# Eureka Mignon or Lelit William?



## Roobarb (Jan 8, 2018)

Does anybody have experience to help me compare the following grinders. They would be paired (most probably) with a Lelit PL62 Mara HX espresso machine.


Eureka Mignon Mk.2 for £235

Lelit William PL71 for £275 (this is not the stand alone price, but the effective price from buying as part of a set with a Mara HX brewer)

Eureka Mignon Silenzio - price tbd. Supposedly hitting European dealers in February and this model probably similar price to the full RRP of the Mk.2 so c.£300 I am guessing. I don't mind waiting at all.


All seem to be stepless. All seem to be 50mm steel burrs. The all fit in my kitchen okay. Mignon Mk.2 a bit noisy, but I don't care much. William seems (from internet photos) nicer build quality and a bit quieter, but a bit extra cash. Are these machines all quite similar or is one much better than the other?

Thank you in advance for any insight.


----------



## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

I doubt if the William will be better constructd than the Mignon. I have never seen one and that concerns me. There are thousands of happy Mignon owners who will endorse them.....or you could buy something no one on here has ever heard of and hope......


----------



## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

The Lelit i have not seen anyone post about on here , the Sirenzio isn't out yet, so asking for comparison may not get the responses you are looking for .


----------



## Roobarb (Jan 8, 2018)

dfk41 said:


> ...or you could buy something no one on here has ever heard of and hope......


... well that is why I am asking... to see if any William owners are here? Or to see if anyone has seen both units side by side in one of the retail stores.

Wow. Only just joined. While you probably intend to be helpful and the first part of your replay was not unhelpful, the second part of your reply... well just read it again. If you think that is okay, then good luck to you.


----------



## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

Roobarb said:


> ... well that is why I am asking... to see if any William owners are here? Or to see if anyone has seen both units side by side in one of the retail stores.
> 
> Wow. Only just joined. While you probably intend to be helpful and the first part of your replay was not unhelpful, the second part of your reply... well just read it again. If you think that is okay, then good luck to you.


Whoa!

Look, @dfk41 has own way of 'communicating'. That said I think on this occasion he was pretty fair in his reply, after all he's trying to save you time and grief in the long run.

Advice may not come in the form hoped or expected, regardless it can still be sound.


----------



## Roobarb (Jan 8, 2018)

Yeh! I noticed that @dfk41 has his own way of communicating. I suppose the clue is in the avatar (Sandor Clegane from GoT...)... lol. I know that he is active on this forum and knowledgeable. So I don't want to pick a fight with him a) because it is bad karma and b) because newbie starting off forum membership like this is not ideal and c) because most people on forums like this want to share experience and help each other. So - from me - no more said on this. Thank you for any feedback.

Back on topic, I understand that the Mignon Mk.2 is a tried and tested and well loved grinder at that price point and with 50mm burrs which is why I am considering it, particularly at the low new price of £235 which I've seen it. I notice that there are users of the Mara espresso machine on this forum. I am interested to hear from any of you that paired it with the 50mm burr William grinder.


----------



## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Roobarb said:


> ... well that is why I am asking... to see if any William owners are here? Or to see if anyone has seen both units side by side in one of the retail stores.
> 
> Wow. Only just joined. While you probably intend to be helpful and the first part of your replay was not unhelpful, the second part of your reply... well just read it again. If you think that is okay, then good luck to you.


Sorry you find my comments offensive. Believe you me, if I had meant to offend you, there would be no doubt in the matter. In plain English, I asked you to question yourself as to why you would buck the trend? You already know the William is not a popular grinder. If there was anyone on here with one would you really expect them to say anything other than how fantastic they are? You have to have one eye on the future when buying coffee gear. if you go off at a tangent and buy a minority bit of kit, you have to factor in getting rid of it without dropping a bomb if you wish to upgrade, therefore, my suggestion to me remains relevant


----------



## Roobarb (Jan 8, 2018)

Okay / no problem. Mutually I don't mean to cause agro. Let's move on.

Considering William because:

1) the specifications seem the same as Mignon, so not obviously inferior specification wise.

