Great video Brian. Would be good to compare with the Kinu M47 Classic. I can grind medium roasts with the M47 in about 35 to 40 seconds and it makes lovely espresso with my 2021 Olympia Cremina !
Brian, I don't mean to quibble, but to my understanding, the Apex is the opposite. The gear system makes it so one turn of the handle = many turns of the burrs.
The next revolutionary hand grinder may have manually adjustable gearbox, 2-3 settings enough to address 2 polarization: espresso & light roast, hard to crank beans Pour-over & dark roast, easier to crank For electric grinder, decent like bajillion automatic custom settings with settings that can be saved as presets & able to export/shared online for other to replicate.
Hi Brian, I saw you commented on a 83mm conversion on another channel. Looks good except it was all plastic which I don’t think would have the stiffness to maintain the rigidity for burr alignment. Otherwise pretty cool.
The Pharos really does work just fine if you use it as intended: bolted to a solid surface. Using it held by hand on a wobbly cart is of course going to make it not work well. I have an Option-O (which has succeeded Helor) Remi, which I love to use, but it has a very similar adjustment system, and I find it to be irritating too, for the same reason. It’s why I typically use my OE Lido OG, which I think is an amazingly good hand grinder. Super precise and repeatable, easy to grind (I only use it with light roast coffee, and it chews through it), incredibly well built, and almost no retention. And also not $800 (though not cheap).
If i have to bolt the grinder and use it at a fixed place, why I need a hand grinder? I ever had a Pharos and sold it after using it for 2 or 3 months because it is really hard to grind light roasts. Now I use the Helor Flux with the Gorilla Gear RoBlack burrs.
The Pharos is a portable grinder, or what it’s supposed to be. If you have to bolt it down, you better have an electric grinder. It makes absolutely no sense.
I especially wonder why, if you can gear down the speed, you can't gear up the speed for a flat burr hand grinder that's portable. I think a lot of people would be really interested in that. And yes, I also have doubts about the stepping up speed and therefore stepping down force part...
I'm putting a together about the OE Apex which IMO is one of the most legit flat burr handgrinders out there. The kinda issue with that grinder is the super super slow feedrate even though I feel like the burrs spin pretty fast?
Good review I have a Lido 2 which has no numbers to know exactly where your grind coarseness is at. What I did was take a red permanent marker and mark a few divots right around where my optimal grind range is at. Works for me. YMMV... Damn - appears that the Pheros is one miserable a$$ grinder to use - To think I almost bought on back in the day.
I use a Pharos everyday. It will go through 17g of beans in 12 seconds. I see that it took a minute to go through that dose with the Helor 106, thank you for explaining the gear reduction, that explains the ease of grinding that through. Regarding the Pharos, I would say one needs to have the right technique of holding it down. Try having a family member holding down the Pharos for you and try a 17g dose, you will be amazed how fast you can grind through those beans. It will be lightning fast and its only a 15 second experiment. Light roasts are indeed very difficult, you may need to tilt the Pharos so that less beans are going into the burrs or you can rock back and forth using only half the rotation because there is less power in the 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock position. I think your analysis of the body and texture is spot on. Excellent videos!
The Helor 106 needs about 4 rotations (1 rotation of the inner burr) for 1g beans. It is very easy to grind at 150 to 180 rpm, so I never grind more than 30 seconds for 18g beans.
Not really technology driven as much as it is with the use of very high quality materials machined to insane tolerances. The burrs alone cost around $200 USD and most of the grinder is quality stainless. I grind around 2 lbs. weekly with mine and with those burrs, build quality, etc. I can see it still giving 90+% perfection 20 yrs. from now as I just don't see any part of it truly wearing out for manual home use, even the burrs. It's THAT good and with hand grinding there is really no heat buildup, friction, etc. that does indeed affect electric units.
Ceramic bearings are gonna be higher quality and more expensive than steal ball bearings. Smoother performance, less friction, and there’s no reason to believe they would wear out more over time (Skateboarders love ceramic bearings). Ceramic coffee BURRS on the other hand do loose their cutting edge faster than high carbon steel.
@@arianyazdannik968 well bearings can be swapped easily so I wouldn’t let something like that dissuade you. Ceramic bearings are impervious to corrosion so they’ll always last longer than steel, and they are much harder so the balls will not create flat spots over time. If anything wears over 2 to 3 years it would be the lubrication.
Hi Brian, what hand grinder would come closest to a flat burr profile? Or isn't there any at all that comes close to a flat burr profile? Really loving the SSP MP profile on my DF64 and obviously can't replicate that on my Comandante. Cheers!
I think you need flats for a flat burr profile! Enjoy the differences between them if you got both! I hear the Dual conical Monolith MC4 has more clarity than a typical conical burr grinder, maybe Brian can confirm since I believe he's been playing with one?
