Manual Coffee Grinder - HEIHOX Hand with Adjustable Conical Stainless Steel Burr Mill, Capacity 30g Portable Mill Faster Grinding Efficiency Espresso to Coarse for Office, Home, Camping

So the world of hand grinders is a consumer hellscape and I'm here to tell you BUY THIS GRINDER RIGHT NOW.Ok, I wanted a good hand burr grinder not really to replace my electric grinder, but for travel or camping so that I could make a good aeropress "in the field." What I quickly learned from reading reviews and watching online videos are that you basically have two choices: cheap garbage or $$$$$$$. I researched for days why it made sense that a decent hand grinder was $150, while an industry standard home electric burr grinder can be gotten for $100. Were these electric grinders somehow inferior? Was hand grinding the only way to really get a clean coffee extraction? Apparently not. Good hand grinders are just expensive, and, really, just a travel convenience. If you grind a lot of coffee at home the general recommendation seems to be, "buy an electric grinder." So, while it seems stupid that you need to pay $100 for a solid home electric burr grinder and $150 for a decent travel toy, that really is the world we live in.If you have spent any time at all online reading/researching hand grinders then you know that the cheap market is currently dominated by grinders like JavaPress (starting around $15) or even Hario (currently around $50). These grinders use cheap ceramic (are these things really plastic?) burrs and have cheap innards made of plastic or flimsy metal. On the other end are grinders like the Helor 101 or the Kinu Phoenix, which are machined from steel and aluminum and range from $200 to $400. For a long time, all I could find in the "machined" grinder variety that was anything near my price range were the products of Timemore. Timemore is a Chinese company that seems to do good work, but really doesn't interface well with the West. Their website is basically non-functional, and their product pages are littered with literary errors that, while they're understandable given the difficulty of translating from Chinese to English, don't really build confidence in a premium product that is supposed to be worth it because of the attention to detail (around $150 for their flagship Timemore G1 Chestnut as of now). They do offer a $70 version of their Timemore grinder, which they call the "C". The C has plastic innards, which isn't necessarily fatal, but is also kind of disappointing. Still, I was on the verge of purchasing one of these "C" grinders when I discovered this one, by Heihox.As of this writing, there are only 10 reviews of the Heihox on Amazon, and basically nothing anywhere else. I couldn't find it on any coffee company websites or on Youtube. After carefully reading the reviews on here, and examining the few photos that had been posted by customers, I felt comfortable trying it out. After all, it was Prime eligible and I could return it if it was junk right? At $99 it was expensive, but less so than the high end grinders that I liked and it bears a particular resemblance to the very expensive (>$250) Helor 101, which I really liked a lot. To make the final decision easier, Heihox was offering a 35% off coupon on here at the time of my purchase, making my total cost around $70. So I bought it.The design.My God. It's the best deal I've ever found. This grinder is a beast, with real heft in the hand. It is almost all metal, mostly heavy aluminum. The only exception is the walnut handle knob, which is finished nicely. It was clearly machined from a solid aluminum block, which is astonishing to me at this price. The lid/handle is magnetic and attaches to the top of the drive shaft, which is steel. The magnet is strong enough to hold the lid on and coffee in when the grinder is inverted. The burrs are stainless and sharp, at least as sharp as those on my electric OXO grinder that I use every day. Like the Helor 101, this grinder's collection cup is all aluminum (and THICK aluminum at that) and is held on by an O-ring. You get a spare inside the cup when you open the grinder. The grinder has a real ball bearing inside, not just a bushing. You can even do the trick that you see in the Helor 101 promos where you can hold the grinder sideways by the handle and, while holding the handle still, spin the grinder around it. The motion is fluid and smooth with very little resistance. While doing this, I realized that the grinder sometimes made a strange, soft rattling noise when I shook it. I was concerned that something was loose inside, so I removed the three screws on the bottom that hold the burrs in. I found that this rattling was caused by a small magnet inside a pocket next to the outer burr ring. The magnet rattles softly because aluminum is not magnetic (and neither is stainless) so it is free to move slightly in this pocket. I have no idea what the function of this magnet is, but it wasn't a loose or broken part so I put it back together.Ok, so enough about design, what about performance?I loaded the grinder with 10 g of beans and put the grinder near its coarsest setting. One reviewer commented that the thing they didn't like about this grinder was that it seemed like the adjustment nut turned too easily and that it would drift. I watched a Youtube video of the Helor 101 in action, and I saw from it that that grinder, too, had an adjustment nut that turned VERY easily. I figured, hey, if it works on a $275 grinder, it will be fine for a $100 grinder. To my surprise, however, the nut does not turn effortlessly. I don't know if they changed this grinder or what, but the nut has small ball bearings in it and there are recesses milled into the bottom of the inner burr for them to rub against. The effect is a sort of "stepped" adjustment that has a nice resistance. It took about 30 seconds to grind the beans. The turns were smooth and effortless with a pleasant grinding sound. I have provided a pic of the grounds, which came out beautifully consistent. Almost no visible fines. I then repeated the experiment with the grinder near its finest setting. Surprisingly, this was also effortless with a pleasant grinding sound and feel. I again finished in 30 seconds, which surprised me greatly. Again, the beans were consistently and beautifully ground, and I have attached a picture. I say I adjusted the grinder to "near" its finest and coarsest setting because the adjustment nut is also the adjusting nut. It can be removed completely and tightened all the way to the point that the burrs appear to be touching (they can't grind coffee at this setting, but still turn freely without rubbing). I was blown away by the performance of this grinder.The bad?I don't really have "bad" comments at this point, but maybe a couple "not fantastics." Number 1, this grinder doesn't have a huge capacity. I was only able to get 18-20 g of beans into it. This is mostly because the support struts for the drive shaft start near the top of the grinder and have the same silhouette to a depth of about half the hopper. I took a pic that tries to show this, but it's dark in there. You can see it if you look close. Still, even high price grinders are frequently criticized for things like this, so I don't care that much. Second, the burr seems a little sticky on the shaft at this point. Now, I've only ground about 20 g of coffee so far, so maybe this won't actually be a problem. Or maybe it will but only until it gets "broken in." But I found that when I was taking the adjustment nut off to remove the burr from the shaft and look inside, the nut came off and the burr stayed in place. There is a spring inside that pushes it out when the nut is loosened, but it didn't move. I hit the side of the grinder with my hand and it immediately popped off. Again, I'm ZERO concerned about this at this stage, but I'll update later if it somehow becomes the worst thing ever.Overall, my recommendation is BUY THIS GRINDER if you are in the market for a good hand grinder. For $100, it beats the crap out of the nearest competition. And, if you happen to get it on sale for around $70 then, my friend, you have won the lottery. It buggers belief that people buy (and LOVE) the cheap plastic and ceramic Hario skerton at $50 when this all metal work of art can be had for $30 more (or even $50 more if at full price). This grinder should last for decades and man, it's beautiful.Random detailsThe box was pretty and high quality. It was superbly packed in die cut foam. The only extra accessory in the box is the extra O ring for the grounds collector. There are no wrenches or anything, but all the screws for disassembly are standard Allen wrench heads (metric).

