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.

Fellow Ode II is maybe a bit more, but well worth it. Better than a Virtuoso I had before.

I have a (kinda old) Baratza Virtuoso, Ode Gen2 and Timemore 064S. You can't grind for espresso with the Ode. The 064S is just a bit fiddly for espresso because the available range is compressed/coarse -- but I use mine every day. My Baratza experience is "emergency use only" but a friend is quite happy with the ESP (filter/drip).

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!

It’s because the grinders launch a long time ago. If they launched recently, they would be completely ignored. I replaced a virtuoso with an ode v2. The ode is more expensive but it’s close when it often goes on sale. The ode completely blows away the virtuoso. It was a used virtuoso but I don’t think they upgraded the burrs since then which is kind of the problem. Baratza is great for support and repairability. If cup quality per dollar, isn’t the number one priority it’s a decent option.

I have the Baratza Virtuoso and I agree. As stated, very easy to disassemble and clean.

Very much so. I actually had issue where I tried using my eureka mignon zero for some pour over beans, and after grinding at a much higher setting for the pour over, I tried going back down to espresso grind size and found that I couldn’t set it that low anymore, it was clogged/blocked from the larger grind size bits. It actually stopped the burrs completely, it wouldn’t spin at all. After taking it apart and leaning everything out it was fine again. But at that point I decided to keep the eureka as the espresso and the baratza virtuoso for pour overs/moka/etc