Smart Grinder Pro (BCG820)

The grinder is the most important part. I went through the same thing as you looking at the Encore et al. I eventually settled on a Sage Smart Grinder Pro, which are alright for espresso but they have limitations. I've since changed to a pro grinder, a Macap M5D that I got for £100 secondhand.

DF54. The Smart grinder pro is not worth the money. The grind quality is lacking and it only took 25 months for mine to stop working at all. Conveniently (for Sage) just 1 month after the warranty was up.

I know we just had Halloween, but I'm trying to make sense of Frankenstein's grinder here? Single dose, but hopper with lots of beans in Bellows ON TOP of hopper, you blast air through the hopper of beans *and* through burrs/chute each shot It's certainly an, uh, interesting concept EDIT: Sorry OP - just to actually answer the question - it's not the greatest grinder (I have one) but you could easily pick up something like a Sage SGP second hand on ebay for £50-100. That's probably your best bet.

I have Sage Smart Grinder Pro and have it set to deliver well-ground coffee in the right dosage into the right volume of coffee (18g:36g). However the shot only takes 5 seconds, and it seems to make no difference if I change my grind to super fine. There's no crema at all unless I grind much coarser, which tastes nice but there's no complexity to the flavour at all. What's going on?! I also use a wedge distributor and tamp set to the recommended level (I know wedge distribution is not the best but surely I should get better results than this without WDT?)

I've had mine for 6 years and still loving it. Upgraded from a Sage smart pro and I've never looked back.