jaybar wrote: Would a Lido2 be easier to use, clean, maintain, change grinder settings etc.,
Maybe there are folks in NYC, who have the grinder, that I could reach out to...?

Jay

Jay, you are in Brooklyn , yes ?
Why not take a short trip over to Tobys Estate Coffee house on 125 North 6th, Williamsburg .1 block from the Bedford .
Last time I was there they had a range of hand grinders and brewers etc which I am sure they would let you test out.
And they have good coffee too !

I will try and contact them. Thanks. It will also be interesting to see how well my Breville holds up. It may not have the cachet of some of the grinders mentioned here, but so far I am impressed. It does not have the grind consistency of my former Vario-W, nor does it produce as small amount of fines as did the Vario-W, but for me, it is much easier to use and maintain. Hopefully it will outlast my two Vario-W grinders.

I find the grind consistency and amount of fines, to be in the "ball park" of the Virtuoso. By ball park, I mean only slightly lesser or very close to Virtuoso grind quality. Sometime I think the grind quality was about equal. My observations are based on the older Virtuoso, which I used for a year. Comparisons based on a grinder I used for a year in 2011 may meet the standards here for accuracy. My gut says the Breville is much better than it is given credit for, however. I only had the newer Virtuoso for an hour, when the upper burr and hopper locked. It may be markedly better than the older Virtuoso, but I can't say.

The Breville, for me, shines in terms of ease of use and user friendliness.

In closing, I again want to underscore the quality of Baratza's support and their willingness to work with me. Ultimately, the issues posed by my dexterity, relative to their product design and for me, reliability, was not a good match and I had to move on. Checking out hand grinders will be interesting. Again, to everyone, thank you.

Jay