Using hard water will ruin your espresso machine. Soft water no higher than 50ppm is required to keep your espresso machine running for the long term. Using hard water will void the warranty.
I am a few weeks into using the DF64 Gen 2.3 and I am really happy with it. I am around 2 years into my espresso hobby journey, so I am knowledgable but not an obsessive hobbyist. The negative on this grinder so far is two items. First the noise - it is loud. Second, my espresso machine requires a 3 ear portafilter and from what I can tell the rest on the grinder doesnt accept the front ear which means I have to use the included dosing cup. There is a rubber piece where the front ear might go, but when i tried to remove it I found it was glued down. The positives are the build quality, the quality of the grind, the grinder itself is very functional. Even though its loud, when I grind 18g of coffee between grind size 10-15 it takes around 8 seconds, which is significantly faster than my previous conical burr grinders. I am overall stoked with the purchase - at this price its great quality if you are looking to upgrade from your first grinder or looking for a starter espresso grinder. (Note - I have only used this for espresso so far - no pour overs etc.)
Unit arrived quickly and in good condition I was able to watch the videos and set it up and get roasting right away definitely buy some seasoning beans so that you can master the rate of rise and understand what temperatures things happen with this unit. Mine was about 15 degrees lower than my SR540
Purchased a new unit with the DLC Burrs. I’ve changed out the cup holder with a shaker holder off Etsy and it’s working out great. Nice and quiet, sleek looking machine. Shipping was fast, have not had any issues thus far. Would recommend for anyone in the price range. The upgrades and changes have really tightened this machine up to have a huge bang for the buck. Not sure you can find anything that will match it at the price.
This is my first grinder for espresso, and wow, did it ever improve my espresso shots. Thank you for opening the world of delicious home made espresso.
