Just as I was getting close to rendering a buying decision and leaning toward the Macap M4, a gentlemen indicated on this thread his displeasure w/the M4 in that it produced clumpy grinds. Would love to hear from other Macap M4, Mini Mazzer,
and Cimbali Jr. users as to the consistency and other notes on the grinds issue. My second choice was to be the Cimbali Jr.
and was willing to accept the noise factor as a tradeoff for the large mm burrs. Thanks for your sharing your experiences.

perstare wrote:Just as I was getting close to rendering a buying decision and leaning toward the Macap M4, a gentlemen indicated on this thread his displeasure w/the M4 in that it produced clumpy grinds. Would love to hear from other Macap M4, Mini Mazzer,
and Cimbali Jr. users as to the consistency and other notes on the grinds issue. My second choice was to be the Cimbali Jr.
and was willing to accept the noise factor as a tradeoff for the large mm burrs. Thanks for your sharing your experiences.

The clumping problems described above are about the M4 doserless grinder (called the MC4, I think), which you can't really compare to the Mini (at least when it comes to clumping). Almost any doserless grinder will have clumping issues. If you took the doser off of the Mini it would produces clumps too.

The M4 w/doser produces nice fluffy grinds once their dosed. The Mini-E somehow has a remedy for this, like a dispersion screen the grinds fall through, or something like that.

RancilioRancilio wrote:I purchased a Macap M4 doserless grinder a few months ago and it was a nice grinder but I didn't feel satisfied after spending over $400. The grinds were very clumpy and this required me to use the WDT method which didn't sit well with me.

FYI, the doserless version probably attributed a bit to the clumpiness.

I have a Cimbali Junior and MAX, I haven't used a Macap (yet) and have only used a Mazzer Major (or perhaps a Super Jolly) in an espresso lab class. I was impressed with the Mazzer that I used... easy to clean the grinds chute and nice doser.

The downside to both Cimbali grinders, is first the looks, they are not for everyone, a bit boxy and industrial, and second, the hopper. The Cimbali Jr. hopper is short and squat, which is kitchen cabinet height friendly, but the throat design and feed to the hopper could be improved upon (and has been via a few mods, i.e. link). Other than that, great machine, big burrs.

Just to muddy the waters a bit, a new set of Mazzer Super Jollys on eBay the last few weeks.... they've been going pretty cheap. They will likely need new burrs ($25-35) and a little TLC, but for the right price, you may get a good grinder and save a little bit.

I think the Mazzer fit and finish is superior to the MACAP (like Dan mentioned).
That said, I think if I were to drop each grinder from a 3 story building (sometimes I really feel like doing that!), I believe the Mazzer might still work.
When I fire up the grinders, the Mazzer has a better sound (in my subjective opinion). The hopper on the MACAP is a lot tougher than the Mazzer one, I already broke two Mazzer hoppers and have yet to crack the MACAP one after several mishaps, yes I'm all thumbs at times.

See I told you!
Mine survived a bout with UPS during its arrival, the box looked like it was used in the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. They stomped it, tossed it, stepped on it to reach higher boxes in the trailer and who knows what else. It finally showed up to my house with a completely bent PF cradle. Do you know how much pressure it takes to bend one of those? I don't know exactly but my guess is the box fell off a significant height forward to take a mashing like that.
...and of course it worked right out of the box no problems, I've had other things arrive DOA.

Now if it wasn't for the bad location of that damn cord, Dan.
Your kid wouldn't have gotten a hold it if was located under the machine like the MACAPs.

I had the opportunity to see the Macap and Mazzer grinders next to each other when I purchased. FWIW, the Mazzer takes a little longer to spin down to a stop, which means more waiting for the burrs to stop spinning to brush the grinds out of the chute. The Macap is also much easier to adjust; however, the Macap has no easy way for the user to mark grind settings for several different beans/blends. On the Mazzer you can simply put a marking on the adjustment ring.

But all these are minor points of preference, which I suspect are the only differences between these grinders.

Mark

I've heard that from other people as well, for some reason my Mazzer stops on a dime whereas my MACAP takes a while longer to spin down. And you're right, it's kind of a pain to mark any settings on the MACAP, the Mazzer has them beat in that by the easy to see notches on the ring.

Thanks everyone for your valued opinions and experiences on the Mazzer Mini vs. Macap M4 pros and cons.
What I would like to ascertain is whether there is a discernible difference in the quality of the shot/dose/crema when
considering a conical burr rather than the flat burrs of the Mazzer Mini & Macap M4 that we have been discussing on this thread. Please advise if there any other pros (or cons) to owning a conical burr over a flat burr.

I got the Macap M4 Doserless/stepless from Chris' Coffee last July. The machine stands and works alongside my 1977 Cremina.

One year's worth of fairly heavy use for a home machine and in a bottom line, I could not be more satisfied.

The machine is beautiful! I do not see the somewhat negative remarks about how it looks.

No problems what-so-ever!

The chrome and all the parts function flawlessly.

There are NO clumps in my finely ground espresso.

The machine grinds perfectly for the press pot.

It's easy to go back and forth between espresso and press pot settings and this only take a couple of seconds.

W/o knocking the Mazzer Mini at all, this Macap M4 is an incredible grinder!