Quamar: Grinding on Demand with the M80
If you’re looking at grinders like a Mazzer Super Jolly or Electronic, how about similar performance for about 25 percent less? To make a long story short, Quamar grinders are based off the design of the Fiorenzato T80, a proven workhorse. Daddy Fiorenzato had sons that took over the company and then split. The company with the T80 molds is Quamar. They did some upgrades and the result is the M80 line.
Three Models
So there are 3 models in the M80 line. A manual doser,timer doser and my personal favorite the polished chrome electronic doser. This one’s gonna be a hit for those looking for a commercial grinder to match a classic semi-auto espresso machine. As for specs, it’s almost an exact match to similar Mazzer models on everything except price. 1600 RPM’s and nearly identical burrs and motor watts.
Compared to Mazzer
Where things are a little different is up top on grind adjustment. The top burr is not spring loaded and adjustment is silky smooth. While it operates like a continuously variable grinder it does have 60 detents for each full turn of the adjustment collar. Without those springs it’s much easier to get the adjustment collar back on after maintenance and there’s much less chance of cross-threading because you don’t have to compress them when you put the collar on.
Ground Trays
All the models have grounds trays that are a uniform piece of the housing. On the electronic model there are 3 timed presets adjustable by a 20th of a second. It can operate manually as well and has features like date, time and dose counters.
Size
For those wanting to fit these grinders under cabinets, all are just under 21 inches high with the hopper. So we imagine some buyers will chop the hoppers a bit to get under 18 inches. With the straight sides of the hoppers and their width it shouldn’t be hard to do. The hopper lid will still fit and you’ll still have decent bean capacity.
Summary
The Quamar M80 is potentially a cheaper version of more well known grinders with similar specs, however the only con is possible quality difference.