Rancilio HSD-ROC-SS Rocky Espresso Coffee Grinder with Doser Chamber

This grinder produces excellent ground coffee. The grind size adjustment is high precision, allowing selection of the perfect level of fineness for espresso all the way up to French press. I use setting #11 for espresso. I've been using mine for about a year with no problems.The hopper holds enough for a typical 12 oz. bag of beans. I got the optional dosing attachment. I'd hoped it would allow me to reduce the amount of spilled coffee. It helps with that problem, but with some inconvenience. For example, one must remove the top cover of the attachment to see how much coffee has been ground. A clear plastic lid might help.You have to actuate the dispenser lever about 10 times to flush all the ground coffee out. It's hard to get a consistent amount of coffee out. I'm not sure the doser buys you much extra utility unless you're making a lot of drinks at one time.Overall, it's still a great grinder. It's heavy and seems to be built well.

very quiet grinder but then it is a Rancilio

I won't rate this product 5 stars because I don't believe it is a good value. At almost [...], this thing should be flawless, and its not. If my only criteria were grading the ground coffee it produces, it would be a 5 though. Let me say though that it does a fantastic job making espresso grounds.The path I took before I purchased this grinder started with a Black Friday sale at Starbucks where I picked up a Sirena espresso machine for $315. I had been coveting this machine since I had been introduced to espresso a year earlier but couldn't stomach the [...] gut wrenching price for that machine. Box in hand, I headed home to make my first espresso.Long story short, I spent a few days using my [...] blade grinder to grind the coffee and came to the conclusion that I couldn't get the grounds consistent, even or fine enough. So I spent some time reading the thread on c[...] about my machine and found that most people on there recommended the Rocky. I thought [...]for a coffee grinder was ridiculous (I typically use stronger language but....) so I shopped around and settled on the still expensive (seriously, we're grinding coffee here) but reasonable Breville BCG450XL Conical Burr Grinder. I liked the Breville as it was fast, quiet, clean, small and light. However, its finest setting ("Turkish") wasn't really all that fine. Even on the finest setting, I was pulling triple shots in 8-10 seconds (which is about 2 seconds longer than when not using any coffee!). At that rate the espresso is thin and there is no crema.Not being the type to give up on anything, I did some more research on the coffee grinders out there and was disappointed to find there was nothing in the $100-200 price range that people had good things to say about. Thus the Rocky was my cheapest "sure thing". I bit the bullet and bought it. To my satisfaction, it arrived later that week.From the first shot I knew I made the right choice; the coffee was thick and rich, with a frothy and yummy crema. It wasn't perfect, but damn, it was better than anything that had come out of the machine before that! It took a few more adjustments to the grind setting and tamping pressure to pull a 25-30 seconds shot, but I got there pretty quickly. The Rocky has the adjustability to grind so fine that it can completely choke the espresso machine. That's awesome! I've now got the grinder dialed in just perfectly for my beans. The shots pull consistently good with about 2-3mm of silky smooth crema every time.Now for the bad...1.) The doser - Inside the doser there is a 6 bladed sweeper that rotates when you pull the lever. However, the sweeper blades aren't quite long enough to reach the rim of the doser and thus don't sweep all of the grounds out. It leaves a substantial amount. I've learned to not use the doser lever anymore, but rather use a brush to sweep and move the doser blades around manually. That cleans it out very well.(As a side note, I think that the doser is necessary to break up the clumps of ground coffee coming out of the machine.)2.) The speed - 21 grams of coffee takes about 45 seconds to grind. The beans get stuck in the hopper too so I have to use my brush to sweep them! The Breville processed this much cofee in about 1/3 the time (granted it wasn't as fine, but still).3.) The weight - At something like 17lbs, it's a beast. With as much coffee as the doser slops out, I need to move it frequently to clean the coffee grounds off the counter. On the flipside though, I am glad I got a lot of metal for my money though as I know this unit is sturdy enough to last a lifetime.4.) Ergonomics - It's hard to get a grip on this thing to move it. I wish there were small handles on the side of it.5.) Cleaning - Everything is screwed together and nothing snaps apart. It's sturdy, but it's a pain to clean because you have to get the screw gun out to disassemble it.Overall I am happy with it as it makes delicious espresso. I would recommend it to anyone who is serious about good espresso.

Waited for a while before posting a review, as I wanted to be sure that we had worked out all of the kinks that is inherent in new acquisitions.I lived in Italy for a couple years in the 70s, and introduced my husband to the goodness that is a properly crafted espresso, which was reinforced through subsequent holiday trips to Italy. We owned a coffee shop for 12 years, so we are very versed in how to make proper espresso, as well as brewed coffee. We closed our coffee shop 5 years ago (for personal reasons) and sold off our equipment, except for the grinder that we used for the espresso. We promptly purchased a Rancilio Epoca S1 espresso machine for personal use in our remaining business, as we are quite picky about our espresso and it is close to impossible to find a coffee shop that encourages/trains baristas in the proper steps to making great product. Sad to say, our poor old espresso grinder became unusable for our exacting requirements, so we examined options to replace the old grinder. After a lot of consideration, we decided that putting money out at the beginning for a quality product was much more preferable than trying/testing a number of less expensive grinders.The product was shipped VERY quickly; no complaints regarding the shipping itself.As noted in other comments, there was a residue of grounds in the box when unpacked ... which we totally expected, as we knew that this was for mechanism tests ... rather it be tested at the factory than us have to do it! It is impossible to get every little bit of coffee out of the grinder without doing a dismantle for cleaning ... which could in itself lead to later problems. Instead of complaining about the grounds, we cleaned up the outside & loose parts before installing it on the counter ... quite an easy job.As we now live in an area that does have major shifts in humidity, we are eternally grateful for the ability to easily adjust the grind to accommodate the change in humidity from day to day. We use only filtered water in our espresso machine, tamp the grinds appropriately to get the correct draw timing for a perfect crema. Works like a charm. If we still had our coffee shop, we would use this grinder for decaf espresso, as we did not use that grinder as much as for regular espresso (we had an industry-appropriate work horse -- a Rancilio MD-50 -- for regular espresso). I was hesitant to spend so much on a grinder, but having purchased espresso equipment in the past (and buying an Epoca espresso machine for our personal use), it was far wiser to purchase something that would properly do the job and last a long while. If these machines can stand up to coffee shop abuse, they should last a long time in the personal environment.

I really like this machine! Every batch of beans I grind comes out consistently ground without partially ground or odd-sized bits. The machine is heavy-weight and does not move while running. And it's quiet -- a lot quieter than the $25 grinders I have used in the past. No ear plus necessary. It also has a wide range from coarse to powder-fine, allowing me to choose my favorite grind size. If I were to buy a Rancilio Rancilio grinder again, I would choose the model without the doser. It's not important to me as I know how much coffee to put in the basket. That said, it's easy to put a little bown under the doser and dispense grounds into the bowl.