I have Monoliths and an HG1. I find the grind quality of the HG1 to be equal to the Monolith Conical, provided that the HG1 is precisely aligned by one skilled in that task. The first version is only marginally alignable, the last two are better in this regard. I find the workflow of both to be about the same. Current HG1, broken in and well-aligned, only takes about 20 turns for 18g. If you want the motor, get the Monolith. The HG1 continues to be an outstanding value.

My HG1 is currently on loan to a friend, but I plan never to sell it.

I think your point of the HG-1 needing to be properly aligned is what makes my eyes roll when I think about purchasing one. I'd be buying a manual grinder for $1000 that I still need to align? What the heck? Can anyone attest to the current HG-1s on sale actually arriving to the consumer properly aligned on day 1?

My Hg-1 came properly aligned from day 1! After about a year of use, I checked / re-aligned following the manual's instructions. This is an easy process, if and when needed.
The only issue I had with the HG-1 is the level of effort needed at light roasts. If all you use is medium to dark roasts, you will find the HG-1 is very pleasing and easy to use. Light roasts lead me to motorize my HG-1; now I have no issues at any roast level. I am grinding at 72rpm.

Or check out the kinu m68. Very well aligned, large conical burrs, 3:1 fear reduction and a smaller form factor than the hg1. When I got mine it was significantly cheaper too, now I think they are similar in price. Worth a look anyway.

Or you could go in the other direction, and simultaneously disprove the OP's premise, with the Pharos. While people begrudge it's usability, not many would dock it for grind quality alone (and it's value for dollar has been stellar). It's been a mainstay for years and the recent re-design (and marginal price bump) has solidified it's continued popularity, I think.

My feeling on the Pharos is no matter how great it grinds coffee, the challenges in usability would have me selling it rather quickly. The HG-1 seems to be refined enough to not annoy me every time I'm cranking it.

I think it seems there's been a lot of change in what grinder is popular at the moment due to the issue (until recently) of there not being a good "home" grinder that was built for single dosing and had minimal retention. I've been on HB for several years and I always thought the hacked commercial grinders with cut yogurt container funnels and the like looked ridiculous and impractical in a home regardless of how well they ground. I had one of the early HG-1s and liked the concept with it's simplicity, single dosing, and minimal retention, but the quality of build and the burr alignment was not up to par. Over time I became tired of hand grinding and ultimately I decided to sell it. Early this year I purchased a Monolith Flat and after much use I think it is the "Cremina" of grinders and unlikely to become unpopular any time soon.

Though new home espresso machines come out regularly, machines like the Cremina, Maximatic, Linea Mini, E61s, Londinium, etc. all stay relevant because it's more the style of machine the owner wants and each has been optimized for the home environment. The Monolith is the first and only espresso grinder I know of that combines commercial quality with a small footprint, is motorized, has both a flat and conical burr options, and is made for single dosing. I could be wrong, but I think you'd save money by buying a Monolith because I don't know of any ginders coming out any time soon that are comparable. Like I said earlier, I'm betting it's the "Cremina" of grinders.

spearfish25 wrote:My feeling on the Pharos is no matter how great it grinds coffee, the challenges in usability would have me selling it rather quickly. The HG-1 seems to be refined enough to not annoy me every time I'm cranking it.

This is a perfectly valid concern. I was used to hand-grinders, or so I thought. For years I'd used a hand-grinder for my pourover and aeropress, before getting an Espresso machine. I got a Vario as a temporary grinder while waiting for new Pharos's. I now have one, and the Pharos is great, but grinding light roasts on the Pharos is seriously grinding work. My workflow involves finding a couch, wrapping the grinder in a towel, and lots of grunting and swearing while holding onto the grinder for dear life. (The HG-1 is very likely similarly hard to turn for light roasts, if not as unergonomic.) I regularly fall back to the Vario.

That's why I'm tempted by the Kinu, 1:3 should make light roasts a bit easier to deal with...

I think part of the phenomenon I'm initially bringing up (popularity drop with time) is people begin to either 1) learn the true shortcomings of a product they purchased over time or 2) the buyer's intrinsic self-serving need to justify a pricey purchase wanes.

The reality of manual grinding eventually overcomes the sexy look of the $1000 HG-1. Rather than defending the expensive item one decides that manual grinding is too laborious.

I'm trying to critically evaluate the Monolith Flat. For sure any new owner who waited months after dropping $2500 is going to love it uncondititionally...for a while. A video of grinding with the MF actually seemed like it's a bit of a tedious grinder too. The user dropped the beans in the funnel but had to help them enter the burrs. Then the grinds came out fluffy but a mist of grinds was covering a perimeter around the catch vessel he used. The magnetic chute had grinds adhering to the sides of it. After grinding he had to clean up the grind area, manipulate everything into the PF, tap the magnetic chute...All fine. But then he patted his hand over the top chute 3-4 times and a significant amount of coffee was expelled from the exit chute. This was after even doing RDT.

It's not a terrible ritual but it's certainly not dropping 18g of beans in and getting 18g of grounds out. It may be a phenomenal grinder but I could see people growing tired of what I witnessed in the video.

I see what you mean about the Monolith flat ritual you are describing. However the physics of grinding coffee is such that no matter what grinder you use, a lot of static is created when grinding the beans. Especially with a higher RPM flat burr. Other then spaying water on the beans before grinding, I don't know of any other way to avoid static buildup without having retention issues. So it's not a fault of the Monolith design that the ritual of grinding can look tedious. It is what's necessary with any single dosing grinder. The only way to avoid it is to accept having retention. There is not much room for retention to accumulate in the Monolith, so if you don't want to do the "tedious" routine, just add more beans and accept that there will be some retention, but much less then any other grinder.