OK, I spoke with Kyle at Baratza. He was very apologetic and told me that this has happened at least once before with refurbed Varios. Apparently, the guy who did the refurb forgot to plug in the control board for the grinder before shipping it out. So the fix is to remove the front panel and plug the control board in. He assured me that it's an easy fix, should take no more than 3 minutes. He's going to email me instructions, though I might be able to figure it out for myself. Hopefully, that will take care of the problem.

I'll give it a shot when I get home tonight.

Just in case anyone was wondering what happened with my apparently dead Vario, I was able to solve the problem by following Kyle's instructions and removing the face plate of the control panel, then plugging the wiring harness into the back of the control panel. The whole job took about 2 minutes. Now the grinder is up and running just fine.

I did also have to use the Allen screw to adjust the fineness of the grind, since I was getting blond gushers even at the finest setting. Now I'm getting really nice extractions about four or five clicks from the finest setting.

Also, I have to say I'm really impressed with how clean, quiet and easy to use this little grinder is. It leaves practically no extra coffee grinds on the counter, the grounds themselves are virtually clump free, and there's no need to do any WDT or elaborate grooming to get nice, even extractions. Just hit the Start button and the grounds fall neatly into the filter, then tap a couple of times on the counter to level them out and tamp. Boom. Good to go.

This is so nice after the noisy messiness of my Cimbali Max grinder, which sounds like I'm running rocks through a garbage disposal, and always leaves a big pile of wasted coffee in the waste tray and all over the counter after a few shots. While Max makes a really nice shot of espresso, I was getting tired of constantly cleaning up all the wasted coffee, and my wife didn't appreciate the noise of the grinding and dosing in the morning. She also likes the looks of the Vario much better.

So I think Max may go to the office and Vario will probably stay at home in the place of honor on the kitchen counter. Or maybe I need to sell Max and get another Vario...

Agreed. The Vario is small, quiet, clean, versatile, and gives a high quality low-clump grind, not to mention that it is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent.


Cheers,
Colin

jasonmolinari wrote:Speaking of burrs...how much do the vario burr replacements cost?

Just to add to this, I called baratza about a replacement burr and they shipped me one no charge. This may be the exception to the case but I would vouch for buying a grinder from a good company like baratza.

3 cheers for baratza and kyle

I had a bad experience with my first Vario, everything that could go wrong did, but Kyle and everyone else at Baratza took care of this and got a replacement that has been trouble free for over a year. For the price it is a great grinder.

I love my Cunill Tranquilo doserless but after some tests with Vario (not back to back), this grinder make me a very good impression!

But can somebody say clear: Sell the Cunill, buy the Vario and don't look back? Is a big difference in terms of grind quality?

I would NOT get rid of the Cunnill Tranquilo if I were you because it has large diameter precision commercial flat burrs (grind quality) with commercial build quality and is one of the best buys out there if you can get over the size and looks.

I like what I hear about Baratza and I am amazed that they are willing to sell parts for just about all of their line of grinders both past and present as well as some made by Solis (Meastro) which they really don't have to do. Most important I notice they sell replacement burrs (both top and bottom) and carriers.

The price of Solis replacement parts are also quite reasonable. I have never seen a home consumer product with so much support, almost on the same level and in some cases probably better than the support and parts available for commercial equipment.

As a previous Meastro owner I have to say I have not owned a grinder except for the Versalab (my Versalab belt does slip sometimes) that is more neat, convenient, and practical for the home environment while it's burrs were still sharp (another story.)

Unlike Baratza's newer grinders the Solis Meastro was not optimized for my excessive espresso grinding (I used it at a work place environment to serve a lot of people.)

Baratza grinders are small, not very tall, and offer quick easy adjustment for all grind ranges. Basic takedown and cleaning is simple and easy.

A lot seems to have changed since the Starbucks/Solis Meastro days and from what I hear Baratza has improved their grinders by using commercial quality burrs and designing them to grind espresso without the wear problems of the old Solis brand Meastro.

They apparently take customer feedback seriously and were very receptive to my comments when I called them.

The size, cleaniness, ease of use, good enough quality, and not to mention good looks of modern Baratza grinders may be a reason to choose them over huge heavy commercial grinders that some may consider too unsightly, heavy, and messy for their kitchen top counter.

That said Baratza grinders are not full commercial build grinders made to operate in a busy cafe all day, every day, seven days a week. They are not built that way so you will have to weigh the advantages vs the disadvantages.