monkeybongo wrote:Would you have preferred them to delay your whole order until the dosing funnels to arrive?

OE did not talk about this to me and shipped out the LIDO 2 directly. If they did, I would told them to wait for the dosing funnel because the international shipping is too expensive. I did not want OE or me to spend for it and the USPS First-Class had many bad records of missed items to Taiwan.

I am not impatient. I just hate to be ignored when someone committed to me but he could not do it and did not feel sorry.

There are some defects on the metal surface of the LIDO 2. You can say it is a trade off for the price, so is the knob design. I started introducing LIDO 2 in a Taiwan coffee forum since OE announced it in last November. I also shared many of my positive experiences of LIDO 1 and Pharos there. This time OE disappointed me too much, but I don't think I had any malicious words about the LIDO 2. All were from my real experiences. If the knob is so perfect, why mod appeared? It is similar to the burrs alignment issue of Pharos. Isn't it? Some people always believe there is no issue, but others think there is a problem indeed.

Thanks Doug PMed to me in April and told me something about the LIDO 2's quality issue that represented Doug trusted me. I will keep the secrets. Never make it known to public.

bakafish wrote:I also had some bad experiences with OE due to a commitment that Doug made...

orphanespresso wrote:Well Ken, I do not have he patience to address all of your well repeated beefs about the Lido 2, me, and in a way Barb (shipping)..

bakafish wrote:I just hate to be ignored when someone committed to me but he could not do it and did not feel sorry.

To add to Doug's suggestion and per the site policy on Public complaints about customer service in the Guidelines for productive online discussion, please take the rest of this back-and-forth offline. Thanks.

Hi,

I assume my question has been already discussed but my english was not good enough to find the specific information in this long thread *shame on me*

I would love to know if there are any experience in comparing the Lido 2 with the Pharos. I am asking because I am looking for a handgrinder to grind for espresso and the Pharos is nearly always out of stock.

Thank you so much for your help!
best reagards,
Dominik

Yes it has, here are Dr. Gary's thoughts here and here mostly on ergonomics.

There is no consensus as to taste, although many say the Pharos produces more layered delicate shots. I only pulled a few shots with it (just for fun, as I have a Pharos) and they seemed to taste similar, if not identical, to the Pharos shots. I'm not making any claims just reporting the limited experience.

Maybe I'll pull some shots again with my Lideux now that it is much easier to turn after break-in (and perhaps muscle memory).

Thank you for your help! The two Posts are very helpful. So my conclusion is that the Lido 2 can propapbly compete with the Pharos 2 referring to grindquality and range of espresso grind settings. The drawback is the geometry of the Lido 2 with his smaller burrs, which lead to more effort grinding the same batch of coffee beans.

Am I right so far?

I had used LIDO 1 and LIDO 2 for espresso. LIDO 1 is good, but LIDO 2 is not OK. The problem is still the knob and ergonomics, not the grind quality or taste. I suggested you purchase a Pharos or a vintage Germany hand grinder such as Dienes PeDe unless you mod your LIDO 2. Since you are in Germany, a vintage hand grinder on ebay.de is much cheaper because of low shipping cost, but you need some knowledge of how to choose a good vintage hand grinder and good techniques of how to restore it and align the burrs if you would like to have one. If you choose the Pharos, you have to learn how to align the burrs also. IMO, a good PeDe is much better than a Super Jolly. The Rosco is also a very good grinder, very easy to use, very good quality, very reliable, no burrs alignment issue, but expensive. Hand (grinder) Jive - a photo essay.

I use the lido 2 for espresso every day. I prefer it to a Super Jolly simply for distribution reasons. I can pour out the jar straight into the portafilter and have a brief shake, tamp, and have a very good looking extraction without any WDT or anything.

With my lightly roasted beans, it is very hard to turn but as I said, I do it multiple times a day Off to make the morning shot! See my espresso marking mod in the mod thread.

Thank you guys for sharing your knowledge!

I have tried some cheap grinder as the Hario Mini Mill and the Zassenhaus Guatemala so far. Both are capable ob grinding fine eneough and the handling of the Zassenhaus is quite good. This moring I needed 75 turns to grind 17gr for my double espresso. Was delicious and the grinding work really was not worth mentioning.

So what exactly is the problem with the handling of the Lido? I just can't believe that it should be that much harder to grind with the Lido 2 as with my little Zassenhaus. Is this all just criticism on a way to high level for my unexperienced mind?

I've only ground for espresso a few times on my Lido 2, but have been grinding for espresso on vintage hand grinders for a few years now. The difference in the grinding experience is the ergonomics. I use all of my vintage mills as knee mills - sitting down and basically using my knees to grip the mill while grinding. Compared to the Lido 2, you can exert more force with a knee mill without the torque wresting control of the mill from you. I love the Lido 2 and the grind quality / consistency of particle size is amazing - but I still find the ergonomics of knee mills easier for fine grinding. I only use the Lido 2 for pour over and immersion brewing applications. It is absolutely capable of grinding for espresso, but my advice would be to spend the extra $75 and get a Pharos.

Bili wrote:Thank you guys for sharing your knowledge!

I have tried some cheap grinder as the Hario Mini Mill and the Zassenhaus Guatemala so far. Both are capable ob grinding fine eneough and the handling of the Zassenhaus is quite good. This moring I needed 75 turns to grind 17gr for my double espresso. Was delicious and the grinding work really was not worth mentioning.

So what exactly is the problem with the handling of the Lido? I just can't believe that it should be that much harder to grind with the Lido 2 as with my little Zassenhaus. Is this all just criticism on a way to high level for my unexperienced mind?

I don't think Ken's views represent the norm.

After my earlier post, I've been grinding all my shots with the lido2...about 8 or so, including iced lattes. I love the shots I'm getting. I can't say I'm missing any flavors but I do find that the pours looks much better and have better mouthfeel than the Pharos to me. I actually like the lido2 shots a bit better.

Basically had it dialed in after my second shot. Also the ergonomics are much easier today than they were when the grinder was new (so all the beta tests and early tests represent a more difficult experience than a broken in grinder). I would do some sort of tape mod if I planned to use this for espresso but I don't. This test was just for fun.