Ridiculous! I've received three of these grinders, and all were broken. The first: the box was undamaged, but the grinder had clearly been dropped with a huge crack, and packaged like that. The second: the crank wouldn't come off or budge. My boyfriend and I spent a week fiddling with it to no avail. The third appeared okay upon arrival, but within a week of use, the threading wore out and it just dropped out whole beans! And oh boy, a brand new coffee grinder breaking in the middle of a work week in the wilderness is just bad news.
The instructions are laughable. There are no words. Sure, most people can figure it out without them, but old people still exist and I found myself wondering if I was doing something wrong when the crank wouldn't budge.
And GSI, whose "real person" customer service they boast on their website, never answered my email/questions.
I don't know what the deal with this product is, but they need to get it together. GSI Outdoors JavaGrind
Pros:
*Sturdy.
*Great for carrying beans in for travel. (Hand crank flips to sit tight against the top and locks in place when you turn it to the correct position and rotate the black handle - very clever design but a trick to figure out at first.)
*I have no trouble holding it in the air and grinding it over a dish of icecream. Most hands will fit under the turning crank, if you flip the crank over before trying to grind (The product comes packaged with the crank upside down, and it would be rather hard to use the product if you didn't think to flip the crank first!)
Cons:
*Does not come with instructions, except what is on the side of the box. (STUDY THE BOX!!!)
*The top is slightly flexible in the up and down direction, which means the beans will not grind to an even size when grinding coarsely (as for a french press). I can see how someone serious about their coffee could be bothered by this, but it is not a big problem for me. I wanted a cheap grinder, and this works well enough.
*Probably not recommended by the Arthritis Foundation. :-)
Additional notes:
*Only the outside is layered - the inside is a smooth funnel.
*I bought this for use with the 10oz GSI Javapress. The screen in the pour-spout of the Javapress makes it very very very slow to pour without lifting the top out. This may be because not all of the grinds come out coarse, and some finer ones plug the screen.
I've been using the GSI JavaGrind at home now for almost two years. It's a sturdy little machine, takes very little storage space (I live in a tiny studio apartment), and requires no electricity. It's an ingenious, compact design. I also LIKE the idea of hand grinding my own coffee. The coarseness of the grind is easily adjusted using the wingnut on top; a few uses and you can pretty accurately gauge it. For those who had a problem removing or replacing the handle, do make sure the square edges of the shaft the handle fits onto are aligned with the square edges of the wingnut, or the handle will stick.
The only drawback I've found is that the rubberized coating over the black plastic parts rubs off in an unpleasant way with extended use. If GSI fixes that, they'll have a much better product. Bottom line, is the JavaGrind well designed and a great deal for under $20? Yes. Would I buy another? YES!
The concept is good but the execution is horrible, the grinder is designed in such a way that it is nearly impossible to hold.
save your money on this one and get a Hario Skerton grinder. if using it for camping leave the glass base at home and grind into your press
Value for money spent: this grinder can't be beat. Perfect grinder? Not by a long shot. I use it for my french press, though, and it works just fine. The grind isn't extremely consistant, so I wouldn't recommend it for something like espresso where a fine, consistant grind is needed. But a course grind needed for the french press, or the medium grind needed for a drip coffee maker, is handled well by this grinder. And that's what I expected from this price range.
My biggest complaint with this grinder is its durability. After only a week, the black part of the handle had broken off. It still grinds fine, but this definitely makes it tougher. And for a company that makes camping products (and claims this would be a good camping/travel grinder) I expected better quality. Also, after only using it 30-40 times, it appears that the burrs are wearing out, resulting in even less consistency in the grind. This is the biggest problem, since if these wear out it is basically useless to me.
Overall, though, it's a decent grinder for a great price. For under $20, this is hard to beat.
Embarrassingly bad design:
First, and most critically, the grinder is impossible to hold steady while grinding, even with two people: one holding/one grinding. There is simply nothing to hold on to. You cannot hold between your legs like other grinders. It jumps all around, causing the grinding motion to to jerky, and halting, taking forever to make any progress.
Also, the one and only bearing for the burr is on the top- not ideal, but almost all small grinders share this flaw, HOWEVER since the bearing point is in the thin plastic top, it moves in and out while you grind because the grinding motion is pushing down/over on the top, warping it, and changing the relationship between the inner and outer burr, causing grind inconsistency.
Bottom line: Most affordable hand grinder available. Would be overpriced if they were giving them away. Avoid.
I really wanted to like this product and I really want to find a way to fix it. It broke the second time I used it. The weld between the shaft and the nut failed so I am unable to grind any coffee. I had already thrown away the packaging so I didn't try to return it. - Burr Grinder - Gsi - Conical Burr - Manual Coffee Grinder'
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