Popping yes, temporally 'fixed' by cutting a small round plastic lid. Though at this range I'd expect at minimum it as a option. Some coffees I find shatter more than others.

Height too, new stainless marzocco handles with double sprout don't fit under the funnel. Now I just use the single sprout and will eventually get a bottomless. However it does irk me as arrogant to not consider this. Even the cheapest commercial grinder has ample clearance.

May come across as sounding negative but that's really the only thing I would love to see to make it perfect. The grind quality is very hard to dismiss hence why I bought it.

They could not accommodate all PF's on the market.

Have you considered installing a tower extension to increase clearance? Note my grinder on the right, it has an extension for allowing all sorts of clearance.


And you can do a bean popper cap too.


or like this.

FotonDrv wrote:They could not accommodate all PF's on the market.

Have you considered installing a tower extension to increase clearance? Note my grinder on the right, it has an extension for allowing all sorts of clearance.

Understandably yes however my point does stand, given it is essentially a one-off handmade product without the overhead of a 'proper' company I don't see why if it's been mentioned before many years ago, the point is being ignored. Technically it does not have any professional approvals to adhere to so I can't understand the reluctance to simply add 3 to 5 cm of purely supportive metal. And I do remember that the very very first ones were apparently even shorter than this!

Can't speak for Frank but I understood he stopped doing mods on VL. I suppose I could ask him if he's still the parts biz So yes absolutely that 'extension' would solve the height clearance.

FotonDrv wrote: And you can do a bean pop[[per cap too.

Of course, I'm not partial to wood however the Alu looks neat, fitting better with its all metal look.

Again don't get me wrong, I'm totally passionate about the (second only to the coffee itself) critical grinding process. The basic design of nearly every coffee grinder at heart is the same which works acceptably well in volume shops no so with us 2-8 espressos a day. Which makes this thing unique and a true innovation.

Look at the GS/3, the changes between preproduction and current shipping are truly noticeable from customer feedback. Even then it's done by a proper company, with overhead, industry approvals and so on. However they still manage to make changes and continue to improve in their production line.

lain2097 wrote:Nice, man you also have their hopper and air press thing. Wish I had the space for that, oh well.

Funny my first (serious) grinder was a Rossi RR45 with 80 click collar. After that I went into Mazzer land. Indeed RR45 is a quite loud piercing kind whereas the VL is more 'throaty'. MM was quieter than both but SJ was almost the same. Only thing I miss about having huge machines like that was the speed, RR45 by far was the fastest grinder I've owned to date.

No matter, the VL is so far ahead of any of these. A few things irk me (no product is ever quite perfect) but overall it's a positive experience.

I really like that press. It doesn't take up much room. But of course I also have a compressor and air tank that you can't see in the picture to drive it with.

I like having the hopper too for convenience and to me it just looks better with a hopper than without.

I should have taken a picture of my RR45 and the huge mound of wasted ground coffee in front of it. I think I was throwing out a good 40% of the beans I ground with that thing! Eventually the Versa will pay for itself in efficiency gains alone.

I agree there is no perfect grinder but honestly the attacks I have read on this forum directed against the M3 are kind of absurd. It's an amazing machine and I'm really glad I finally bought one. The quality of my coffee has increased drastically.

mark_M wrote: The quality of my coffee has increased drastically.

Congrats to your purchase, I am sure it is a real increase in quality like you said by upgrading from a ~$600 Rossi to a $2700 grinder + $450 Espresso press.

mark_M wrote: the attacks I have read on this forum directed against the M3 are kind of absurd.

Which "attacks" do you mean in particular ?
It would help us to understand what you mean.
I really feel responsible for any negative statement which has been made by myself and I also stand behind it -ready to explain it in detail.
When I interpreted the words of "lain2097" correctly then I think more that he was concerned about some ignorance of the manufactor regarding the height and popcorning which is very easy to address.
I am also sure that nearly every user would think that it's worth it paying a $150 more for the grinder when these things are "improved".

Also for how long have you been using the grinder to be in "7th heaven" ?
When you read through the thread , there are different issues of different users, some users are very happy and others are not, so I can see both sides of the medal.
"All time critics" are as worse as "fanboys".

mark_M wrote:I've owned John's record player for over 10 years so I'm confident I will be impressed with the improvement over my Rossi RR45!

Thats very cool and I am wishing you the best of luck also with your grinder.

mark_M wrote:I really like that press. It doesn't take up much room. But of course I also have a compressor and air tank that you can't see in the picture to drive it with.

The "boss" won't let me go that far.

mark_M wrote:I like having the hopper too for convenience and to me it just looks better with a hopper than without.

Indeed it 'finishes its appearance and echoes that traditional look. just I don't have the clearance even with a short hopper.

mark_M wrote:I should have taken a picture of my RR45 and the huge mound of wasted ground coffee in front of it. I think I was throwing out a good 40% of the beans I ground with that thing! Eventually the Versa will pay for itself in efficiency gains alone.

I agree there is no perfect grinder but honestly the attacks I have read on this forum directed against the M3 are kind of absurd. It's an amazing machine and I'm really glad I finally bought one. The quality of my coffee has increased drastically.

Yes & yes. Mazzers and RR45 are shop machines, so the loss is not a major concern for that environment. Speed is: time=money. RR45 had a big chute so I got into the habit of brushing it clean after every grind. Even then it was very wasteful. MM too, its retention was probably like 20-30g easy. Between half-chewed in the burrs/hopper and sitting in the chute. Because I change coffees very regularly I had very seriously considered getting another Mini E. Now this one machine can do that, but better. Not to mention I can change each dose grind without having to run through, aka waste.

Again I was shocked when I opened my VL after one month of use, barely 1g! That mustiness gone and the repeatability is fantastic.

Terranova wrote:When I interpreted the words of "lain2097" correctly then I think more that he was concerned about some ignorance of the manufactor regarding the height and popcorning which is very easy to address.
I am also sure that nearly every user would think that it's worth it paying a $150 more for the grinder when these things are "improved".

Precisely.

With the caveats already noted I would not hesitate to recommend a VL to fellow espresso fruitcakes. Other than the aspects already discussed I'm totally enamoured with it, finally a single dose grinder that gives that 'just cleaned' taste every time Without naming names or quoting out of context the um.. bad feedback early on was concerning. Especially for essentially a private sale one off product.

Just one of those things where you feel it could be absolutely killer with only minor changes. That said I love mine.

Terranova wrote:Thats very cool and I am wishing you the best of luck also with your grinder.

Thanks. I have to say I am very impressed with the pictures I have seen of your customizations of the M3.

For the record I never said I was in "seventh heaven". I really like it and really enjoy using it, but that would be over the top to say. My stereo on the other hand does have that effect on me quite often.

As for the attacks against it I wasn't referring to you. I'm not going to bother to dredge them up anyone can search and read through the many posts for themselves. I have better things to do.

Yes I spent a lot more money on the Izzo/M3/Versa Press than I had invested in my used Rossi and my used Brasilia ($600 for the pair!) They served me well from a caffeine addiction point of view for over 10 years. I figure I must have saved enough by making my lattes at home over the years to cover the cost of the new equipment 3 times over.

I haven't compared the M3 to it's competition. I'll leave that for others to debate over.

And one of the neat things you can do with the M3 is back off the grind easily and use it for Drip/Pour Over brew as well and then return it to espresso grind

I received my M3 one month ago and after this time of daily use I'm still very impressed about grinding Quality. It is very easy to produce lots of shots w/o channeling etc.

It is a pretty nice design and I am sure you will enjoy it for a long time