Just to confirm the grinder is stepless. The wording has now been updated to read more clearly. The "steps" actually refer to the "markings" on the dial rather than mechanical mechanism.

DamianWarS wrote:a well-designed bellows corrects this. Eureka has made a bellows for their atom that is used with beans still inside the hopper and it works. it's just a collapsable rubber collar that fits between the hopper and lid and you press down on the lid to force air downward and blow out retention. it's a simple add-on to dramatically reduce grind retention. They work but I think what's mode important is the manufacture is actually starting to make these things for single dosing applications rather than rely on after-market mods and I think that speaks a lot to the direction and culture of both manufacture and customer demand.

If it is like the k30 or Peak a bellows is not going to work well. If you do a search for single dosing on those grinders you will find that these grinders were designed to have a load on the burrs to work properly.

myke2241 wrote:Is Mahlkonig missing the mark? I feel the trend is single does. The price seems good but that being said the market is crowded at that price point.

The SD market isn't big as it stands, most grinders sold for the home are still hopper fed. I think Mahlkonig know what they are doing. Mahlkonig probably want to sell by the thousands so aren't after a niche part of the home market. The Niche is still only some hundreds a year that's less then what Mahlkonig make a month on their pro grinders to put things into perspective.

If the only way you can make a SD grinder is with bellows then just don't bother.

myke2241 wrote:If it is like the k30 or Peak a bellows is not going to work well. If you do a search for single dosing on those grinders you will find that these grinders were designed to have a load on the burrs to work properly.

The eureka blow up system apparently works with beans in the hopper

Once this gets to the US I think I'll give it a go. The SO likes this way more than my combo of DF64 and Macap sitting on the counter. She prefers us having a hopper of beans and I want something that can work with pourover for the once every few weeks I make one.

DamianWarS wrote:The eureka blow up system apparently works with beans in the hopper

I am not sure I follow what you are saying. If you have beans in the hopper, you are not single dosing. you are grinding on demand.

That may be true, but doesn't change the scenarios where it would come in handy.
Say you are one of those people who likes to waste stale retention, instead of running purge you just pump the bellows. Or simply pump it at end of session.
The blowup is nothing more then bellows built into a hopper.
People are getting too religious about "single dosing" like there a right and wrong way written down somewhere.
Personally I think Mahkonig will put GBW in every grinder before they develop a grinder that is a niche item.
Realistically you will see them rebadge the Ditting 807 Labsweet before making a SD ground up. I feel MK caters only to commercial customers. They want their grinders to be work horses.
I like the idea of this grinder although I think the idea of espresso and filter out of a sub 1k grinder is a unicorn not worth chasing.
I want espresso that is perfect and filter that is acceptable.

From a Daily Coffee News article:

"The company told DCN that a smaller hopper is among accessories planned for future release."

So not technically SD but maybe something close to it.

myke2241 wrote:I am not sure I follow what you are saying. If you have beans in the hopper, you are not single dosing. you are grinding on demand.

you're right this moves away from the point of single dosing. I don't think the blow-up system would only work while beans are in the hopper and I would think still be an adequate solution to single dosing as generally speaking are the benefits of using a bellows. I have a eureka specialita and it doesn't have the blow up system (at least not yet) but using a DIY bellows it works fine. I think in Mahlkonigs case by including some sort of single dosing option like a special hopper and/or bellows system would go well in the home demand culture (regardless if it works better or not). Maybe it will have the same hopper design as the Vario so you can buy a baratza hopper and use it on the unit which includes the baratza single dosing hopper.

Is part of the retention an antistatic flap or screen in the exit chute?

The Vario/Forte has much less retention after removal. On the Giota removing half of the flap makes a big difference as well. And Eureka changed the design of the Atom flap for the same reason.

The trade-off is more static.