I have all three of the grinders mentioned in the title and I figured it would be a good idea to post a comparison of all three for posterity. A little history first. My first real grinder was the mini. It served me well for many years and then a friend rescued the RR45 from a restaurant that had had a fire. With a bit of TLC it was up and running. Then my wife bought be a Pharos for our 25th anniversary this year.

The mini did a very good job as a multipurpose grinder. Espresso was good on the weekends and it was easy to switch back to drip for week days. When the RR45 showed up I was a little surprised to find that it was slightly better for espresso. The mini had been very susceptible to spritzers and required all sorts of voodoo to be consistently good - wdt and beyond. The RR45 appears (anecdotally - I have not done any science to back this up) to make a fluffier grind, which I suppose you could expect based on the 64mm burrs vs minis 58mm. It still required wdt but it had (a bit) less in the way of spritzers and a bit more consistency. It became my dedicated espresso grinder and the mini was relegated to drip. The big drawback for the RR45 is definitely it's stepped adjustment (mine isn't even the updated 80 pin collar). It certainly benefits from a bit of teflon tape to reduce the slop in the burr carrier - something the mini doesn't need.

When the Pharos arrived I had mixed feelings. On one hand I was completely stoked about the 68mm conical burr set. On the other hand, all the posts from folks complaining about grind retention, drift in grind setting and ergonomics had me very worried. Then I started using it. Right from the first shot I poured I was in love. WDT was very quickly dropped from my routine. Perfect looking and good tasting pours became the norm rather than the exception. I had some issues with grind retention, but quickly figured out how to whack it in order to get everything out. Pacific Northwest humidity seems to be enough to minimize the need for RDT 90% of the time. If I look at the ground coffee from the three grinders side by side there is a very noticeable difference between the Pharos and the other two. The particle sizes appear more consistent from the big conical burrs, which likely explains the more consistent pours and reduced channeling. If I were buying a grinder just for espresso, I'd go Pharos again in a heartbeat.

Seconded. I used an R45 for years, upgraded to a SJ, then a Pharos. Pharos easily outperforms the SJ.

Thanks for the review. These type of posts are very helpful.