Long Term Fellow Opus Review - Should You Still Buy a Fellow Opus in 2024?
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- Опубліковано 11 лип 2024
- Thanks for watching! Thank you to Fellow Products and Nick Terzulli for releasing the Opus grinder.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Intro
1:03 A Quick Thank You
1:35 Materials
4:36 Filter
6:03 Espresso
6:34 Static
7:15 Retention
8:03 Inner Adjustment Ring
12:21 Other Espresso Grinders to Consider
12:40 Conclusion
13:23 Improvements
16:01 Outro
Should you buy a FELLOW OPUS in 2024? If you're looking for a filter coffee grinder at a huge value and you appreciate this grinder's clean and minimal look, then I would say the Fellow Opus is the right grinder for you.
NOTES:
I don't know why I edited over 54mm as 53mm, it's definitely 54mm. I had it in my head during editing that I'd got that totally wrong.
As of this video's release, the DLC Burrs mentioned in this video are not currently available. Not sure if Fellow will be producing more of those or if they’ve decided to pivot into something else entirely.
Reddit Thread on Recalibrating an Opus Grinder: / fellow_opus_recalibration
Static and Retention: Yes, static and retention are related, but I address them as separate concerns because the ionizer sits at the end of the chute, just below the burr chamber. Admittedly, a lot of what I saw in the video is an oversimplification. Cleaning the grinder regularly helps. Not using RDT has a negative effect on static, but seems to have a positive effect on retention. Coffee still gets stuck in the grinder, but it only takes a single smack and the use of the lid as a bellows once to get most of it out. With RDT, more coffee clings to the internals, and thus you need to use more force to get it out.
Inner Adjustment Ring: Happy to talk to anyone in more detail about the inner adjustment ring, what problems I had, what worked, what didn't, etc. Feel free to leave a comment or send me a DM/email.
If the inner adjustment ring 'shifts' the grind range of the outer adjustment ring, but it doesn't move the burrs itself, and if 1 (-6) is purported to equal "0", and if I haven't moved the burrs after moving the inner ring but still advance 50 microns with each outer click, have I really 'micro-adjusted' at all? It's hard to say. My shots have been inconsistent and I haven't been able to garner enough data to support or disprove either possibility.
@celstark I think that the theory of your "lock-in" method makes total sense. If you think about how a micro adjustment ring should work then yes, the dial should always line up with the marks and users should add/subtract their micro-step count. I haven't been able to get it to work repeatedly, so I'm not sure if this is a me thing, if it's unique to my grinder, etc. This method isn't advertised as something the Opus is supposed to do mechanically, so I do still have my concerns. Thanks for sharing this with the community.
Check out Craig's video here and try for yourself: • Using the Fellow Opus ...
u/nameausstehend on Reddit: Thank you for the Beanie app! A great assist for many Opus users. The UI is simple and beautiful. I regularly use the Mentor Motif 'smart' scale - it comes with this dreadful app and I dream of a version that looks and works like your Beanie app. Sometimes I think about making my own app for this scale, but alas.
LINKS:
Fellow Opus: fellowproducts.com/products/o...
Baratza Encore ESP: www.baratza.com/en-us/product...
Turin Grinders: www.turingrinders.com/products
Velvet Fabric Tape: a.co/d/0iUc0Og
Just wanted to say thank you for the kind words and thank you for the review. Totally get your feedback! Also, I wanted to just mention quickly that we at Fellow had 4 engineers working tirelessly on this thing (Andrew, Matt, and Pat plus myself), plus all of the people who did marketing / planning / logistics, etc.! I just wanted you to know the names of everyone else who worked to get this out. We're always looking to make things better. :)
Nick! Thanks so much for dropping in! And thanks for letting me know where the credit is due - I’ll be sure to give a shout-out to the rest of the engineer squad in the next Fellow-related vid!
Thanks for the shoutout, happy you enjoy the app!
No problem! More people should know about it. Thanks again for creating it.