I've been trying more conical burr grinders since I last commented here, I found the HG-2 and Weber Key are very flat burr like for a conical, you get the forgiveness factor of conical maybe a little more body but pretty decent flavor clarity although not as high clarity as the SSP MP burrs usually (MP burrs are just super high clarity). But it's close enough and higher clarity than a lot of flat burrs.
at 11:35 i notice you have a tool with needles that seems to lock into the portafilter... i don know the name but do you mind telling us what is it for??
Well the intent of it is to create channels in the puck however, this is going to depend on the pattern, how deep/fast you are pressing, and # of needles!
The fact that the Pharos exists is a joke, and the mild success it had tells you a lot about the community. It’s beyond crazy that we even accepted that as some sort of a solution.
Why are you using hand grinder? Especially for espresso. You stay in area without electricity? Agree. What about espresso machine? Use moka pot? Really?
I gladly use a hand grinder 95% of the time and have a very capable flat burr electric sitting on standby. I grind strictly for espresso and still look fwd to it daily and have been using different hand grinders for many years now. Firm believer in working smarter/harder for the ultimate end result.
it's quiet, takes up almost zero counter space for small kitchens, portable so easy to take with you when traveling, and hand grinding is a very enjoyable process to add to the whole espresso hobby experience. wouldn't want to hand grind in a cafe setting though but for ~3 cups a day its a joy.
Great review, now I wish 1ZPRESSO made a 71mm hand grinder addressing the dial issue with outside control and markings.
The burrs in the Pharos are the Compak K10/E10/F10 burr set, same as in the Monolith MC3
Great video Brian. Would be good to compare with the Kinu M47 Classic.
I can grind medium roasts with the M47 in about 35 to 40 seconds and it makes lovely espresso with my 2021 Olympia Cremina !
Amazing titan hand grinder. Maybe the best hand grinder for espresso yet.
it's cool. I'm not sure if it's an extra $500 cool over the one I have but I suppose people do spend way more than that on electric grinders
Awesome review, man. It doubled as my user's manual!
1:43 Apex is actually geared "up" by 1:4. Meaning one turn of the crank will spin the burrs 4 times :p
Watching you struggle with the Pharos is the best sales pitch to not buy one 🤣 just loading that thing looks like a pain in the ass
Lucky your father supports, participates and shares in your passion. Enjoy!
Brian, I don't mean to quibble, but to my understanding, the Apex is the opposite. The gear system makes it so one turn of the handle = many turns of the burrs.
The next revolutionary hand grinder may have manually adjustable gearbox, 2-3 settings enough to address 2 polarization:
espresso & light roast, hard to crank beans
Pour-over & dark roast, easier to crank
For electric grinder, decent like bajillion automatic custom settings with settings that can be saved as presets & able to export/shared online for other to replicate.
Hi Brian, I saw you commented on a 83mm conversion on another channel. Looks good except it was all plastic which I don’t think would have the stiffness to maintain the rigidity for burr alignment. Otherwise pretty cool.
The Pharos really does work just fine if you use it as intended: bolted to a solid surface. Using it held by hand on a wobbly cart is of course going to make it not work well.
I have an Option-O (which has succeeded Helor) Remi, which I love to use, but it has a very similar adjustment system, and I find it to be irritating too, for the same reason. It’s why I typically use my OE Lido OG, which I think is an amazingly good hand grinder. Super precise and repeatable, easy to grind (I only use it with light roast coffee, and it chews through it), incredibly well built, and almost no retention. And also not $800 (though not cheap).
Also the fact that this dude is weak af lmao hit the gym bro
@@isma4219 I really don’t think he would have any issues with the Pharos if it were bolted to a fixed countertop.
@@edipisreks5535 how do you get the coffee out when you bolt it down ?
If i have to bolt the grinder and use it at a fixed place, why I need a hand grinder? I ever had a Pharos and sold it after using it for 2 or 3 months because it is really hard to grind light roasts. Now I use the Helor Flux with the Gorilla Gear RoBlack burrs.
The Pharos is a portable grinder, or what it’s supposed to be.
If you have to bolt it down, you better have an electric grinder.
It makes absolutely no sense.
I like big burrs and I cannot lie.
I have the 1 zpresso K plus.
Hey, How is the porcupress?
I especially wonder why, if you can gear down the speed, you can't gear up the speed for a flat burr hand grinder that's portable. I think a lot of people would be really interested in that. And yes, I also have doubts about the stepping up speed and therefore stepping down force part...
I'm putting a together about the OE Apex which IMO is one of the most legit flat burr handgrinders out there. The kinda issue with that grinder is the super super slow feedrate even though I feel like the burrs spin pretty fast?
Good review
I have a Lido 2 which has no numbers to know exactly where your grind coarseness is at. What I did was take a red permanent marker and mark a few divots right around where my optimal grind range is at. Works for me. YMMV...
Damn - appears that the Pheros is one miserable a$$ grinder to use - To think I almost bought on back in the day.
Damn your a serious reference !
I use a Pharos everyday. It will go through 17g of beans in 12 seconds. I see that it took a minute to go through that dose with the Helor 106, thank you for explaining the gear reduction, that explains the ease of grinding that through.
