The Rocky is a great grinder and you will not regret going without food for a few weeks if necessary to afford it.
As the regulars around here know (and are probably sick of me saying), I am a huge Mazzer fan, and I currently use two
Mazzer Mini's at home, one for espresso and the other for everything else. Built like tanks, and commonly found in many coffee shops around the world, for a reason.
I have a secret crush on
this little beauty, and there is no good reason I haven't purchased one yet. In fact, just finding that link may be what sets me off.....
Manual grinders are great, and I use one in my portable kit. I just purchased the Lido 2; I have not had a chance to really use it yet, but I put in some beans the other night and it grinds like butter. My general concern with manual grinders is that I truly believe that getting the freshly ground coffee into the machine absolutely as quickly as possible is hugely important. Seconds count. For me, I cannot grind quickly enough with a manual. The coffee ground in the first few seconds will be much "older" than the coffee ground at the end, and I believe that (for me) that impacts taste. I imagine Shrink has these Popeye-ish forearms and so it does not matter for him. For a weakling like me, it does. Of course, there are other considerations in which manuals excel, such as heat, etc.
Buy the Rocky. That's my advice.
PS: the ultimate judge is taste. But, if you want to check out a grinder, grind up something fresh and then spread out the grounds on a white cloth and haul out your trusty magnifying glass that you use to sort your just-roasted beans. Look for perfect consistency in grain size. It's really easy to see missing consistency.