Thanks for the app..i downloaded it even before i got my opus
Thank you for the review! As someone with an Opus, it's nice to hear other thoughts on it. I own it in white and haven't noticed any of the wear that seems to plague the black units. The white also hides any fingerprints or smudging (but coffee turns it brown haha so thats something to keep up with). Your comment about some people finding the grinder to be set more coarse or more fine from the factory than intended is very interesting as I always thought I was grinding WAY higher into the numbers than others for filter coffee. So maybe mine is just a bit more fine! Love the filter coffee on this and also was easy to dial in for moka pot! Haven't made it down the espresso rabbit hole yet, so curious to see my thoughts there.
I’m happy you enjoyed the review. Thank you for your comment. It is very interesting that the white color way is more durable. We know Fellow spent more time on the white and hearing that makes me wonder if could be a reason. Sometimes I think about getting more white gear because it does look super cool. Agreed, the filter coffee is awesome. Please check back in if do end up using it for espresso!
Good Review, I appreciate it. I got the Opus and the Bambino Plus at Christmas time as my first journey into espresso after being a Chemex man for 10 years. I agree, the space to dial in for espresso is limited, and without a lot of other controls from the bambino, the grind is one of the main things I can change. But medium-darker roasts behave really well. I'm still trying to build a tasting pallet that might drive me to use the inner adjustment ring. So far, I've just stuck to the stock settings and never had problems with choking the machine or uncorrectable bitterness. I've also found the ionizer really good, haven't sprayed my beans at all like I was expecting to and I have 0 mess.
Thanks for watching! Definitely an awesome combo. I love the Bambino Plus and would say that my experiences so far match yours. It's been such a great start. It sounds like you know what you're doing! I've thought about snagging a bottomless portafilter and experimenting with different basket sizes, but so far I've been too happy with my results to change anything. I'm glad your ionizer is working well!
100% about the static!
This is a great video! Are you going to review anything next?
Thank you! Will do a mini review/short of the Timemore Black Mirror Nano scale soon!
I love my Opus, and largely use it for espresso. That being said, I may not be attempting to dial my grind in as perfectly as many more experienced espresso enthusiasts. The price for me, combined with the ease of cleaning and use makes it well worth the purchase.
if you’re having a good experience, then that’s what counts! I’m glad it’s working well for you.
I have been using Opus for about three months now and I have to say I agree with almost every point you made in the review. The retention is pretty bad if you don't tap, but the straight-down arrangment of the grinder helps to keep the retention minimal once you do tap.
The V60s from Opus have been great, the espressos (using the Flair) are hit or miss, but I'd say it's rather a workflow issue on my part.
Out of the box it was grinding way too fine for me, but after readjusting the dial I'm pretty happy with it.
Thanks for watching! I’m happy you’re getting good results with it. In regards to the retention, there have been times after cleaning the grinder where I opted not to use RDT and while a ton of grounds got stuck in the chute, everything came out with a single tap. I saw someone on Reddit say that the Opus doesn’t have a retention issue so much as it has a ‘blockage’ issue due to the chute design, so sometimes I wonder if RDT isn’t just making the problem worse.
@@stephenthorsteinsson You know, now that you mention it, I realize that ever since I started doing RDT with the Opus I need more taps to get out the dose I put in. I'll have to do some side-by-sides later.
The best way I found to clean the antistatic rods on my ode 2 is to use my front facing camera and a Q-tip. I found if you do this often, it keeps the retention down. Hope this helps
This is a great tip. Thank you!
incredibly insightful review thank you! how does the retention on the opus compare to that of the ode? would you say its any better? was literally about to check out on buying the opus rnrn but this video made me reconsider.
thank you! I appreciate your kind words. if comparing to the Ode Gen 1 for filter coffee only - MUCH better on the Opus. I would use minimal RDT, if at all. the ionizer keeps things in check. for espresso on the Opus, it’s not great. the ionizer struggles and RDT seems to make things worse rather than better because of the chute design.
I have an Ode Gen 1 and thought about upgrading to the Gen 2 for the ionizer but ended up going with the Timemore Sculptor. I’ve got the 078 but the 064 is good too.
hope this helps!
