1Zpresso K-Ultra Manual Coffee Grinder Iron Gray with Assembly Consistency Grind Stainless Steel Conical Burr, Foldable Handle, Numerical External Adjustable Setting, All-Round…

What I use this for:
Primarily pour over coffee (V60), and potentially for espresso
Reviewing after about 7 months of consistent use

What I like about this:
– Materials used, feels like they used good materials and does not feel cheap. Everything from the metal, magnets, wood for the hand, rubber grip, etc. have that feel that they are good quality materials. But are they? Who really knows, but they sure do feel that way.
– Case included, blower, and double headed brush are all a nice touch. Continuing the high quality, overall the case is high quality and does do a good job protecting the grinder. The interior pocket system for the handle, the blower, and brush are questionable so is the decision to use a velvety lining which potentially can be harder to clean (but does keep the grinder safe from scratching). The blower and brush are similarly made well
– Easy to use and grind with. My first hand grinder was the Hario Skerton and grinding with that was a pain, nothing was smooth about it. The K-Ultra is smooth, easy, really satisfying to use.
– Magnet grind cup is absolutely wonderful. Don’t have to worry about threads getting grounds on them, grounds don’t leak out, overall just a pleasure to use
– Ground size seems to pretty consistent

What I don’t like:
While some of this might be nitpicky, I think it is warranted, after all this is a $290 grinder.
– Number alignment for grind size, is always off with the dot marker; while this isn’t a huge deal, it’s annoying to have such an expensive grinder and the white dot marker at the top always being slight off to the left or right for the number indicator
– Disassembly to clean. You can’t really get a good cleaning on the inside of the grind simply because there are things in the way, like structural supports and while I understand that some of this will always exist for hand grinders I think there could have been some better engineering to avoid this for a $300 grinder
– Reassembly is somewhat confusing and zeroing the grinder is pretty annoying and not user friendly. Because the numbers are always a bit offset from the grind size indicator as mentioned above, I’m constantly guessing if I did it correctly or not

Overall, I do like using this grinder. But do I think it was worth the price tag with it’s imperfections? Debatable. It makes good coffee, sure, and the build quality is there. But the lack of attention to detail for the grind size indicator to line up with the numbers along with the reassembly and the method in which you have to zero the grinder is some what of a red flag to me. Would I recommend this grinder to my friends and family? Probably not with the things that I dislike about it, but if you’re just wanting to make good coffee and can overlook those flaws then maybe (although I cannot recommend paying full price for it in that case).

This is my second grinder to replace my cheap grinder, the HEIHOX, which uses common burr found in many grinders like Timemore C2. The quality and ease of setting the grind level is the best as mentioned by other reviews so will focus my review on taste and if it’s worth the upgrade.
I have done tests between the two grinders using Aeropress and the results led me to conclude it all comes down to what you like. The cheap grinder gives sweeter and fuller body but less clarity, meaning no separation of various taste notes. K-Max tend to produce lighter body but more clarity because you can taste all the various flavors such as fruity and floral notes in fresh Ethiopian. If you like Ethiopian, then K-Max is great. I like having both grinders to be able to change things up but I enjoy both.
Some have said it’s easy to clean and calibrate. I’m very technical person and I can tell you it’s not that simple. You need to read and follow directions precisely. I ended up locking it and had to send it to 1zpresso to unlock it. At first they weren’t going to cover the cost but did so after I showed them that following their instructions caused it. They agreed and they updated their instructions since after they asked me to review it. I have to say they did a great job supporting their product and they’re very friendly to work with, which you won’t get with cheap grinders.
Is the K-Max worth it? Definitely! Its smooth and fast operation is the best so grinding experience is more enjoyable. It’s preferred for high end coffees because it is able to better extract flavor nuances from the beans while giving pleasant grinding experience.