Regarding the Pharos, I would say one needs to have the right technique of holding it down. Try having a family member holding down the Pharos for you and try a 17g dose, you will be amazed how fast you can grind through those beans. It will be lightning fast and its only a 15 second experiment. Light roasts are indeed very difficult, you may need to tilt the Pharos so that less beans are going into the burrs or you can rock back and forth using only half the rotation because there is less power in the 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock position.
I think your analysis of the body and texture is spot on. Excellent videos!
I’d argue that any coffee hand grinder that has to be operated by two people to work properly is a bad hand grinder 🤣
The Helor 106 needs about 4 rotations (1 rotation of the inner burr) for 1g beans. It is very easy to grind at 150 to 180 rpm, so I never grind more than 30 seconds for 18g beans.
A family member to hold the grinder? LOL
Hi, Brian! Have you ever seen hand grinder with flat burrs? I tried one. It has 64mm SSP and looks incredible )
Which hand grinder is this?
@@kelvinlau1229 it's from Bonafabrica brand
I thought you can't do flat burr hand grinders!? lol Someone's done it!?
@@BensCoffeeRants yep!
Looks like a Bigger Uglier 1zPresso K-plus/pro grinder :D
Amazing but way too expensive. The price justifies the technology tho
Not really technology driven as much as it is with the use of very high quality materials machined to insane tolerances. The burrs alone cost around $200 USD and most of the grinder is quality stainless. I grind around 2 lbs. weekly with mine and with those burrs, build quality, etc. I can see it still giving 90+% perfection 20 yrs. from now as I just don't see any part of it truly wearing out for manual home use, even the burrs. It's THAT good and with hand grinding there is really no heat buildup, friction, etc. that does indeed affect electric units.
Hey Brian
Nice video. One question tho... I've heard that flux uses ceramic bearing which are not very long lasting. Is it true?
Ceramic bearings are gonna be higher quality and more expensive than steal ball bearings. Smoother performance, less friction, and there’s no reason to believe they would wear out more over time (Skateboarders love ceramic bearings). Ceramic coffee BURRS on the other hand do loose their cutting edge faster than high carbon steel.
@@thomasfitzgibbon1675 it's mentioned in their website that the bearings life expectancy is 2-3 years.
@@arianyazdannik968 well bearings can be swapped easily so I wouldn’t let something like that dissuade you. Ceramic bearings are impervious to corrosion so they’ll always last longer than steel, and they are much harder so the balls will not create flat spots over time. If anything wears over 2 to 3 years it would be the lubrication.
what about the helor 102?
Hi Brian, what hand grinder would come closest to a flat burr profile? Or isn't there any at all that comes close to a flat burr profile? Really loving the SSP MP profile on my DF64 and obviously can't replicate that on my Comandante. Cheers!
The Orphan Espresso Apex! I'll be making a video about it
@@BrianQuan I think apex can’t grind fine enough for espresso with its ghost burrs or am I missing something ?
I think you need flats for a flat burr profile! Enjoy the differences between them if you got both!
I hear the Dual conical Monolith MC4 has more clarity than a typical conical burr grinder, maybe Brian can confirm since I believe he's been playing with one?
I've been trying more conical burr grinders since I last commented here, I found the HG-2 and Weber Key are very flat burr like for a conical, you get the forgiveness factor of conical maybe a little more body but pretty decent flavor clarity although not as high clarity as the SSP MP burrs usually (MP burrs are just super high clarity). But it's close enough and higher clarity than a lot of flat burrs.
at 11:35 i notice you have a tool with needles that seems to lock into the portafilter... i don know the name but do you mind telling us what is it for??
That should be the Porcupress. I'll have a video about that in the future.
@@BrianQuan thats what i thought, i have something very similar and i only get extrem channeling
Well the intent of it is to create channels in the puck however, this is going to depend on the pattern, how deep/fast you are pressing, and # of needles!
I'll look forward to your video!
You brought the Pav and not the Nomad??? *Brian.*
It really do be like that sometimes
The fact that the Pharos exists is a joke, and the mild success it had tells you a lot about the community. It’s beyond crazy that we even accepted that as some sort of a solution.
Have you tried the omega?
I did try grinding coffee with it at SCA but didn't get a chance to brew with it!
@@BrianQuan from first impression which would you prefer… is the 71mm speed > functionality/usability/repeatability of the omega.
Pharos has to be worst hand grinder ever lol
Why are you using hand grinder? Especially for espresso. You stay in area without electricity? Agree. What about espresso machine? Use moka pot? Really?
I gladly use a hand grinder 95% of the time and have a very capable flat burr electric sitting on standby. I grind strictly for espresso and still look fwd to it daily and have been using different hand grinders for many years now. Firm believer in working smarter/harder for the ultimate end result.
it's quiet, takes up almost zero counter space for small kitchens, portable so easy to take with you when traveling, and hand grinding is a very enjoyable process to add to the whole espresso hobby experience. wouldn't want to hand grind in a cafe setting though but for ~3 cups a day its a joy.