So... both get excellent reviews on the forum, and both seem to punch above their weight. I wondered whether anyone had done a direct comparison, or had an opinion as to which was better?

Yes, I know it may seem like I'm comparing apples to oranges here, however as someone who only makes one or two espressos a day and wanting to get the most 'bang for the buck', perhaps these two are not so dissimilar. Certainly both could be used without too much hassle for a relatively small number of shots, and both have their pluses and minuses. Given that they retail for a similar price (with the Kinu being a little cheaper) I would be very interested to know whether anyone had experience with both or compared the two? Is the Kinu better due to not having to pay for a motor, casing, electronics etc or does the Sette take the cake?

Looking forward to your thoughts!

I have both.

Taste wise no big difference. Both produce excellent extractions and good flavour.

Sette more convenient and faster routine but reliability unclear. Sette everything but great for slow coffee. Way too many fines for pourover. The Baratzs Virtuosa is way better for filter. As is the ceramic vario (steel vario even better of course).

Kinu slower routine but made for life. Kinu very good for slow coffee. Kinu portable.

Only if your are making many shots or if you don't like grinding by hand better buy the Sette.

Otherwise I suggest buying the Kinu.

+1 for a manual, but I am biased, no electric grinder in my kitchen

Could be other models too, even more portable than Kinu, in a side by side between Feldgrind and M38, my preference finally go for Feldgrind.
Helor is a candidate as well...

I'll vote for the M47. Great grinder and also easy for grinding espresso which my Lido wasn't. I tried the Kinu next to my Mythos and it holds pretty well. In the end the Kinu will be much cheaper as Baratza grinders don't seem to last longer than 2-3 years. The Kinu will serve you for a lifetime and will also be a very good grinder for pourover.

Thanks for all the feedback and advice guys - very helpful. It seems like they are much of a muchness, and as Jim states it probably comes down to personal preference.

bas wrote:I have both...taste wise no big difference. Both produce excellent extractions and good flavour.

This is exactly what I wanted to know! Thanks Bas.

It was really useful to hear your thoughts about using the Sette for pourover and French press as well. I drink French press from time to time so would like a grinder that can do both if possible.

erik82 wrote:I'll vote for the M47. Great grinder and also easy for grinding espresso which my Lido wasn't. I tried the Kinu next to my Mythos and it holds pretty well. In the end the Kinu will be much cheaper as Baratza grinders don't seem to last longer than 2-3 years. The Kinu will serve you for a lifetime and will also be a very good grinder for pourover.

Longevity is something I hadn't actually considered Erik - thanks for bringing it up. It seems the Kinu might outlive me based on some of the videos I've seen online

another_jim wrote:You either hate all hand grinders like I do, because they take too much time and effort; or you love them, because they reward time and effort.

An interesting point of view! One which I don't necessarily share however. I'm fairly ambivalent to grinding by hand, neither put off by grinding manually nor wedded to it. As I'm only making one or two coffees a day it's not a big part of my decision to buy, I'm more after quality in the cup. If the question was simply 'is one of them a hand-grinder? If so, buy/reject that one on principle' then I agree the decision would be straightforward.

Of more interest to me was whether the relatively novel rotating outer burr and straight-through design of the Sette changed the grinder game enough that it would beat a well-aligned manual grinder in the cup. From everyone's comments this doesn't look to be the case, which is good to know.

I think the Kinu's going to be the one for me.

As this make any difference... is just a marketing trick, a stupid one, according to some of the most respected local grinder manufacturers.
Yeah, they could be not as famous as Mr. Etz... but making stuff far more reliable

renatoa wrote:As this make any difference... is just a marketing trick, a stupid one, according to some of the most respected local grinder manufacturers.

I would actually say it's a very clever solution to making a low cost high rigidity grinder. Making the outer burr turn allows the supporting bearing to be inches in diameter, insuring stiffness in a low cost, high volume, high production grinder. It also makes it easy to keep the grind exit path clean and allows the motor to be hidden out of the way behind the burrs.

I'm not a fan of it's looks and I would not have that noise in my house, but it's an under $400 grinder that being compared with a Monolith in another thread or two, they must have made some correct choices.

Ira