I realize these are very different animals, but I'm still stuck deciding whether to upgrade my Ascaso to a stepless M4. I have two questions in mind: grind quality and doser. One of the reasons I use the Ascaso I-1 is the fact that it is a stepless, doserless grinder. I use machines with a 58mm pf and also machines with much smaller pf's like home Peppina or Zerowatt models. The doserless grinder makes it relatively easy to deal with the smaller pf sizes.

Posts about the Macap doserless bag-grinder make it sound like clumping is such a big problem that most people do not like to use it for portafilter grinding. I am looking at the doser model M4, but it seems like a real nuisance grinding into a doser, dosing into a dish, and pouring the grinds into the portafilter for a small machine.

The Mazzer doserless would be a good solution, but the price tag is too high.

How big is the difference in grind quality between the Ascaso I-1 and the Macap? Anyone have experience using a doser grinder together with small-portafilter home machines?

Thanks!

Jim

Hi Jim, I've used an M4 directly into a 51mm Pavoni portafilter and it was never a problem at all. (There might have been a tiny amount of coffee that ended on the counter, but if so a "schnozzola" would have fixed it, but there was so little that I never saw the need.)

I haven't used the Ascaso so I can't speak to the difference of the two grinders.

Hugh