This is the first review I’ve left photos - coffee is important! First off, the people who waxed lyrical about the box it came in? Umm…is the box going to grind your coffee? Rhetorical question. Second, we have had a year to use this grinder - I ordered it late 2021. So it’s been tested. It’s holding up like a champ. I’m not a super fussy coffee person that I have to do everything to the nth degree. So - first off as you can see from the dinged up edge my husband likes bang it on the counter - still works fine. It’s sturdy! Next, it may depend on the year or supplier, but some of the photos show a gold colored nut/grind adjust on the bottom. As you can see ours is not. It’s stainless and turns quite easily. I also included a picture of a very fine grind (which I will explain below) but no others. Someone else posted nice pics of 20 and 30 click grinds. Also I took a picture of the inside to illustrate the cross bar in it. I never fill it past that with beans to grind. Finally, a pic of Japanese side instructions on parts as it showed the parts more clearly. If you decide to take it apart, do so slowly and lay the pieces out carefully so you know what order they go back in. It is not easy to put back together, but not impossible. You will say many bad words in the process. I have found the supplied little brush and blowing in it sufficient enough to keep it clean. Next - the person who complained about the rubber grip sliding? Well yes it will. If you can’t figure out how to simply push it back up then you also shouldn’t attempt to change a lightbulb. Next - the grind adjuster. Just like anything else you screw - righty tighty, lefty loosey. It is also marked fine or coarse and the direction. Your start point is when you tighten the nut until it can’t turn anymore. Then start turning it click by click. You hear an audible click to let you know how coarse or fine your grind is. The more clicks, the coarser the grind. Fewer clicks is finer. After using awhile your setting may change. I find myself having to add one more click than I did when it was new. But that’s probably because I sometimes grind very fine with just a few clicks. (6) It is not powder, but it’s pretty darn fine. I do this when I eat it. Eat?!?! Yes indeed. I will put this almost powder grind into ice cream or milk shakes - yum. What’s important here is the quality of the coffee and if it’s fresh ground like you can do with this each time. I buy peaberry Kona coffee. It’s kinda like the champagne of coffee. 100% peaberry Kona which grinds great in this. Awesome coffee - Cherry Hill Estate. Because of the coffee I buy I don’t need to use much coffee for drinking - 2 TBLS will make 3 cups at 30 to 31 clicks in our French press. I do not know what setting you would use for a pour over. Like most French presses you generally want a coarser grind - Your mileage may vary on your personal taste. Then you want to make sure you wet, have dissolution, and dissolve. We put coffee from the grinder right into our press, pour in water and make sure to stir for about 45 seconds. The stirring is important. Wait until your coffee has sunk (the grind from this grinder works great here) then let it sit for 6-8 minutes. No - that’s not too long. Don’t do the 3 minute thing. No. We find very little sludge from the Heliox setting we use making French press with that recipe. This grinder is not plastic - it’s metal which I think is superior. Last I looked I looked at a good professional machine it didn’t use plastic. This is a great price for a well made item. Plus, even though it’s a functional item it is very nice looking - looks great sitting out on your counter.

This is a really nice grinder, and a huge step-up from my previous grinder. Grinding motion is much smoother.It is much heavier than I expected though, so I would not necessarily call it a "take it anywhere" grinder.Certainly not backpacking and most likely not on a plane.Could almost call it a "tactical grinder" as it is that sturdy.