I just retrofitted my basic hand crank mill with a 10mm nut, and drove it with a drill. It's so much faster now, but I do wonder if there's actual properly motorized versions of what I just did.
Other than possibly being easier to hold due to the smaller size of the 1zpresso, I wouldn’t expect much difference in grind quality between the Lido 2 and even the best 1zpresso
I can sift out about 10% fines with a typical Lido grind. Not inherently a bad thing, but I’m intrigued by the almost-zero-fines of the 1zpresso ZP6. A friend of mine has one, and said he did the same thing – was sifting daily with his other grinder, but decided to stop throwing away 10% of his coffee. :) Don’t get me wrong, the Lido is great and has served me well, and I wouldn’t even get rid of it. It’s just a different thing, going more unimodal.
They should be aligned then, but it could be tested with the dry-erase marker test. I will link the process, butI want to give you some general need to knows.
For reference, I have the first Gen one.
Whenever you remove the adjuster top. (The thing you turn to adjust the grind. When you loosen it all the way.)
a. Use a dry-erase marker and mark somewhere on the top burr section so you can put it exactly the way it was. (Before you lift it up). Not marking it is a good way to mess with alignment because it is only aligned one specific orientation.
b. The threads are very fine. So make sure to be careful not to crossthread them when you screw it back on. Whether you are removing it to clean or whatever.
You will want to zero out the grinder. To do this, first thing before you put grounds in. Or when it is completely cleaned out. With the power off and unplugged, tighten the adjuster gently until the burrs touch. You tighten and turn the burrs by hand, I believe clockwise, keep doing it until you hear and feel that the burrs are touching. Then take the grinder setting pointer thing and orient it where zero is.
The Skerton is a terrible grinder regardless of how you power it.
You might be able to modify a good hand grinder in a like manner but good hand grinders take far less time to grind than a Skerton does. What takes 2 or 3 minutes in a Skerton takes less than a minute in a good 1Zpresso, Kinu, Timemore, Kingrinder or similar.
The skerton was (is?) A good entry level grinder that will give you very decent results especially for immersion-type brews. It’s what I started on and what I still use for on the go use cases. I haven’t looked at entry level hand grinders in a while so I guess some developments have happened since I got mine. (Based on a comparison video from james hoffman at the time)
God yes, I tried a friend’s 1zpresso and the difference in both grind speed and effort is noticable.
Not sure it was ever a good entry level grinder. 20 years ago it was pretty much the only entry level burr hand grinder that wasn’t an old school box style. That was before the Pro version which is sold now that uses many of the modifications that users created to try to make the Skerton perform better. I had one for years and it almost drove me out of home grinding. Luckily better hand grinders came along which while more expensive were substantially better. Now we are in a golden era for good hand grinders at very accessible prices.
The 10-15 dollar grinder at Walmart or Target, I forgot which. Can’t tell any real difference between that and my wife’s burr grinder that is much larger.
Capresso Infinity. It is an inexpensive conical burr grinder. I bought mine in 2012.
Mine lasted about 4 years before the thermister died. I replaced it with a 1Ω resistor and it works no problem. I’ve had to replace that resistor about every 4 years, three times so far, most recently a couple months ago. I would guess it is there to limit heat in the motor but the motor has not yet failed so 🤷.
I grind 60g of medium fine or 40g of coarse just about daily and it has otherwise held up fine. In the summer for the last few years I grind 120g of coarse every few days for cold brew, that is a longer grind and probably the most risk of overheating but hasn’t really affected the life AFAICT.
You may be able to spend more on a grinder that lasts more than 4 years, but this is a cheap and easy fix if you’re handy with a soldering iron.
I could not tell the difference between pre-ground and home ground coffee. I am happy with not having a discriminating palate, since pre-ground is easier.
With dark roast I haven’t found much difference either.
With a local medium roast, I don’t know if it was the beans, but I was able to get a pleasant fruity acidity out of my brew that I haven’t been able to find with supermarket medium roast grounds.
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