I bought the vario to replace my Mini under the assumption, based on reviews, that it's great for espresso and very good for drip coffee.
The mini used to make a lot of dust, and i could see a nice layer of sludge after running through a drip cone, slowing the flow through WAY down. (i full immersion brew, then run it though a cone filter)

It seems to me, though i have not quantified it, that the vario makes pretty much as much dust and causes as much sludge and still slows or blocks the cone filter...

Has anyone had any experience with drip grind from the vario? How much sludge is on the top of your cone filter after brewing?

I have a 2 week old Vario that so far has only be used for drip, and my findings using either pour over or a Clever are the same as yours, I have been tempted to buy some pre-ground just to see what that looks like. Now I have adjusted to the Vario I am getting great drip coffee in the cup so am largely not bothered, I just adjust the steep time to account for the draw down being slow.

approx. where are you grinding on the vario for drip, what is your steep time and flow through time?

I have been all over the place with brew strengths, steep time and grind settings, and ended up somewhere I was not expecting, I feel I have nailed it only this week so my mileage may vary yet!

The basic recipe I am using in the Clever coffee dripper (CCD) is as follows ...
14 grams of coffee ground with the Vario set as follows, micro all the way down, macro 4 clicks down from the top.
300 grams of water.
2 Mins steep time.
Water is from an electric kettle approx 30 seconds of the boil.

Procedure is to put the paper filter in the CCD and then rinse and then pre-warm.
Add the coffee and put the CCD on the scales and tare them.
Start a timer for 2 mins.
Add about a third of the water and stir for a few seconds, then add about another third of the water and stir again, then the rest of the water and stir again. For reference the adding the water and stirring takes about 30 sec total.
At the 2 min mark place it on the cup to start the drain, which takes about 2 mins for me, so this is a 4 min brew all in.

I would have thought that this would produce coffee that is weak, and whilst it is not strong coffee the taste is extraordinary and full, it seems to capture the ground smell perfectly.

Interesting. That seems really fine. I wonder if you're vario is calibrated way differently than mine.

3 clicks down on macro for me is still almost espresso range. I'm 2 clicks down on macro and almost all the way down on micro...

thanks though.,

My Vario came calibrated exactly as per the US manual, I have not changed it. Does yours match that calibration?

FWIW I did eyeball some commercially ground filter coffee recently and mine looks similar.

I don't remember what the manual says. I've recalibrated mine a couple times though.

I'll take a look at some folgers and regulate myself from that coarseness. I make so little drip coffee and have virtually never bought preground, that i don't have a good feel for what it should look like!