Hello

There are a couple of second hand grinders for sale in SA at the moment on gumtree etc, DM me and I will put you in touch with a friend of mine in Durban who is selling his, a bunch of us are going to get HG one grinders in a month or so and he will be selling his Compak.

Ditting importers in Cape Town are Gourmet Coffee Roasters, chat to Johan, they do Compak too.

I like the fluffy grinds that the vario produces, but i wouldn't trust the motor to much(personal opinion, lighter beans are tough work....)

I had a Pharos, I must say I loved it for drip grinding, but I found it a bit finicky in changing grind accurately for 'my' espresso application.

I would try and find machines and grinders for sale as a pair on gumtree/junkmail/olx etc and see if they will sell the grinder separately for around R2-3k depending on make and condition. Clean it up a bit, get some new burrs from the importers and you have yourself a rocket proof grinder that you could always sell in the future for more than you paid for it if you got it at a good price.

good luck hunting

Hi Dave

I bought mine through Bean There who put me through to their suppliers Koldserve. Probably not really fair to judge them on a single interaction especially since I didn't really push them on the issue since I was so close to end of warranty. The only reason I contacted them is that the Mahlkonig Vario is sold with the warranty voiding seal over the adjustment chute.

Craig's offer sounds really good to me as knowing that the seller probably knew what they were doing and how to take care of the grinder is to me a major plus if you're buying used.

Off topic: The no X is espresso roadshow was great Craig. Thanks a lot.

Thanks guys,

You have given me a bunch of stuff to consider. I thought my decision was final, but i'm glad to say it isn't

Pleasure Bruce,

Hope you enjoyed it. Wait till next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers
C

Dave,
if you do decide on the Vario (I've owned both the regular and "W" and now have the flagship "Forte", make sure you're getting the ceramic burr set. I thought I heard mention that Mahlkonig was selling the metal burred version.

After all was said, I was still heavily leaning towards a new Vario. It just seems to have everything I like.

But yesterday, I did a search locally for a 2nd hand grinder, and the Super Jolly came up. Havent seen one posted so far, the pic looks good and I will go check it out.

I will of course be tossing away all the things I like about the vario, but it is cheaper and getting parts should not be an issue if something breaks. All the forum posts about SJ vs Vario are so close, that it just makes my head spin. I think ultimately it would be wiser to go for the tank (which could probably grind up my whole capresso !), with local support not an issue as opposed to sexy, small but with potentially shaky local support.

Would you agree?

[quote=
Would you agree?[/quote]
As long as you're doing only espresso, the SJ is a tank, no doubt about it.
You'll need new burrs though.