2) the few internet videos I've seen with it, it seems a lot quieter than Mignon. Hard to say with different Youtubers recordings, but it seems different with people having to shout over the Mignon Mk.2. Much less so William. Not a deal breaker, but ceteris paribus, a positive for William.

3) Aesthetically William matches Mara.

As for William owners... I don't know how many of them are out there or if forum members have experience of them. That is why I am asking. And usually people say positive things about their purchases, but not always. That is the point of asking.


----------



## Jony (Sep 8, 2017)

Mignon for sure, the new ones will release March/April


----------



## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Roobarb said:


> Okay / no problem. Mutually I don't mean to cause agro. Let's move on.
> 
> Considering William because:
> 
> ...


As you say , youtube recordings probably arent the best way to judge the noise of a grinder.

With the William v Mignon feedback , there is loads of places in the Uk to buy a mignon in the Uk , not very many for the William. Plus the Mignon comes in lots of colours so it could be seen to be more kitchen friendly.

I think the point Dfk was trying to make is that the Mignon on here is a known quantity on here and i the Uk , the William isn't .

So you will get lots of people who are happy owners on here, and probably none for the William , which means you are looking at youtube clips etc for a unknown grinder . Yes the specs may see, the same , and it may have the same burrs but it could still differ in build quality ( yes it could be better ) .

So you have asked a forum which one to buy , you will end up with lots of people telling you to buy Mignon as lots of people have owned it .


----------



## kdr152 (Dec 27, 2017)

Hi Roobarb; newbie here too!!

So - also looking at grinders. Where have you seen the Mignon at 235? Will have a gander later as am also considering.

There's a few on certain auction sites at below that but 235 with a guarantee makes sense!!


----------



## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

When it comes to noise... Unless you are looking at drinking back to back coffee all day (or live in a monastery, or directly beside an endangered birds sole habitat) it's a few seconds of noise, so even if one is marginally quieter that's no reason to choose one over the other. Stick with the one that's well known and well reviewed by impartial people (because YouTube isn't exactly impartial... ) And if you don't like it, or you want to upgrade it won't have cost you a huge amount to own.


----------



## zeezaw (Nov 12, 2017)

Roobarb said:


> 1) the specifications seem the same as Mignon, so not obviously inferior specification wise.


Mignon is stepless, PL71 is stepped micro-metric.

On the Mignon you can remove the top plate for cleaning and the grind adjustment remains unchanged once reassembled (I think this feature is unique to Eureka).

250g hopper on the Mignon vs 350g on the PL71.


----------



## Roobarb (Jan 8, 2018)

zeezaw said:


> Mignon is stepless, PL71 is stepped micro-metric.
> 
> On the Mignon you can remove the top plate for cleaning and the grind adjustment remains unchanged once reassembled (I think this feature is unique to Eureka).
> 
> 250g hopper on the Mignon vs 350g on the PL71.


Great feedback. Thank you.

@kdr152. Not sure on the forum rules about posting price / retailer directly on the forum. Instead I will PM you with the information asked.


----------



## Neilbdavies (Oct 21, 2017)

Hi Roobarb, I'd also be interested in knowing where the mignon is available at 235. Thanks


----------



## John Yossarian (Feb 2, 2016)

Hi Robarb,

The interest you have raised with the Mignon price is already telling you where people's preferences stand







.

Good luck with your purchase.


----------



## Roobarb (Jan 8, 2018)

John, you are right!

Neil, sorry mate... my bad / false alarm. I was looking at a UK retailer just off Regents Street and the £235 price excluded VAT. Their webpage does say excluding VAT, but in a different place to where the unit price was advertised, so it was a little misleading. I think their website is more set up to focus on trade sales. So with VAT c.£282, but then plus P&P.

Thanks everyone that replied to me with feedback. I've made my decision now.

I am very interested in the Niche coffee grinder. But this is a new unit that the designer hopes to have available in June 2018. It may be on time, it may not. The challenge with going from prototype to production is that you might accurately specify parts to be manufactured for you, but then when you get the parts back from China or wherever they try to save manufacturing costs by doing something out of specification. You only find out when you get the parts send back to you, then you have to tell them to go back and do it properly. This kicks the release back again.