@@stephenthorsteinsson helps a ton thank you!
I have an opus for about a month. Its my first electric grinder and i say for the bucks it does the job pretty good. Retention is pretty damn but i learned that if u keep 1 bean and grind that single bean after you grind the others then plunge it(using the lid), itll come out good (most of it i guess).
Interesting. I haven't heard of this one bean trick. I'll give it a try! Thanks for the tip.
Thanks Stephen, good video. One thing that I've been questioning is, how we know that the finest setting is actually 0, for example with a hand grinder you know you are at zero because the burrs al slightly locked, here with the Opus that is not happening.
😂 I had a hard time putting back in place the inner burr and I hate I need to spank it every time I grind.
Thank you! Mine doesn't seem to have a true zero either. I updated the video description with a link to a Reddit thread of someone recalibrating theirs. It's a bit invasive (requires taking off the cover and therefore voiding the warranty), but they did a pretty solid job with the walkthrough.
Sometimes your coffee grinder needs a love tap or two 🤣
@@stephenthorsteinsson thank you, I'll take a look to the link and see if is a good option to try that
Very interesting! I'm looking for an electric grinder for filter coffee, and I'm on the fence between Fellow Opus vs Fellow Ode Gen 1 vs Baratza Encore (not ESP). Thoughts? Other suggestions in same price range? My old grinder is a blade, so any of these would theoretically be an improvement :)
I would probably suggest the Opus from a grind quality and workflow perspective, but the Encore is also great. I think it comes down to looks between those two! I would avoid the Gen 1 Ode because it may not grind finely enough for smaller batches of filter coffee.
I've recently bought an opus along with an espresso machine (that costs a third the price of the opus...) and I have been trying to learn it. Mostly for espresso right now, but also later on for filter coffee too. Although, that is while saying that my current filter coffee machine is a keurig with reusable k-cups, so my standards are pretty low tbh. It's been alright, I figured all the trial and error was just a part of learning how to do espresso.
Congrats! Indeed, trial and error is all part of the fun! Absolutely nothing wrong with a Keurig. I've never actually tried putting high quality specialty coffee in a Keurig, so who knows, could be great! I'm curious how the espresso turns out!
I’m that guy you thought was crazy. You’re not skipping gears or damaging anything. It’s actually why Fellow tells you to do. They have you move to 6, adjust the inner ring and then move back. The 6 is arbitrary. They want to make sure you have room to adjust (don’t go past 0) and they want to make sure you let the adjustment take place (move the outer dial).
The key insight (which you get when you watch that step less video) is that the inner ring doesn’t move the burr. It doesn’t adjust the grind. It adjusts the outer ring.
Think of it like this. You’ve got a screw thread that when you turn, moves the burr. You’ve got a knob on that that has detents. Say, every quarter turn you have a detent. Now, you have nice steps as you adjust that knob and can return to the same spot. Imagine now that you can rotate the detents by a small amount. Doing so didn’t actually move the screw - just where the detents are on the screw. The detents are rotated say a quarter turn. Rotate the screw now and it’ll land in a different spot as the detent stops it now between previous positions. But, you have to move the screw to make that happen. You’ve adjusted the adjuster not the burr itself. Maybe 1 click will do it but exercising it makes sure it’s settled.
The problem is that the overall movement has some flex and lack of precision. Going way out and back and you may not hit that same exact burr location.
Hey Craig, thanks for watching the video and moreover, thanks for your insight on the inner workings of the Opus.
And absolutely, yes, that makes sense. Everything you said makes sense. It's probably the explanation I would offer most people using the grinder for the first time. It's funny all the math we've been doing, when maybe it's not really that necessary. I think where most people stumble is that they can't see the adjustment taking place, so they're under the impression that it hasn't (admittedly, myself included).
When you couple this with the aforementioned play/movement in the ring due to the flex of the plastic and lack of precision, I think this is what ends up with the perceived lack of consistency in the Opus.
