I've been away from this forum for a while, just before the release of hg-one actually. Been back for a few days, and I must admit the I'm a bit concern. When I saw the hg one for the first time I told myself "well somebody took the pharos concept to a new level with better design consideration" than I saw the price of the beast! I was shocked by the price, but I told myself....welll if we consider all the modifications people did to their pharos, maybe it's worth it, 900$ to buy the equivalent of a pharos all pimp up, in the best sense, and no mods necessary! ok!. But then I started to read the forum, and started to see hg-one with add on, plastic, strings, water with the beans, cardboard, elastics, wood (ok that one ain't so bad), but motors....cmon guys! There is something wrong here! I myself did a few mods on equipment, but paying that premium for a manual grinder would be understandable because of the quality of the design and the engineering, but what I see with the mod is simply ugly, and reading the post it seem that some engineering flaws are still there! What exactly did you pay 900$ for?
Sorry but I guess this time some went overboard and I had to say it. And this is coming from someone who paid quite large sum of money in coffee equipment, but when I see where this hobby is going I'm afraid that we are losing the spirit and the few drops of essentials that are in the cups! A friend of mine is travelling with all his equipment il lawyer suitcase, on my side I prefer to go find the best little coffee shop even if the coffee is not the same as the one I can make at home, because this is also part of the coffee experience. But I must admit that i'm lucky to live in a city were the coffee culture is very strong. I feel that the coffee lost a battle against the equipment, In french I often use the term efficient wich is atteining a goal the best way possible but with reasonnable mean, unfortunately it seam that this hobby is using more the term efficacity, wich is also atteining a goal, but using all mean possible, it's a bit sad.

In the mean time I leave you with another grinder that maybe someday will rock your world!

Prototype cration by Yvan Marcoux a coffee lover from Quebec

...and right off I see a mod to add an extended handle to that grinder to keep one from losing a misplaced thumb against the two closest legs.

I guess this time some went overboard

I share your grumpiness. So many mod "improvements" seem like an enormous bother of questionable merit. Plus, they're ugly. OTOH, a few, on occasion, work out. And that makes a small percentage of mods - - -interesting.

With my HG One I have paid a premium for an enterprising soul to take a monster (called here, "Titan")- - -and strip to its essentials a complex machine developed over the years with many sophisticated (professional) mods and probably a few wrong turns.

Personally, I roast with a heatgun and dogbowl, and I have some disdain for those who would modify that simple machine with all manor of clutter including bread machines, flour sifters, paint can shakers, and so forth. Not all improvements must add complexity.

Thanks for the sneak peak. I'd probably modify that grinder by adding a base-otherwise those three contact points could be problematic for some work surfaces-and either a dosing tumbler or portafilter stand. The base might improve the ergonomics of this grinder, as well. It don't know how it's going to stay put as configured now when grinding a light-roasted coffee for espresso, assuming that is what the grinder is intended for.

I'm rocking HG-One #14 without any mods. Sure, the 2014 HG-One features are great, and seem like a natural evolution of the design. But there wasn't anything "wrong" with the original product. I've been grinding by hand every day for 4 years. Based on that experience, the HG-One seems pretty close to perfect.

You may be confusing "desired customization" with "required modifications." My '74 Cremina is pretty close to perfect, too. But I've styled it out with hand-made custom components-because I wanted to, not because they were required.

Do you take exception with the HG one for $900 itself or just the excessive mods? My ultimate goal is usability and the HG one checks all my boxes as compared to the harder to use pharos.

Before anybody jump on to argue, i may have been a bit harsh, but just want to say that this just my simple opinion based on my own experience. Been doing this for about 9 years now, and almost went overboard myself, getting lost in details. But i'm now trying to get back to essential and do the best espresso I can keeping it as simple as possible and also as small scale as possible. I went manual on the machine and the grinder exactly for that reason, simple, low noise, small footprint, best control on the quality. I must admit that once in a while I pull amazing shot, sometime awful shot, but an average well above what's available commercially. When I sometime read about how much manipulation people do to their coffee before they lock the portafilter, I just wonder if we might have lost something in the process by over thinking everything!.......Just have to thank my italian friend for the best advice....."once you know the basic, Stop reading about it and pull shots!"

brianl wrote:Do you take exception with the HG one for $900 itself or just the excessive mods? My ultimate goal is usability and the HG one checks all my boxes as compared to the harder to use pharos.

A bit of both, as i said in my initial posting I wouldn't mind the 900$ price tag (worth certainly more than 300 starbucks espresso) if the grinder was an optimum design. But all the mod I see made me wonder. Redesigning the funnel so beans do not hop out, redesigning the chute for different recipient, stabilizing the base, correcting the static issue, adding scale, and then the off the chart mod ...the motorization!!! Apart for the wood handle and knobs we are not talking about cosmetic improvement here, but basic stuff that I think should have been included and thought into the design, and not after mod that alter dramatically the quality of the design, especially in an engineered piece of this price. My two cents.

I will play the devil's advocate. I don't see anything wrong with engineering mods and teasing out equipment. It's a sign of human ingenuity. A lot of equipment that you have successfully used in the past and/or continue to use has probably originated that way: I think a healthy dose of obsession is a prerequisite for breaking new grounds. For that reason, the HG One had me intrigued.
In the real world, I have only few people with whom to share my love for coffee. Sure, everyone claims to "love" coffee but that usually is more thought around the lines of something like a Pumpkin Spice Latte blablabla beverage.
Most people just want a convenient cup of coffee without much thought. Consume the swill and toss the plastic-lined cup! I have offered my carefully prepared beverages to such people, many of them good friends, but they, especially the Starbucks goers, dislike my nice cappuccinos. They WILL prefer Folgers or Dunkin Donuts or $tarbucks over Counter Culture Coffee or Redbird Coffee or whatever fine roaster. And there is no fine coffee shop here to cultivate a better local appreciation either. In other words, the romanticized world of "just enjoying coffee as a simple and simply elegant beverage" doesn't exist for me.
If we must talk of "romanticized world," let me give it a different spin: Imagine you can email the inventor of a coffee grinder directly, leave him feedback, ask him questions, share your passion for the beverage. And you get a response. Now, that's pretty neat, isn't it? I consider that kind of connection and the small setup and also relatively limited niche market as part of the high price tag.

There are mods I would never even dream about applying to my equipment but the resourcefulness and inventiveness of this forum and its members is quite impressive. No device is ever so perfect that it couldn't be improved. At least, it doesn't hurt to try.

Damn it, you'd better enjoy your equipment my way in your own home or I'll post on the internet about it!
Don't share your ideas on customising anything!

there's no right or wrong, and who are you to say.

everyone enjoys coffee to varying degrees, if it's the equipment they like so be it. that goes with any passion.. cameras, audiophiles, even bowling and cycling.

the guy who bought the $8000 speedster or $10000 slayer for his home.. obviously there's more going on there than just good coffee...c'mon now