zin1953 wrote:Ken, I'm curious (and confused) . . .
It's seems as though you're saying the Compak is better than the Cimbali Max Hybrid, but it's the Compak that's in the closet? And it's just because the Compak is ugly? How ugly can it be, if it's better, to end up in the closet?
Or is the grind quality differential not that significant (or price differential not worth it)?
Cheers,
Jason
The Compak is "better" only in the sense that it requires fewer grind changes; the quality of the grinds themselves is indistinguishable, at least to my palate.
I have been back home (from France and California afterwards) for two weeks. I have been using the 2 old original design Max's and the new modified one during this time period. After I got the grinders properly adjusted for the coffees they were using (which are not the same ones they were grinding before I went off on my trip 2 months ago), I have had, at most, 2 sink shots in two weeks totaled from the 3 grinders, grinding 3 different coffees. During this two week period we have had weather that varied all over the map, from rain with 100% relative humidity, to our more normal cold dry air at around 15% RH or less. Small grinder setting adjustments have obviously been necessary during this two week period.
At this miniscule level of sink shots, due to grinder setting, it is very difficult to say that the Compak would have been enough better (in terms of grind adjustment) that it would be measurable.
The Compak is ugly. Granted, that is a personal value judgement, but I did not like looking at it in my kitchen or at the back of it from across the room. In addition, I found that adjusting it was unpleasant as it has a friction fit turning knob (like the Mazzers but less well executed) rather than the easily adjustable worm gear with clicks that the Cimbali Maxs have. The Compak has a large discharge chute that goes into the doser, which is hard to clean and retains grinds (as do the burrs). If you pulse the Compak repeatedly after the bean hopper is completely empty, you will get residual grinds coming out even on the 6th or 7th pulse. This tells me that the grinder burrs are retaining grinds and if you make espresso with the frequency of a home user, you are getting stale grinds as a significant part of every shot.
With the Max, when you pulse it, you get a little one time after the hopper is empty, and a microscopic amount the 2nd pulse. This tells me that the Max is not retaining old grinds in its burrs to the extent that the Compak conical does. I am reasonably certain that by cleaning the chute after grinding for each shot (and I use those grinds in the shot, whose coffee I weigh), if I then pulse 2g or so out of the Max before the next shot, and clean the chute, that almost all of the grinds for the next shot are fresh and not retained from the last one. This makes sense if you consider the design of the Max; the conical burrs are used for minor breakup and slight crushing of the beans; it is the planar burrs that do the actual shaving (grinding), and those burrs as designed just can't hold that much ground coffee in them when the burrs are set to grind finely, as for espresso.
None of this should be at all surprising. The Compak is a high volume full on commercial grinder intended for a busy cafe. In its intended setting, issues such as I have raised above are of no consequence. The Max is also a commercial grinder, but I don't think anyone would use it as a main grinder in a busy cafe, since its throughput is too small; it is designed more to be used in a place like a restaurant or lower volume commercial setting. It is smaller, better built, and more pleasant to use. The Compak will sell for somewhere between $1100 and $1500, and is intended as a low cost option for a cafe that might otherwise buy a Robur. Chris is selling the redesigned Max for $800 including shipping, which is a significant reduction from list price.
How do I know this about Chris's pricing? When I got my two grinders, the importer did me a special favor and sold them to me at half price, presumably hoping that my testing of the grinders and possible positive comments might result in this being a product that they could successfully import to the USA. The price that I paid for the original Max's, including shipping, was about $50 less than Chris is selling this revised model for, and I don't think that any significant profit was made on the pair I bought originally, which was done for me as a favor.
ken
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