Thanks for the review Stephen. Can I ask how the grind time has been for your specific grinder? I've been having issues with mine after using it for a couple of months, where it now takes about a minute to grind 19g for espresso. It was OK at first (25-30s), but noticed it's been getting worse.
Thanks for watching! I ran some quick tests with a fresh, fairly light roast:
at setting 1: 29s
Mine has the exact same issue! When I first encountered it I couldn't find anyone else on the internet. I think it's a QC issue tbh. My first unit started getting extremely slow after only a day. Fellow sent me a replacement, which was fine for a while, but has now slowed down exactly how you're describing it. Might be worth contacting Fellow about it :)
@@stephenthorsteinsson this is super interesting. My machine can pull around 9 bars, but I can never go below the 3 mark on the grinder - calibration is dfifferent alright.
The popcorn effect seems to be the biggest culprit, as loading the grinder with more than 1 shot seems to speed up the process considerably. I'll investigate the plug selection
Thanks for your input! Can I ask what you mean by setting 1 (-6)?
@@nameausstehend This sucks. Can I ask what you're doing with this replacement that you got?
I'm in touch with Fellow, but having bought this in Europe, I need to go through the reseller and their supplier, which is a pain. I'm not sure if I should take the refund or try a new unit.
@@vitorpl No problem! I hope things work out with the diagnosis.
1 (-6) was my way of saying "outer ring: 1, inner ring: -6", or as fine as it can be set.
I bought opus in November 2023 and experience the huge retention, so naturally I always knock the machine to get the ground coffee out. Maybe one time I knocked too hard and suddenly (February 2024) I see the burr is somewhat wobbly and the grind time increased 2-3x times longer. I took it to the shop where I buy the opus and they do not have the 'knowledge' to problem / repair the grinder.
I have now make peace with the longer grind times, but found it to be more inconsistent than before. When I pull 2 espresso shots with no breaks, the first one seems normal (19 to 40gr in 25 seconds), but the second one is just flowing too fast (19 to 40gr in 20 seconds). That's a huge different and I don't know why.
I couldn't find a long term review when I bought this grinder, so yeah, I wish I didn't buy this grinder (for espresso) haha.
Hey, thanks for your comment. I’m sorry to hear about the troubles you’re experiencing. Are you weighing the dose on the way out of the grinder as well? It could be a retention issue with different amounts of coffee getting stuck between different doses.
The burr wobble is definitely a huge issue. I’m wondering if the stationary burr has actually come off of its seat - I would bypass the shop you bought it from and bring it up with Fellow customer service directly.
Hope this helps - again, I’m sorry you’re experiencing this issue and I hope you’re able to resolve it!
I'm interested on the Opus because I want a reasonably quick and quiet single dose grinder for immersion brewing at the office. It sounds like it might still be a good choice for me -- do you have any other recommendations? Thanks!
At a $195 price point, the Opus is very hard to beat from a noise perspective. The faster a grinder is, the more noise it’s liable to put out, but I think the Opus hits a great middle ground. The only other recommendations I can offer would be for much more expensive grinders - Niche Zero, Timemore Sculptor 078, Lagom P64. I’d stick with the Opus. The DF64 isn’t super loud but I don’t know if I enjoy the nature or texture of the sound it makes, if that helps.
I came from the Ode 1. Tapping comes 2nd nature to me. Lol
hahahahaha yeah….*sighs*
Nice review. I bought the Opus a while ago. When I took it out of the box the default settings applied, e.g. that number two was actually the espresso range and so forth. Then I made the mistake of doing those microadjustments after which number 3 is now what number 2 used to be., and number 2 and everything between 2 and 3 is just powder that'll choke my espresso machine. There's literally no instruction on how to reset the machine (apart from some tutorial where you first have to tear it to pieces, which I'm not going to do). Fellow's opus intruction videos don't really work or tell anything about how to reset it. And frankly a grinder isn't supposed to work like this. If you can't adjust and readjust without losing your mind and not knowing where you are on the grind scale, it's pretty bad. Yes, it does grind fine enough for espresso. Can I recommend it? Definitely not.