(I am also interested in building custom PCs. I've been waiting for some high specification computer fans by an Austrian company - Noctua - which should be way better than the noisy junk on the market currently. But the release of these fans has been delayed 3 times / 6 months and counting because of manufacturing problems. The prototypes and designs have been fine, it is the difficulty of getting the Taiwanese / Chinese factories to manufacture to specification that is the challenge.)

So I will get a Mignon. Which one? Well the new ones are out soon. I will wait for that. If dealers want to sell their Mk.2's at a significant discount then I will go for one of those. Otherwise I will get a Silencio at retail. Then in 6-9-12 months if the Niche is released and I feel that I want to upgrade, then I will sell the Mignon and upgrade.

Thank you for your advice everyone!


----------



## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

@Roobarb

the team behind Niche are led by a very experienced engineer who works independently and also did affair bit for Kenwood. I doubt any of your concerns will come true though. The project is actually in its 5th year now and one or two forum members have been involved to varying degrees.


----------



## SheepAreOnFire1903 (Jul 8, 2017)

Jony said:


> Mignon for sure, the new ones will release March/April


New Mignon (Mk 3) ?


----------



## Roobarb (Jan 8, 2018)

SheepAreOnFire1903 said:


> New Mignon (Mk 3) ?


Yes, there is a Mignon Mk.3 coming. In fact there are three variants. See the link that I posted here for full details: https://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?42041-Mignon-(Silenzio-Perfetto-Specialita)&p=561050#post561050

It could arrive a official dealers as early as the end of this month, but as Jony suggested it could be a available bit later. But soon-ish.


----------



## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Definitely don't get a Lelit William. It was a grinder I was given to evaluate (or looks exactly the same): My views on it are below. As I wasn't paid to look at it I feel happy sharing my engineering review summary.

It seemed heavy and looked well made with a powerful motor. Unfortunately it's a really bad design. The grinder adjuster is quite stiff and unpleasant to use, il 2 horizontal interlocking spur gears of almost equal size don't work well as an adjustment mechanism .



4 tiny screws to remove the hopper (always at risk of dropping into the burr chamber), the screws are keyed into plastic so won't last long if regularly undone for cleaning.


When the hopper is removed, 3 more larger screws on that plastic gear thing that moves the burrs


When the gear thing comes off a special tool is required to undo the top burr! (which isn't supplied and I don't believe is sold as an accessory)


At this point I simply got bored and put the whole thing back together. Lelit mention using a product similar to Urnex grinds to clean it. This really flies in the face of decent espresso and grinder cleaning or maintenance. Access to the burr chamber is required to remove stale coffee that builds up and a pour in the hopper cleaning product is never going to remove this. *This is a grinder to absolutely never stock at any price.*

Lelit would do well to completely redesign the grinder, it feels like a child of the 80s and it's not a good product.


----------



## Roobarb (Jan 8, 2018)

This is exactly the kind of very value added feedback I was hoping to get when I started this post. I am sure that it will be helpful to other people looking at the Lelit PL62 Mara brewer (which has positive reviews), than might - like me - be tempted to buy the PL71 / PL72 William grinders in a discounted bundle with the brewer. (I noticed that little white plastic wheel visible from the beans hopper in photos and was suspicious about it). I will take your advice: the William grinder is off the short list. I am pretty sure that I have narrowed the decision down to 3 alternatives (Mignon Mk.2, Mignon Silencio, Nicho Zero); final decision dependent on price and timescales.

Thank you David.


----------



## Juba (Sep 7, 2017)

Eureka have launched the new mignon has anyone seen it in action? http://www.eureka.co.it/en/news/id/70.aspx


----------



## John Yossarian (Feb 2, 2016)

Hi Roobarb,

i know that you are after a new grinder but in case you can swallow the idea of a second hand there is a Casadio Cimbali on demand at well known site that expires in less than three hours and with some minor need of TLC. This can solve your future grinder demands.

Cheers


----------



## Roobarb (Jan 8, 2018)

Thanks.


----------



## Barbu (Dec 29, 2020)

DavecUK said:


> It seemed heavy and looked well made with a powerful motor. Unfortunately it's a really bad bad design. The grinder adjuster is quite stiff and unpleasant to use


 Yes @DavecUK, I couldn't agree more, and oh how I wish I had seen your review earlier. You live and learn...


----------

