I have a Rocky and a Baratza Vario. Rocky was my first "real" grinder and he remains my true love. I can't tell the difference in a cup of coffee ground on the Vario vs. the Rocky which means either:
1. The Vario isn't what it's made out to be
2. Rocky is better than he's made out to be
3. My pedestrian taste buds can't tell the difference between well-ground coffee and badly-ground coffee. In which case, it just doesn't make any sense to buy a more expensive grinder.
Now on to the quantitative pluses for Rocky (vs. the qualitative ones above):
1. He's a short little man, which means he fits on most people's counters (like mine). I could never get a Super Jolly under my shelves.
2. He is built like a tank
3. He disassembles (for cleaning, etc.) very easily.
And some real quantitative minuses:
1. Not stepless. Yes, one "click" on Rocky is the equivalent of around 4 seconds of extraction time (this I have measured). Frankly, I am not a good enough barista for that to matter.
2. He does have some plastic bits, despite being tank-like otherwise. The "beak" on the doserless version is prone to breaking and may, in some cases, be manufactured broken. Likewise, the bean hopper is just a plastic little thingie.
3. Burrs are on the small side and not manufactured with the best tolerance. Likewise the burr carrier is subject to some slop (as others have mentioned) but, frankly, it's no worse than the slop in the burrs on my Vario.
4. The feed design is obviously meant for italian roasts. Beans that are at all oily tend to clog it up with maddening frequency. Some people remove the internal finger guard and say that helps. I am about to.



