What is the user experience with Baratza Vario -W grinders?
My Vario -W is only 8 or 9 months old but not functioning with very light (relatively) use and careful use.
Will appreciate other people's experience
Are there more robust brands I should consider?

Please consider using the search function. This grinder has been covered in thorough detail for many years. A simple search will yield tons of information. Your questions will likely be answered there. More specific questions? Ask away. But please don't expect the forum body to just repeat what can be easily found by searching.
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Let's put it this way... It's not unheard of for a Vario to start rattling itself apart within a few months, even if used properly.

A lot of the problems along those lines can be easily and cheaply fixed, and I suggest you contact Baratza. You're not only within warranty, they're a very customer oriented company and will bend over backwards to make you happy.

The better built alternatives to the Vario, as good or better in the cup, are all more expensive, and most are quite a bit larger as well.

Right off the bat, I recommend avoiding the Mazzer Mini, Mini E, Compak K3, and Macap M4. They're well enough made but they don't do a good enough job in the cup, are too messy, too user unfriendly, etc.

If it's time to leave Vario-World behind, what are your budget and space constraints? Can you live with a mechanical doser, or do you want a doserless, electronic, on demand design?

Rich

I am torn regarding Baratza. Phenomenal customer support, coupled with definite reliability issues. I had a vario-w refurb. It was replaced once after about a year. The replacement failed within a year and the repair arrived DOA.

Keep in mind that I am an atypical user with vision and eye-hand coordination issues, that make grinder maintenance a challenge for me. However, these pages and those of coffee geek are peppered with complaints of reliability issues across multiple product lines. Reading Amazon reviews does nothing to dimple the reliability issues.

While praising the quality of Baratza support, which I really agree with, are we not, as a community doing ourselves a disservice? Instead, should we not be putting pressure on Baratza to design more reliable products, rather then just sighting their quality support? What would it take for Baratza to solve their reliability issues ? If this means grinders built to a different price point, would we then not be willing to support that?

As far as myself is concerned, the combination of reliability and difficulty for me to properly clean the grinder, given my eye hand coordination, has necessitated that I look elsewhere. I am happily using a Breville Smart Grinder, which is ideal for me, given that I only brew Chemex. The grinder excels at ease of maintenance and ease of use, which Baratza has yet to approach.

Baratza can do better, even if it meant a slightly more costly grinder.

Mine ran flawless for two years. I have grown out of it however

My basic plan is to never buy a vario and then I won't know what I am missing when I upgrade to lesser, but better built grinder.

I started with a Preciso back in Feb 2012, and had three of them break with the same problem - an adjustment ring. In August 2012, Baratza agreed to my request of a trade-in towards a refurb Vario. That has worked much better but not perfect; something about the adjustment on that one "dropped" too and it needed a repair.

Despite my issues, when folks at work ask about grinders for their press/drip pots I always recommend the Encore because I feel the extra $30 over a Capresso is well worth it. For espresso, I am satisfied with my Vario and from an engineering standpoint like the belt-drive design decision and the fact that most of it can be serviced. That said, I've never used anything higher end so I dunno "what I might be missing".

My Vario failed twice in my first year of ownership--first time repaired it myself with parts shipped out from the dealer. Second time I sent it to a service center. I chalked it up to bad luck, given the generally positive reports from other Vario owners (which is why I bought my Vario), but I won't ever buy another Vario.

I got a nonfunctional Vario off of eBay for cheap a few years back and was able to swap in a new power board to get it going again. Baratza had great customer service to help me figure out what parts were needed. It then ran flawlessly for about a year, until some super-light Tim Wendelboe beans threw it out of calibration. But once I recalibrated it it ran well again for about six more months. At that point I sold it because i no longer had a need for it with an HG-one in the house.

Bottom line is that it is lightly built but offers a very good grind quality and feature set for its price.

Gig103,

I had just about the very same experience as you back in 2012 (IIRC):

Trouble with my Baratza Virtuoso Preciso -- the white nylon burr holder breaking -- getting another holder from excellent Baratza Customer Service ("Kyle," IIRC), having more trouble (grinding inconsistencies) and then giving up on the Preciso and sending it back . Was offered a refurbished Vario also but said no, as I was "gun shy" of the Baratza engineering/design in general (since I had it apart in order to fix it so I could see how it was made).

After I sent the Preciso back and got my refund (minus some $$$ I let Kyle keep for my using ("renting") the grinder for a few months, which I thought only fair) and bought a much more solidly built Rancilio Rocky doserless.

No more trouble...

-- BR