Sheesh. Wait, it’s still choking at 3 even with the blue inner ring back at 0? If so, dang. I like to pretend the blue ring doesn’t exist and that seems to help me from disassociating while I’m adjusting the grind. And yeah, there’s no true way to calibrate it without taking it apart and voiding the warranty. But I guess a silver lining is that it’s better to have a grinder on the finer side than the courser. If it’s really not working for you then it might be worth reaching out to Fellow. Anyway, thanks for watching the video, I appreciate it!
@@stephenthorsteinsson Yes, choking at 3 and making espresso at 3.1 or 3.2 etc. It's just tricky not being able to really dial in the shot properly. I might get a hand grinder instead. I did actually contact the seller. I'll see what they say. I might end up sending it back, since I don't see how this can be fixed without the voiding of warranty and knowing what to do.
Hey, I've owned a Fellow Opus for around three months now. To make the grinding process cleaner I was considering starting to use RDT, but I was scared it might break the machine. How long have you owned your Opus? You said you used RDT, and I'd just like to know over what period of time you used it
Hey there! RDT is totally fine, even in higher amounts. I owned the Opus for about 11 months and used 2-4 sprays the entire time. I took the Opus apart several times for regular cleaning and RDT never showed any negative affect on the internals. Burrs always looked great - clean, sharp, consistent.
However! I and other users have wondered if RDT doesn't merely exacerbate the retention of the grinder as opposed to reducing it. Everyone's grinder, environment and workflow is different - but you should definitely try it out and see if it helps.
@@stephenthorsteinsson thank you very much for the help! I appreciate it a lot and will definitely give it a try
I don't know if it's inherently like that or if it's a flaw. The magnet on the base of my OPUS is loose. It follows the cup every time I take it out, making a gurgling sound. Only used for less than a month, quite annoying. I use another way to avoid scratches on the base, using mouse feet, it looks quite good and is a bit more slippery.
That would drive me crazy. I know it's a small thing but I would be tempted to reach out to Fellow about it. Mouse feet is a great idea, thank you for sharing!
Question I use this just for filter coffee it jams daily. It makes great coffee, but it drives me insane that I have to bang it to get the coffee out. Any suggestions of how to fix this?
What roast level is your coffee, and are you using RDT? If you’re using RDT, I might recommend using less or none at all. Next suggestion after that would be to try slow feeding the beans. If you are having to hit it after this, one tap should work to get it all past the chute. I’ve had this same thing happen to me, and I think it’s related to the chute design. Hope this helps.
hi i drink mostly moka,,,i havce a baratxa but his time is ending burr really bad this days,,,wouls like bigger diametter gringer any suggestion df64 little prycy but i think at least will last loner , bartazxa lasted ok like a 1.5 year thanks
Hello! Truthfully, I don’t know. Baratza grinders like the Encore should last longer than a year and a half - I’m sorry that yours has not. If it’s going through a lot of use at a finer grind then the plastic components could be wearing out faster than usual. It is repairable, if you’re up for it, and I would recommend contacting Baratza customer service to see if they can help.
If not, and you’re looking for a new grinder that will go through heavy use, then I’d look at brands with good warranties - Baratza, Turin and MiiCoffee have one year warranties. MiiCoffee’s can be extended to three years for an extra $59. The Fellow Opus comes with a two year warranty, which becomes three if you register the grinder on their website (a fairly simple and free process). So for that reason I would go for the Opus.
But if the DF64 grinder is the one you want, then that’s most likely the grinder that you will be happy with (if you don’t like the Opus).
Hope this helps!
I’ve been using my Opus for espresso for the last four months now, and just recently the retention has turned into caking just below the burr. The caking is so bad that tapping on the top will not knock it loose, I have to remove the outer ring and brush it out for every shot. Any suggestions on what I would need to clean to prevent this?
To my immediate knowledge it could be two things: One: It depends on if you're using RDT, and how much. While RDT does help to reduce static, it also seems to increase retention - mostly due to caking. It's worse with darker roasts, but seems to happen to any coffee regardless. The chute design seems to be particularly prone to caking. There's also the small cavity where the ionizer sits in. You might try using less RDT or not using RDT at all (weird proposal, I know, but the ionizer should do some of the work) and slow feeding the beans to see if that reduces retention due to caking.
