dparrish, there is no point in arguing with someone who has very little experience... i empathize somewhat - we were there also at one point. Only after owning several grinders and machines and making every mistake in the book does it become clear what really matters - you know, those "oh, i get it ...

The OP was doing just fine ie: liked the brew before having consistency issues. Unlikely the machine is way out of the ballpark pressure wise. More likely a........drumroll........ grinder issue

The Niche or similar would be excellent and probably solve 99% of your problems. I got a used K10 after the vario - solved 99% of mine. A quality grinder with ability to make consistent fine adjustments (threaded collar) will make exponentially more difference than a couple degrees of potential temp...

It's not nonsense Chris... the grind quality of the Vario is fine it's just that it's consistently inconsistent. Same setting yielding different result. I've owned the Vario, a OE Lido ET, OE pharos, Mazzer Mini, Super Jolly, Compak E8 with redspeed burrs and three Compak K10's. Also owned a Silvia,...

It's your grinder 100%. When I was new i had a Vario and was always chasing my tail trying to dial it in... too slow, too fast, incredibly frustrating. The settings are not even close to linear... everything flexes because it's all plastic. The forte is better, but the lever design in general is bru...

flat tamp with flat basket, convex tamp with convex basket. That way you have a equal depth throughout the puck, in theory should extract more evenly my 0.02 tried a bunch of variations but convex/convex work best for me... used to get occasional side channeling with the flat, but now i almost never...

To me they're pretty equivalent... they both work pretty well for drip/brew. They both kind of suck for espresso (which you're not doing anyways). I'd probably just get the virtuoso. If you're gonna spend $500+ on a grinder, I'd get a espresso specific grinder and just set it coarser for drip - some...

grinder 100%. anything with a metal grinder chamber/threaded adjustment system: mazzer mini/SJ, Ceado E5/E6 etc

yes 100% change your grinder. When i was a newbie i had a vario and like you had much difficulty dialing in. Moment i went to a better grinder shots became infinitely easier. Grind quality is good but the vario has way too much flex in the plastic lever adjustment system. It is great for anything no...

I'm down to 2 that get regular use - 1 espresso, 1 aeropress/drip/camping/power goes out. Used to have 2 K10's and a E8 just for espresso - 2 regular beans and 1 decaf