I know nothing of the non-variable speed xeoleo but the variable speed version was terrible and I would not recommend it. Plenty of high quality products are made in China and it is silly to think otherwise. This ain't one of the quality products though. Folks seem to like the non variable speed ones....

Hi all, I had to send back TWO Xeoleo 520A grinders because of quality issues. This is the 200W version here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3293301 ... d3f9bb7397 which I got in 220V.
Basically they both could not grind fine at all due to alignment problems caused by obvious damage to burrs and carriers.

I now have the Fuji Royal R-220 and the build quality is amazing in comparison. The burrs are also very different in terms of build quality. They were obviously sharper, have perfectly flat backs (the Xeoleo ones have two rings that sit on the burr carrier, the Fuji has the whole surface flat on the burr carrier.

It is entirely possible I got two grinders from a bad batch, because several other users on here are very happy with theirs. The seller did accept the returns though so if you buy via aliexpress everything should be fine if you get a bad one.

The Fuji Royal R-220 is a really great grinder. It produces a lot of fines though. I have put 15kg through and still get the little pile of fines on the top. Almico on this board said this went away after >20 pounds so hopefully this is going to happen. I believe the newer Fuji burrs may be sharper and more machined than older ones, perhaps this is different from Alan / Almico's ?

Have attached some images of the damage on arrival.

Whoa thanks for sharing your experience with the two grinders, if I end up going with an electric ghost grind, I'll go with the Fuji R-220. Right now I'm plenty happy with my Apex and Encore duo.

Did you notice a taste difference between the two grinders?

The xeoleo was barely able to grind the coffee so I didn't bother to brew with it. Fuji is still breaking in.

Had the opposite experience as I'm able to grind coarse enough for cold coffee, fine enough for moka pot and everything in between. Here is grind example as of this morning for the Bonavita drip percolator. Lower fines remain as the grinds are comparable to the 80mm flat burr used at work. Ghost toothed burr grinders do well with mid to coarse grinds and not designed for espresso. Same argument can be put forward with espresso grinder burrs being optimized for finer grinding vs coarse grinding.

Buying Chinese knockoff grinders

I suspect that there is variability in production in inexpensive items, regardless of item or origin. Sometimes you get a good one, sometimes you get a bad one. XeoLeo also sells a lot of different grinders that look similar, but are not (and one that looks like an HG-One. LoL). I suspect different factories produce the grinders, all sold under the XeoLeo name.

The made-in-Taiwan Yang-Chia/Feima/Flying Horse/Bella Taiwan grinder cost a bit more than most other grinders of this type. In the comparison videos that Sweet Maria's did of two Fuji clones, Tom said that he paid $109 for the Bella Taiwan, and $60 for the XeoLeo on Alibaba (so wholesale pricing). Tom was looking at these grinders with conventional burrs for espresso, but the differences were there. You get what you pay for - whether the price difference is worth it is a different question.

FWIW for Canadians, the Yang-Chia etc. with regular burrs sells for $285CAD (about $215USD) at Avenue18.ca , although they are out of stock right now.

In addition, the roast level may affect grinding quality. Light 'Nordic/Scandinavian' roasts or super-light cinnamon roasts are a lot harder/more difficult to grind than medium roasts.

ripvanmd wrote:I went with the Fuji from Fengjen in Taiwan (110v, 60hz model) and the quality was leagues ahead. You pay for it though, it ain't cheap.

does the taiwan model (110v, 60hz) not need a transformer? here in the us, i generally get around 120v from my outlets. would plugging this fuji straight into the wall damage it? how much did the grinder end up costing with shipping etc? any import or customs fees?

I compared Xeoleo and Apex for a couple of weeks. My Xeoleo is dead smooth, extremely quiet, and grinds anything I put in it easily. I could detect no difference between the grinders, either in the appearance of grounds or in the taste of brewed coffee. I use the Xeoleo exclusively now.

So, the Fuji Royal has a better build quality than the cheap Chinese Knock-off?

At 5X the price, shocking!

njw wrote:does the taiwan model (110v, 60hz) not need a transformer? here in the us, i generally get around 120v from my outlets. would plugging this fuji straight into the wall damage it? how much did the grinder end up costing with shipping etc? any import or customs fees?

I'm no electrical engineer but it's close enough and my works fine. No voltage converter. It was about 640$ shipped.