Breville BCG450XL Conical Burr Grinder

This is my first conical burr grinder, so starting out I spent several hours reading reviews from other conical burr grinder owners within this price range. So far I am very pleased. Everything with this transaction has gone smoothely. Upon opening the package, everything was in order, with easy to understand instructions. It took a couple of days to find the correct grind, grind time, etc, but I expected that. Compared to my old blade grinder, the motor is very quiet. There is very little mess, and a couple of light taps does away with any static. Care and cleaning are minimal. The grind is fairly even for the price range, and a great deal more even than with my old blade grinder. So far I have no complaints, and I am hoping it will last a while. This particular model is very sleek and nice looking on my countertop. For the price, as well as, the length of time I have owned it, I am quite happy with this product.

This grinder is our first conical grinder and it is a huge improvement over the old blade grinder. I bought this along with a French press and it's a great combo. You can turn the top coffee canister to dial-in the type of grind you want. The settings are labeled with the different types of coffee so there is no guess work. We just set it to the "press" setting, for French Press, and they grind to the perfect size every time. You can fill the top canister with beans and use the timer to set the quantity of coffee desired or just use a measured scoop and set the timer a little long so it grids up the whole scoop/s. This is what we do because my wife and I like different types of coffee. The grounds comes out into a little plastic container on the bottom and you dump it into the coffee maker. Cleaning is very easy, just turn the top to the "align" mark and remove it, take out the grinder thing and rinse off. I found that if you tip it upside down over the sink you can shake out any loose grounds. This is much quieter than any other blade grinder I've ever heard. It still makes noise but it's not that loud. This fact alone makes it worth the money in my opinion. There is nothing worse than a blaringly loud, warbling, grinder siren in your ear first thing in the morning. That old blade grinder will go right in the trash after you get this thing.

The Breville grinder was a tremendous improvement over what I had been using (must confess: an overused and abused old burr Capresso)! Extremelly quiet with a novel idea: grounds do not stick to the container at all - almost like magic! Only not so wonderful a comment would be that this grinder does not have a espresso grind, that is the setting says espresso but the result is still a bit coarse. Considering the price and the fact that I rarely use it for an espresso brew, this Breville is a terrific machine.

After one year it just died - stopped working all together. This is the second Breville appliance I purchased in the past year that just died. What a disappointment! It actually wasn't a bad espresso burr grinder but I cannot believe that it lasted only one year - Breville shame on you!!!!! Steer clear of their panini press as well, it too just stopped working.

I don't know why but as long as this unit is plugged in, the front of the unit stays warm to the touch (just over the timer/pushbutton). Sounds like it has an electrical problem to me. Going to check residual current draw. I might return it for replacement. I understand a sophisticated electronic device (an HD TV) benefiting from "instant on" trickle current, but a grinder motor? I don't want to waste power for no (good) reason!

Otherwise the Breville works great. Quieter than my old Krups blade "hacker", which even though it lasted for over 10 years, did not make an excellent cup of coffee. This grinder DOES make an excellent cup of coffee. Using an identical batch of beans, the taste is MUCH better. So even with the grinder staying warm, I am glad I upgraded. Worst case, I will keep it unplugged.