erik82 wrote:I've owned a HG-1 for 3 years and own a Commandante MK3 but can tell you those big conical burrs do perform much better. The Commandante does a damn good job for it's size but there's no substitute for great quality big burrs.

IMO burr geometry is more important than burr size. The 47mm kinu m47 is a fantastic espresso grinder. Very similar in taste to the niche zero.

Getting to OPs question - a hand grinder is going to give you less retention. The flavor comparison is up to you to decide which is better for your use. I personally love my ditting sweet burrs so I'm willing to deal with a less than perfect workflow.

I owned a M47 for 2 years and personally found it to be not better then ok with it's really standard, far from special, Italmill burrs. Not especially good at espresso and far from good at pourover whereas the HG-1 performed much (and I mean much) better. The Italmill burrs for me are the minimum requirement for espresso using some darker roasted beans as they give an oldschool bimodal Italian grind. The Mazzer 68-83mm conical burrs also give a standard bimodal grind but at a completely different, much higher, level.

And yes burr geometry can do a lot, look at the Commandante with it's special burrs which outperforms a M47 easily. But still there's no substitute for the consistent grind quality of good quality big burrs that's impossible to get with small burrs.

It depends on the beans you use. Not necessarily one is better than another.
C40 vs. Kinu M47:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWJnEEAsv2g

The Helor 106 has the Mazzer Robur burrs (same as Monolith Conical). It's heavy for a hand grinder but has a geared mechanism to make grinding easy. If you drop it on your foot you may need a doctor, but it delivers the perfect titan conical burr profile.

Another consideration- it takes a while to season burrs this large. The taste is still great but the grind will drift finer over the first 6-8 months of use.

erik82 wrote:I owned a M47 for 2 years and personally found it to be not better then ok with it's really standard, far from special, Italmill burrs. Not especially good at espresso and far from good at pourover whereas the HG-1 performed much (and I mean much) better. The Italmill burrs for me are the minimum requirement for espresso using some darker roasted beans as they give an oldschool bimodal Italian grind. The Mazzer 68-83mm conical burrs also give a standard bimodal grind but at a completely different, much higher, level.

And yes burr geometry can do a lot, look at the Commandante with it's special burrs which outperforms a M47 easily. But still there's no substitute for the consistent grind quality of good quality big burrs that's impossible to get with small burrs.

I can only comment on espresso use, not pour over, but I think the kinu is every bit as good as a niche zero. I owned them both at the same time and I could never tell the difference between them in blind tastings.

Sure, we'll known italmil burrs are nothing sexy, but they are tried and true espresso burrs.