If you haven't been doing RDT at all, then I'm stumped. Maybe the opposite is true and RDT would actually help. That would be convenient.
Two: it could be because the outer burr carrier isn't perfectly level/flush, so there's a small gap that allows coffee to build up and cake right underneath. Here's a link to a reddit thread detailing that theory and possible shimming to re-align: www.reddit.com/r/espresso/comments/16llqeb/fellow_opus_recalibration/
Hope this helps, let me know what happens!
@@stephenthorsteinsson thanks for the help! I have been using RDT, it is on a dark roast, and I did err on the liberal dosage side with my method. I quit spraying my beans when the caking started but that didn’t help, I am going to try checking the gap under the outer ring for any debris that I didn’t notice because that is where the caking seems to start. Thanks again!
my issue with this grinder is that whenever I adjust both inner and outer ring, subsequent grounds are more fine that what I originally set, requiring further adjustments, this is insane! and also the grind time has increased about 10 more seconds, now I have to push the button twice rather than just once for 17.5g. I should have not bought this one tbh.
yes, it does take a little longer than one might hope to find your desired grind. while it is a great deal for the price, the Encore ESP may be a better fit. resale value on Facebook Marketplace is pretty high if you feel like selling the Opus in lieu of something else.
Why does my grinder grind but not grind.. Like it doesn't produce coffee just spins.... Like I've taken top burr out cleaned and all. Still nothibg. Wtf..
You’re positive the burrs are spinning when you engage the motor? There’s a little pin that pushes in when the hopper is put on, but you can push it down with a pen or knife to see what’s happening with the hopper off. There might be a blockage in the chute, or the grinder may be set so fine that it can’t grab on to the beans. Definitely reach out to customer service too!
@@stephenthorsteinsson hey thanks for the actual response, I was honestly just complaining lol. Good info! Yea i pushed the button down with a spoon and they are spinning and tossing beans everywhere but not actually feeding into the grinder well.. It worked for like 2 weeks flawlessly and now it's like I can get like 16 grams through after like 10 cycles and beating on it constantly.. I bought a paint brush and got down in there, a pipe cleaner and got the burrs sparkly and everything.. Put it back together and nothing.. Even bought a shop vac lol.. Like nothing is working..
@@tigerag29607 No worries, happy to listen. Sorry for the late reply. I guess my first questions are - have you been using RDT, and did you remove both the outer and inner burr when cleaning? RDT seems to result in hard caking over time, and there could be a lot of caked coffee (that even a vacuum won't get it) under the inner burr that's blocking beans from getting through.
If you did get under the inner burr, then you've already done everything you can, and so you should reach out to Fellow customer service for sure.
the inner ring is super confusing, I tried for a while to figure it out for espresso but eventually gave up and just use it for our daily filter coffee. also the need to keep hitting it to deal with retention is loud and frustrating.
I hear you. I find that mentally it helps if you think of it like a bongo drum. Every morning my neighbors get a free drum solo. They’re welcome.
LOL why is this so hard for people to understand? If you're at 2 on the outer ring, then adjust the inner ring coarser, you are just 50 microns coarser than 2. You don't go adjusting the outer ring after that..... YOU are making it too complicated.
If you move the inner ring on its own, sure. But people tend to move the outer ring to adjust the inner, and so they’ll wind up left of 2 instead of right. Then you gotta click it back. It’s not complicated, but it is initially confusing. Thanks for your comment!
I regret buying the opus. Retention is ridiculous and now mine makes a burning (electrical) smell inside. I’m just waiting for it to die to justifying a better grinder
I’m sorry, that sucks. Have you tried reaching out to customer service? You’re still within warranty period.
For someone who has a microphone on the side your audio levels are very weak, can barely hear anything
Thanks for your feedback! I just got some lav mics, hopefully they’ll be an improvement in the next video!