Varia Brewing - VS3

Ah, the exact video I needed two weeks ago! Was trying to decide between the Opus and the VS3, and ended up ordering the VS3 (which arrived yesterday). I'm yet to set it up (that'll be a weekend activity), but a quick play out of the box and I noticed there was a lot of resistance on the grind dial, so hopefully that's a good sign that it won't have the movement issue. I just need to work out how the hell I'm going to hide that power brick on the kitchen bench. Opus was originally my front runner, but had a lot of concerns about the plasticky build and the adjustment system. The metal build of the VS3 and discount to halve the price gap is what got me over the line.

VS3 drift confirmed. As I've been trying to tell naysayers. Wanted to like that grinder, returned it.

There's a lot on the market for that price but Varia VS3 is probably the best under $300. Someone mentioned the DF54; that is probably the best value because it is significantly under $300, viz at $230, but it is not the best grinder under $300. The reason I say this is because the VS3 is highly versatile. With the stock conicals, produces full-bodied but fairly clean shots. If you, however, upgrade $30 to the supernova burrs, you can get the kind of clarity normally associated with flats. It is a highly versatile grinder for the money.

That was indeed an issue with v1. It had a motor that was prone to failing. Varia has since switched out the motor with v2 and I haven't heard of any problems with that one..

I think that once you get past the ceramic prolex and very cheap entry lvl grinder it's less about better but more about "different". I have a Varia VS3 and similar to you sometimes prefer it to the ZP6 especially for "juicy" beans. I love that I have both and can vary depending on bean and current itch :)

Nothing stops you getting a hand grinder later :-) I have a Varia VS3 as my electrical grinder (with non standard burs) and it's my all round, morning brew grinder. For special applications I have a ZP6 that I use if I brew something super light and special.

Really hoped that the Varia would make a better showing here.  I wonder if the dial can be modded a bit to keep it from wandering (add friction material somewhere, maybe?) The noise of the Baratza puts me off, too.  I get offended these days by design decisions that don’t seem to care about the end user’s happiness.  I shouldn’t be forced to hate grinding coffee in the morning even if it’s just for thirty seconds. I did a lazy “noise analysis” vid of the earlier £500 grinder video to help me visualize their differences: https://youtu.be/3ELGcSK1G_4?si=5QGq5dh2InxT0DlP

I have a Varia and I love mine. I get great espresso from it. Sad it didn't get a good review from James