Innova I-1 flat burr doserless grinder final review

less than the sum of it’s parts…

I was convinced after reading Mark Prince’s glowing reviews of the
Innova grinders, that my
grinder was an obvious defect – a factory lemon. It had obvious
mechanical deficiencies, excessive burr slop, shattering plastic spouts
and on top of that – courier damage caused by insufficient packaging.
Getting parts fixed or replaced
turned out to be a nightmarish experience. [Please read the CSI
Chapters for the excruciatingly painful details].

After weeks of negotiating, Innova Spain finally had to put their foot
down and told their Canadian distributor to give me a replacement.

The grinder has finally arrived and once again its back to the test
bench.

A close examination of the exterior of the grinder indicates a slight
dent and a crack with a sharp edge in the polished aluminum body. Could
be cosmetic; perhaps a slightly "off" cast from the mold.

I removed the plastic top panel and could immediately see a few small
cracks on the spout where the screw attaches to the cast aluminum body.

Not good. I haven’t even turned on the grinder yet!

A teardown reveals the same problems as my initial grinder. Burr slop.
Weight of the burrs are again on the lower lip of the brittle plastic
spout. Gear binding not
as bad – but still apparent. Maybe this plastic spout on this unit
won’t self-destruct in a week or two…

Time to dial in.

To my infinite surprise and horror, I could not get the grinder to
grind fine enough to get a proper 25 second single even with a full weight tamp. The burrs were already touching and I did not not want to push it further.

I removed the teflon tape from my original I-1 and test it with the
same
beans( Sweet Marias Puro Scuro). The burrs are scaping together and the
grind is not fine enough.
The hopper is vibrating and buzzing like a tuning fork. Too coarse once
again and the shot gushes.

Despair indeed. I was convinced that my first grinder was a factory
lemon – a random defect. Alas – it was not the case. The second grinder was no better than the first. Two Innovas
running side by side and neither is capable of grinding coffee beans.

It looks like the Innova I-1 has some serious design flaws compounded
perhaps by manufacturing difficulties.

Poor design, Bad build quality. Breaking parts. It doesn’t work.

My original recommendation stands: Innova I-1 flat burr : NOT
RECOMMENDED.

PS: In a Japanese automotive assembly line any worker can shut down the
entire line if they spot even a minor defect. I’ve sounded the alarms,
pointed out the problems, begged to talk to an engineer.. Someone,
please PULL THE CORD!