I found a guy near me willing to sell me the following grinders, and I'm looking for some input as to whether or not any of them would be a good deal. I basically have a terrible grinder right now, pretty much anything is an improvement. Here's what he has:
- Used Simonelli MDX, cleaned and new burrs - $350
- Brand new Larantazo HC-600 - $450
- Brand new Larantazo HC-500 - He's getting back to me on the price for this one.

I like the HC-500 since it's a doserless, and I'll be using it at home. But it's also got 140W motor and 50mm burrs, which is considerably less than the other two. From what I can tell the HC-600 is basically a chinese Mazzer made by HeyCafe (http://www.heycafe.com), and you can actually put authentic Mazzer burrs in it.

I was looking at several other grinders ranging from about $200-450, and none of them were commercial. These prices seem like and awful good deal for something that's built to basically grind all day long in a commercial environment.

I really don't want to squash your excitement but I'd like to suggest some caution. Not because the grinder is from China or anything but because you've got very little to go on. I admit the specs look fine (for the HC 600 I think it was), but there are tons of grinders out there that have a 350 watt motor and use 64 mm burrs. For example, I bought a cheap Aristarco a few months back off ebay (didn't work out but that's another post) which was also a 350 W unit with 64 mm burrs and I could probably have gotten an SJ burrset in it. However, just because a grinder might share some paper specs with others, doesn't mean it's the same. If that were true, my aristarco would have been just as sought after the Mazzer SJ I replaced it with.

There is chance that you've found the next big thing in grinders and if so, great. However, knockoffs (and I hate to say it but they didn't exactly try to look unique on the SJ knockoff) look the way they do because there's a segment of the market that will be convinced that an item with the same paper specs and a similar appearance might just work as well. It's not at all unreasonable to think so. However, if I were a manufacturer that came up with a totally great grinder that can knock the socks off the market and I'm ready to destroy the competition, why would I make it look like my competition? I'd definitely go for a unique style that can become a new benchmark for excellence.

There are many, many, grinder manufacturers that have come and gone and it's not that they were no good, but they weren't the best or close to it. That's pretty much all there is room for in the commercial market because honestly, a coffee shop owner won't hesitate to spend an extra $250 for a proven, trusted grinder as opposed to risking it with a new entrant. If these guys were really good, they could take over the market with their own exterior styling....

Now for the not-so-nice part, and I don't mean to offend anyone or propagate generalizations and stereotypes but I think a big reason that Asian manufacturers aren't bigger in the espresso market yet is because it's not the caffeine (or cultural) drink of choice in most of Asia yet. I have no doubt that they can produce world-class products but just as is the case with chinese cars, maybe they're not quite ready to make an entrance onto a world stage already packed with competent entrants. I really don't mean to offend, all I'm saying is that certain geographic areas have taken to certain things at different times than others and those that pick things (like espresso) up earlier tend to have a reasonable grasp of nice ways to prepare it and it shows in the products originating from those early-adopter areas. I'm just as likely to buy an espresso grinder from China as I am buying an american-made and designed rice cooker... not to say it can't get there, but if I had my choice, I'd go with the chinese product on that one...

Point taken. However, there are a lot of coffee shops around here using the HC-600. What about the Simonelli? That's not chinese as far as I can tell.

You can find first hand information on these Chinese grinders here:

Arrived! Laranzato HC-600

C

The Simonelli's are made in Italy, and you can find posts on the MDX here and at CG. I've seen nothing negative, and in fact, put the MDX pretty much equal to the SJ. The MDX is about $900 - 1K from espressoparts.com.

If you want a killer deal (at least IMO) there are some Eureka MDMCA's on ebay as far as I know for about $400. I picked one up recently. Conti actually makes the grinder, and both NS and Eureka badge it under their own names. From everything I can tell, the MDMCA is exactly the same grinder as the MDX-A from NS - even the manuals are identical. The "A" is for automatic.

I've had it for about a week, and am tickled pink with it. If you want a good deal on a grinder dedicated for espresso only - I think it's hard to go wrong with it. I've only seen positive feedback on the web for NS or Eureka, and believe me - I did a ton of research trying to figure out exactly what the MDMCA was all about.