Equipment Glut?

[Tex]

I am looking for a good new or used grinder, but I am having trouble spending over $100. Anything less appears to be crap. Still waiting for the priced to come down or for a good used deal.

Yes, I know, I am contributing to the deflation problem  , but until then, my hand grinder will do...

Until you get into fairly high-end equipment, your grinder is always going to be your weakest link.  It is way better to drop $150 or $200 for a secondhand Mazzer or equivalent (keep your eyes peeled) and spend $100 less on your espresso machine (or excess greens), than to have a nice espresso machine that pulls second-rate shots due to inconsistent grinding.  Don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish.

There has been an outfit at the Seattle CoffeeFest that sells secondhand commercial equipment, and had Jollies for $175 (2 years ago).  With the economic downturn, I would suspect that businesses like that will be doing a booming business this year.  I have seen La San Marco, Simonelli rebadges, and Cunill grinders for $100 in the last two months on Craigslist.  While not as nice as a Mazzer or Macap, they would probably not be dragging you down.

Those $170(ish) grinders were probably the ones from Starbuck's as they converted over to super-auto machines. Those days are long gone, and now you have to look hard & long to get a quality grinder at a decent price.

[mp]

Those $170(ish) grinders were probably the ones from Starbuck's as they converted over to super-auto machines. Those days are long gone, and now you have to look hard & long to get a quality grinder at a decent price.

At time of posting this Italian grinder is on fLeabay ... current bid $95.00 with shipping $45.00 and just 2 days left for bidding on it ... in case someone wants to take advantage of it.

[draagoth]

Rob

Burrs are cheap for those... $40 and it will be like new.... as long as the doser isn't broken.  Great price.  I look forward to hearing the condition it's in when it arrives.

I too will be interested in seeing the condition when it arrives. I know very little about fancy grinders like this so maybe if it's broken I won't even notice.

Rob

[Tex]

Two searches I use for commercial espresso grinders:

Craig's List espresso grinders listed in past 24 hours (can be expanded to past Week/Month/Year)
http://tinyurl.com/62zacd

eBay - Search eBay for commercial espresso grinders
http://tinyurl.com/5bm73u

[Shannon22]

I just picked up a Rossi RR45a from ebay for $106 delivered. Looks like it needs a good cleaning and maybe a new set of burrs, but other than that looks OK. I guess I'll find out when it gets here.

Rob

And if you don't need a doser, Milowebailey has a great mod to make it doserless.

and come to think of it I do have spare doser (for parts) it has a few broken parts.

Really?  I lost a piece to my Fiorenzato while I was attempting to repair and clean it.  The little plastic piston that is spring-loaded to 'rachet' the doser.  I realize I could probably get something at the hardware store that might suffice, but I haven't been comfortable enough to do that yet.  I was then thinking of trying to make it doserless anyway, which I think I'd prefer.  Do you know the piston piece I'm talking about?  How intensive is it to make it doserless?  Seems like it wouldn't be a big deal if you had the right the pieces.