No apology necessary. I purchased the unit from a well repected vendor as a reasonable decaf / drip alternative and serious upgrade to the Maestro. IIRC, $259. No change

So Jim, would the Mini Pro II be you're first pick in this price range?

This is a rebadged Lux grinder. It's a little outside your budget, due to the poor Euro/Dollar exchange; but it is a good deal, since they've crept up to around $200 now. The other solid alternative is a used commercial from Ebay spruced up with a fresh burr.

Fr. John wrote:Hey everybody,

I need to pick up a second, preferably doserless, grinder for decaf. I pull 4-5 drinks every morning but one person needs to have decaf (unfortunately). I'm pretty tired of having to empty the M4 to grind a weeks worth of the decaf.

Any suggestions?

I take it you keep the hopper filled w/beans? I grind per shot & if I want to switch beans it takes only a few seconds to suck the old grounds out of the M4 doser, chute & burr area using a vac with a small nozzle I keep near by.

Yes, I keep beans in the hopper. Pulling several shots every morning in short order would be very inefficient otherwise.

cafeIKE wrote:I bought my sister a Capresso Infinity and gave it a test over a week or so for espresso, drip and press.
It's bettter than expected.

A refurb Maestro is another good option for $63.

Thanks for including this link! I'd been ruding around the internet looking for this for a few days! I needed a decent burr grinder for drip and press and I've got a Maestro on the way!

My two cents on the grinder for espresso, in this price range I would find a Super Jolly on E-bay with new burrs. The only thing you need after your winning bid is enough counter space (and high enough cupboards) to fit this in the kitchen. That is the reason I did not buy one of these for my second grinder. Also, after buying a Macap M4 brand new the Super Jolly might out perform the M4 at 1/4 of the price and make me feel bad

Also, after buying a Macap M4 brand new the Super Jolly might out perform the M4 at 1/4 of the price and make me feel bad

I've been tempted by the Super Jolly, but I've yet to see one go for anywhere near 1/4 the price of the M4 which would be about $125.00 or so. If that were the case I'd be all over it.

Good point; I guess I haven't watched closely enough to see how much the final bid is on EBay. They can still be purchased using E-Bay for $200 or less? If not, out of curiosity, what is the going price these days?

Most of the SJs seem to be going in the $300-350 range these days.

Fr. John wrote:Yes, I keep beans in the hopper. Pulling several shots every morning in short order would be very inefficient otherwise.

Knowing that I will top up one of my Synesso 18g baskets at 19g, and that I want to pull four shots, the simple math gets me eighty grams as plenty of coffee for four shots, with a fudge factor of a gram a basket. If I feel really spot on, I can load up seventy six point eight grams, and keep my waste down to about a tenth of a gram per basket. Twenny bucks and I'm remarkably efficient at keeping just what I need in the hopper.
Cheaper than another grinder, but maybe not as 'morning proof'.