Milligan wrote:I wouldn't roll the dice on a grinder at that price point. I also don't support copy cats. I have yet to buy a "foreign"/no-name version of an item that was anywhere close to the same quality of the original manufacturer/brand. This applies broadly to any hobby or general product I've purchased in my life. You have a much better shot getting a decent product from simple items such as tampers or WDT, but a grinder is a complicated appliance with many fabricated parts and tight tolerances.

I'm not saying it is impossible for this to be a good value, but I wouldn't put my money near it.

I have seen where the copy cat was more better than the original brand..... but that is a "rare" thing.

But at this point we dont even know if its a copycat, oem or a rebrand.

For those who are thinking about it .... At this price point you can ask for way more pictures.... try to find the coffee centric vendors if you ask being those guys at least knows what they have vs the generic stores.

I agree that the lack of availability of the Option-O Lagom P64 has opened up the market for other options. The forthcoming Acaia Orbit is one. I looked at this grinder and the unboxing video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roVYhdVgU7k revealed some of the design choices of this grinder. To me, there are stark deficiencies in design and execution of the burr chamber and carrier compared to the P64, as can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDPiZKPfcT4 (Prima burr-change video). I don't think even the most eagle-eyed can tell if surfaces are machined parallel to thousandths of an inch, or if there is excessive flex in the assembly.

The JT64 is another option that I have been following closely and will continue to follow.

A month ago i visited an exhibition in Bangkok, and i saw the same grinder, here is called J20, at work.
I was lucky enough to assist the cleaning operation, IMHO, there were too much coffee powder in some critical area of the grinder, sign that precision cannot be achieved at this price point.
Basically the coffee powder can escape from the gap between the upper burr carrier and the grinder body, so the outer/inner thread could be affected if not paid attention, but apart this i can't say much more.
I just note one thing in the first video link posted by Jeff, seems that the motor it stop immediately once switched off....05:33

sochaux_ wrote:On Alibaba this grinder is about 600$. For example here: https://amalfei.en.alibaba.com/productg ... nders.html

Has anyone bought from Alibaba (not AliExpress) as an individual? That market is for commercial buyers but I'm wondering what it takes for non-commercial buyer.

An individual can buy, but the main problem is with Alibaba its expected that you purchase in "bulk" or at least a range of items as samples.

The link for this particular grinder from Amailfi on Alibaba seems to welcome single unit "sample" purchases? (I'm not sure. I only clicked through to check, but didn't complete a purchase.)

The seller will most likely be able to help you with the purchase of a single grinder.
As an example, the DF64 coffee grinder was also initially bought directly from Alibaba by several users here (try this search).

Edit: Post and Link removed by myself.

yokusan wrote:Pssst, another Option-O clone,

I was thinking this is a closer option. 64mm Blind-burr SD Explorer Max+ (Chinese grinder)

I think the post was in reference to the clones of the Option-O Lagom Mini that have hit the market.