As titled...being in Melbourne where the Helor International is located, I happened to come in contact with Brook, one of the Helor Team. Lucky for me, I've got the opportunity to test drive their large conical hand grinder!

Still early days as I have just gotten/aka borrowed it yesterday (literally) and had only pulled a couple of shots. But excited enough to share!



First impression:

Super quiet (sounds like a kitten compared to the loudspeaker HG-1 which was one of my pet peeves), the gear reducer obviously works - seriously smooth grinding and no stalling, very stable without the need of a grip mat, and very solid built! Did I mention it's very quiet?? Much quieter than the Malhkonig K30 which I had already sound-insulated with foam.

The entire grinding mechanism is CNC-machined from stainless steel (which is notorious for being difficult/expensive to machine but desired for its material strength). Overkill?? Very much so and I like it!



The static is quite noticeable so RDT definitely helps/needed. Hopefully it will calm down after wearing in. Took about 70 turns for 18g coffee but very easy/manageable. Still finding my workflow around it - the grind adjustment is stepless & very fine thread (0.5mm pitch with 60 notches around the ring).

WDT does help a little bit, but skipping the WDT entirely and grinding straight into the basket does seem to pull decently (which would've been disastrous on my previous HG-1). The static can result in the loss of a few grains (<0.1g) onto the counter when grinding straight into pf.

Love the rather-unique look! Depends on which angle you look at it, Helor 102 can also remind me of the virus/phage particles I've seen in my Biology classes, only it's bigger and is actually sitting on my bench!

Spot the similarity



Oh it uses 83mm conical burrs. The Mazzer 83mm burrs is an option but the one I'm using currently has the aftermarket burrs. The ceramic bearings themselves are even bigger than my 38mm burrs


For its burrs size, the Helor 102 is quite a bit smaller than expected. As I understood though, this may or may not be the final version and there may be some future improvements.



As you can imagine, I am looking forward to my next coffee session!

Can't wait for a smackdown with the Pharos.

Does it tend to wobble on tougher to grind beans (light roasted) like the HG-1? And how do you hold the grinder solid to the counter top?

dilin wrote:Can't wait for a smackdown with the Pharos.

Sorry, can't happen as the Robur-E and Pharos were out of the house in the 'spring-cleaning' a while ago...

ShelbiRyan wrote:Does it tend to wobble on tougher to grind beans (light roasted) like the HG-1? And how do you hold the grinder solid to the counter top?

Hand on the top cap will do. I totally get what you meant by the HG-1 wobble/jumping with light roasts. There is no wobble here. I can't believe it's the same-sized 83mm burrs on the Helor 102. Maybe it's the Italmill burrs (and not Mazzer's) in conjunction with the reducer gear, it's almost a hair easier than the Helor 101 (38mm) to grind and many times more stable than the HG-1/Pharos.

Hand on the cap will do. I totally get what you meant by the HG-1 wobble with light roasts. There is no wobble here. I can't believe it's the same 83mm burrs on the Helor 102. Maybe it's the Italmill burrs (and not Mazzer's) in conjuction with the reducer gear, it's almost a hair easier than the Helor 101 (38mm) to grind and many times more stable than the HG-1/Pharos.[/quote]

Awesome to hear! My biggest complaint of my HG-1 is the wobble...love the grinder, but it has now been retired for the time being due to the wobble and grind difficulty. My significant other is much more in love with the EG-1 for the better usability . But I do miss the conical often.

This may be an alternative! Keep us posted with this unit!

This may be an alternative! Keep us posted with this unit!

I am sure, Sam will definitely keep us posted ( cannot wait to see more detail on Sam's coming review )

also Congratulations for landing safety and yes I think this is the most important thing

Sorry, a little offtopic, I know what WDT means, but RDT ?

thanks!

Nice grinder.

About the same concept as my Kinu M68. That was the first hand grinder with 'gear reduction' as far as I know. And yes that helps a lot. I give the full credits for that innovation to Kinu. So I am not surprised that Helor has adpopted that idea. In seems they look around at the other hand grinders and make their own ones based on the strengths of the competitors. That worked out great with the Helor 101 that has much resemblance with the Comandante MK3. So no doubt the Helor 102 will be a good product. They seem to take quality very seriously.

Nice to have a shoot out with the Kinu M68. That one will be launched this week. The Kinu grinders are very well build with tight tolerances as well. A comparison between the Helor 101 and the Kinu M47 would be nice too. I am curious to the price setting. The Kinu M68 has a very competitive price in Europe so let's see what the Helor will cost.

In the end the customer can choose between many great quality hand grinder. Both small and bigger ones!

Ciao

Bas

I don't think Helor adopted Kinu's idea. Kinu grinder is not famous, even can say no one knows Kinu in China. Facebook, Google, and YouTube is not allowed in China internet. This Helor 102 is the 3rd or 4th version and they are still improving this product. The price is RMB(CNY) 4599, about USD 670.

ebola5114 wrote:Sorry, a little offtopic, I know what WDT means, but RDT ?

thanks!

RDT = Ross Droplet Technique
Adding small droplets of water to beans before grinding to eliminate static. Named after David Ross:
Ross Droplet Technique-Eliminating Grinder Static