Baratza Sette 30 Conical Burr Grinder

TL;DR: Grinder is fantastic from a functional perspective. The internal design is great, using simple but high quality components that are assembled with care. Best product support in the space. Highly recommend.Got the grinder 5 years ago and until recently it’s worked with no issues whatsoever. A few months back it stopped turning on for some reason (think it might’ve been due to an electrical surge during a storm). I finally got around to engaging support and have been very happy with how it’s gone so far. I chose to take apart the unit on my own, just to see if there was any component that was obviously fried like a blown fuse or a warped capacitor, to narrow down what the issue was. I unfortunately wasn’t able to identify the issue, but the internals are incredibly well put together.The solders are clean, many times there will be giant blobs of excess solder all over, the solders in this are done so well that you have to actually look closely to see what is soldered. The adhesive used is also near perfectly applied. There was a small line from drip on one of the components but it was barely noticeable and was easily taken off that piece. The grinder’s burr still looks pristine, even after 5 years of near daily use; same goes for the rest of the grinder.I rarely if ever see a device like this put together so well. Digital components are used sparingly, just the power board and the display so very little that can go wrong with it and since it’s a relatively simple machine it’s easy to service yourself if you want and replacement parts are priced in a sane way. Many companies will jack up the price of components so it’s not ever worth repairing, forcing you to buy a replacement or to spend an equivalent amount on repairs.One thing I think speaks to the longevity Baratza expects from their grinders is when I was discussing the issue with the support tech, he mentioned “given the age of the unit I wouldn’t expect any problems with the motor or burr grinder itself”. After over five years they don’t expect any issues. I don’t know if that or the fact they allocate skilled personnel to continue servicing things domestically, no cost cutting by offshoring or “near shoring” taken, no scripted “run doc” that limits their ability to provide support. No corners cut, a well thought out grinder made of simple, yet high quality components with one of the design pillars being serviceability. A very rare thing in modern manufacturing. They offered to send parts out for free for me to replace but I opted to just send it to because the price was more than fair given the amount of time I’d save. All told the repair came to under 50 dollars including shipping. I don’t know how they come out ahead with that pricing (would expect the combined cost of shipping, labor time and parts to be well over that) but I’m all for it. Only other standard household brand that comes to mind for similar reasons is Speed Queen for laundry appliances, although they’re primarily focused on commercial with consumer facing business being supplemental rather than core.As for the actual function of the device and quality of the grind, I have no complaints. Burr grinders produce a consistent grind by design, it’s why they’re used over a bladed grinder. I’ve never had clogging issues with beans that are dark and oily, or similar common problems grinders can present. I flip around on brewing method quite a bit so I’ve used it for doing fine grinds for espresso, medium for pour over, coarse for french press, etc. I haven’t found any size that cause it to choke it up, produce inconsistent grain sizes or any other issues that plague other grinders. I’ve never done Turkish style brewing which supposedly needs a grind finer than espresso so that might cause issue, but I highly doubt it. It performs consistently and has a simple but elegant mechanical design that does wonders for reliability. If you want to avoid issues, simply don’t be an idiot like me and instead use a surge protector. Attached pics of the components since I don’t have any other use for them and might interest some to see vs. more common review images.If you’re concerned about the price, keep in mind the above that this is made to last a long time (decade ) and is actually serviceable. Most if not all the other brands will require you to replace it within that time span which will probably end up costing more than the higher one time cost. I’d guess that the Fellow Ode is the closest comparison and you’re only able to replace the burrs in that, anything else and an entire replacement unit is needed.