not a big issue.

Not too big (or ugly if possible.)

Not make me regret my decision too quickly!

I'm sure there must be grinders that fit the bill other than the Mahlkonig Vario and the Sage Smart. The Vario would be really stretching my budget if I got one new, haven't seen too many second hand ones yet though.

Would I hate myself for buying the Smart? It would leave me with more budget to pick up a better grinder for the weekends at some point soon.

Please help!


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

JaymeeH;330866
Would I hate myself for buying the Smart? It would leave me with more budget to pick up a better grinder for the weekends at some point soon.
YES
Please help!
Re Sage - see above
In your price range and size range said:


> https://www.coffeeforums.co.uk/uploads/emoticons/smile.png.386586528d215eb32622a010fd075179.png[/IMG]


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

A Vario fits the bill

Small footprint

Good looking

Timed doses (3 settings possible)

Easy to flick between grind settings

Can also single dose if required (but works best with a volume of beans in the hopper)


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## Rhys (Dec 21, 2014)

At 6am I don't grind anything, for the fear of having my head forced against fast spinning Ti burrs by my grouchy other half.. And the major isn't that loud either. Saying that, I'm still half asleep and have chucked a tea-bag in my cereal bowl a few times..


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

JaymeeH said:


> Please advise! I need a different grinder that will make happy mornings in our house. With a 1 year old it's very difficult to get the time to tinker with grinds and take time weighing each shot. My wife would especially like something that requires less thinking and care at 6am. She's not up for the nerding and testing I want to do.
> 
> So in what appears to be the opposite of what people go for on this forum I'd like something that meets the criteria below, if such a thing exists within my budget.
> 
> ...


Sorry if it's just implicit but what is your price range?


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## Phil104 (Apr 15, 2014)

Actually the Mignon doesn't make that much noise but it depends on the layout of your house. I haven't heard a Vario in action but assume it's not that noisy anyway Quietest of all and easy to redial is the HG1 but that comes at a price.


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## Thecatlinux (Mar 10, 2014)

Compak e8 looks like something that will fit the bill of a user friendly, relatively small footprint and decent grind quality oh and on demand .

not sure if that's within budget though but IMO a very nice bit of kit to sit on your bench


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## JaymeeH (May 29, 2015)

Dammit. Looks like I can't deny it any longer. I have to buy a Vario. It's been on the cards for a good year, long before I got a machine. Now I just have to find a MK3 with it's quieter motor at a sensible price.

Thanks for the replies guys, appreciated.

PS. The compak looks fantastic but way out of my range for the foreseeable future.


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## fluffles (Sep 4, 2012)

Having a 3 year old and 1 year old, I feel your pain JaymeeH! Why doesn't everyone appreciate the importance of coffee? And the importance of getting it *right*?!


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## elonii (Jun 24, 2015)

I also have a 1 year old and a 3 year old - feeling the pain on the time to play front. However, I'm in the lucky position of being the mummy - this means that the husband one never complains about me tinkering. I still don't get a lot of time to play with my grinds and variables at the moment, but after the first conversation conducted at the top of my lungs regarding the other 23 hours 50 minutes of the day being devoted to children climbing on me, with an entertaining monologue regarding me "just wanting a f&*^&^ coffee, is it really too much to ask?" - he's been very decent about removing the children and letting me have a very brief pool of blissful coffee time each day.

Good luck finding your ideal equipment. It takes me so long to save up for mine, I couldn't bear to mess around with the set up (unless it was adding extra things. that'd be totally fine!)


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

Go for the Vario, set it up for timed doses with a full hopper (if you drink enough?), it's not as quick as some bigger grinders but it is nice and quiet compared to them.

Plus its small footprint should fit in with wife!


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## JaymeeH (May 29, 2015)

I don't drink that much coffee, most likely I'd brew 2-4 cups weekdays and 4-6 on the weekends. Today however I have drunk quite a lot more and certainly haven't taken care making them. Working on a server migration until 2:30am and back at it since 6:00am1 Caffeine has been medicine today!

Really wish I had the Vario already. And bed. A lot more bed.


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