Baratza - Virtuoso 586

I've seen a few posts with this topic, but nothing substantial lately. I'm looking for recommendations for the best electric filter grinder for medium to darks roasts ideally UNDER $1000. I currently have an old Baratza Virtuoso, but it's not always consistent and just looking to upgrade anyway if that's possible to do under $1000. I've thought of the Ode Gen 2 with stock burrs. I also saw someone say the Timemore 078 is good for dark roasts IF the RPM is put at full speed. Some body and mouthfeel is nice, but I value sweetness the most for my medium to dark roasts. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your response! I was interested in the Lagom Casa, but saw several people say it's a conical grinder that doesn't do very well with med/dark roasts. I've heard great things about the Femobook A68, but the power brick is an issue in my coffee station, plus no color options I'm looking for. I would go with the Femobook A5 battery: same color issue, but more importantly the grounds cup is limited to around 30grams of coffee I think--and I need something that can handle at least 40 grams. I did clean the Virtuoso burrs etc., but it is a +9 year old burr set and is still producing more fines than a new burr set would. I realize I could just get a new burr set from Baratza, but am looking for a different color grinder anyway for my current coffee station, ideally white or silver. That leaves the (white) Encore ESP as a viable option. I'm looking more closely at the Turin SK-40 you mentioned. I like the look and it may be good enough. However, I should say it would be nice to have the potential option to make an "ok" light roast every now and then so don't want to completely shut the door on the lighter roasts. With that said the Ode Gen 2 comes into view again. I really do like the support offered by Baratza, but really like the single dosing focus and low retention of the Ode Gen 2. If the Ode Gen 2 can make a sweet med/dark roast the slight additional cost isn't an issue.

Sorry for the delay, but to answer: I have the old version of the virtuoso and yes, I understand the M2 burr in the virtuoso+ is upgraded. I appreciated all the responses I received to my post, but still had not made a decision on how to next proceed when I saw that Zerno was taking orders again for the Z1 and decided to put resources towards that as I had previously decided on that as an espresso grinder. With that I did a cleaning on my Virtuoso and began using it again for larger servings, but have mostly used a K-Ultra manual grinder for my pour over. I do think the Virtuoso is good, probably better than the K-Ultra on medium dark roasts and darker. The K-Ultra makes less of a mess and gives a more consistent grind that gives better results with light and medium roasts. So I think you made the right decision there with the Virtuoso+ for dark roasts. My next move with pour over might be trying a Commandante C40 as it supposed to give a slightly sweeter/rounder flavor than the K-Ultra. Would be curious to know what you think of the Virtuoso+ after spending a bit of time with it. Btw: I feel the same about Fellow. I have a Fellow goose neck kettle that already seems to have issues with consistency after just 3 months or so. It's too bad because they look great.

1. Not already. You'd have to 'make' something. 2. Not really. 3. You can look at getting a grinder with a mechanical time grind function, or a mechanical On button; and then remotely activate it with a smart plug or timed plug. Something like the Baratza Virtuoso has a timer knob on the side, you could set that, leave the room, and activate the smart plug from your phone. Grinders very rarely have a mechanical "on" button that would remain on indefinitely - base safety feature to prevent burning out the motor or fire risk due to overheating if you left it running and walked away. You're either finding that in a weird-brand grinder that doesn't care about your fire insurance, or in a grinder that's not supposed to work that way but has been damaged somehow - I have a Virtuoso that is stuck 'on' because the timer knob jammed, and I need to plug and unplug it when I'm using it.

I would only add that if you have the extra cash, The Baratza Virtuoso is also excellent. It has a couple quality of life features like a little light inside and an extended number of settings. But likewise, I dial it in when loading the coffee and don't touch it again unless I'm changing coffee brews. Just tap the button once every morning. And that little light btw, while seeming like an afterthought, is CLUTCH. It's so useful.

I recently "upgraded" from an electric Baratza Virtuoso to a manual ZP6. I like the ZP6 a lot. It takes up less space and really doesn't take much time or effort to grind coffee. I do pour over with 15 or 20 g of coffee at a time, and it takes seconds to grind. I can't see myself going back to an electric grinder (unless I for some reason bought a Mr. Coffee and needed a lot of coffee grounds).

I’ve owned a Baratza Virtuoso (barely adequate, if that), a Turin DF 64 V. 1, a Niche Zero, and the Eureka Mignon Zero. The Turin was more clarity/fruity forward, though not by much, but I sold that for a Niche Zero. I owned them both for a little while and decided to keep the Niche. The Niche was fine—super user friendly, and easy to clean—but for not-particularly-rational reasons I was drawn to the Eureka (for esthetics mainly), so I sold the Niche. The Niche and the Eureka are both quiet, and great for my preference of dark beans and classic Italian espresso—- really, between the two you can't go wrong. But unless you can find a used Niche there's a big price difference. As I reread my post I sound like a person always after the next thing, but I did eventually stop questing something different!

You're welcome. I think there are a lot of great alternative suggestions in other comments, but I do want to throw in my two cents in about one issue, which is the possibility of upgrading your current Virtuoso to the M2 burrs. I used the Virtuoso+ with M2s for many years (maybe 5?) as my primary grinder, and the original Encore before that – more than a decade combined between the two grinders. I did not find the M2 burrs to be a significant upgrade. I think both the original Encore burrs and the M2s are good for batch brew, and pretty bad for pourover at any roast level. I was always fighting between grinding coarser than I wanted, or grinding as fine as I wanted but dealing with the possibility of clogged filters/inconsistent brews. I brew medium to medium-dark for my wife's pourover every morning, and both of us think her coffee got better when I started using the Ode.

Baratza grinders don’t die. Parts and instructions are available to inexpensively rebuild them. I had a Virtuoso for 15 years, and rebuilt it twice in that time. The plastic drive gear can get stripped, and once I replaced the motor and burr set with upgraded versions. I bought a Fellow Ode bc the Fellow is quieter and passed the baratza on to my son who has had it for 3 years. I like the Ode, but don’t love that I can’t repair it myself. I had some trouble and Fellows solution was to send me a rebuilt unit.

I've been using the same Baratza Virtuoso daily for, let's see, 16 years I think. Haven't had to do anything to it. It just works.

When my encore got to be over twelve years old, I sent it to baratza and had it rebuilt…new motor, circuit board etc. I also had them upgrade the burr to the m2 burr. This is the burr used in the virtuoso +. While I was waiting, I got a virtuoso +, because I can’t wait that long for a cup of coffee😄 when I got the encore back, I was impressed with the service. They discounted some of the parts and labor…I believe it was less than $100.00 usd. I don’t see much difference between the two grinders….the encore seems to grind faster than before. I don’t use the timer on the V+, as I weigh my beans as needed. I would be equally happy using either grinder. I keep the encore, because my wife likes flavored beans and I don’t want my light roasted beans tasting like French vanilla.

My Baratza Virtuoso is a beast. Going on 5? years.