Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm a Bodum fan, with lots of their glassware. I like their design aesthetic, and they certainly applied it to the Bistro Electric Burr Coffee Grinder. I bought it eight months ago, and at first I was happy with the purchase. I now regret buying it. I'll tell you why after I tell you why I started out so positive: What I like: 1) Great design, as mentioned. 2) Glass grounds container works great. 3) Not too noisy. (Though not super quiet, either.) 4) Metal burr assembly. Here are the problems: 1) 20 second on, five minute off duty cycle. I have a Bonavita coffee maker (love it) and there is no way 20 seconds grinds enough coffee. Do I wait for five minutes (painful) or risk damaging the Bodum (painful). I don't need a painful choice in the morning! 2) Ground coffee builds up under the burr sleeve (what I'm calling the stationary metal grinding surface that surrounds the rotating burr) which causes the grind to get finer and finer. 3) The gear train that connects the electric motor to the nice metal burr is plastic! So here is what happens. Over days and weeks, throughput goes down. Rather than 40 seconds of grinding, I need 60 (that would be 11 minutes ... too long, so I only give it two or three minutes between grinds.) Then I figure out that I need to really clean it, taking it apart as much as I can without tools. Now it gets better, but not to original performance. Then a few odd sounds and now the motor is running but the burr isn't turning. This is a product that should just work. Hey, Bodum, how about a version with beefy enough components that it can run for five minutes straight? Or just one minute straight? I'd pay more for that. I'd say it worked the way I want for about 20% of my ownership of it. Until the product is more robust, with more consistent performance, it isn't worth buying in my opinion. UPDATE: I connected with Bodum, which took some persistence, but ultimately they stood behind their product and I have a new one. I took the old one apart and will upload a picture explaining what went wrong. Taking it apart told me a lot; they didn't cut corners on the inside, but did make a fairly rookie engineering mistake, with a weak point in the gear train that was pretty obvious. Still, I was impressed with what I saw inside. Fix the mistake, put a bigger winding on the motor so it doesn't overheat, charge another $20, and they have a winner! UPDATE 2: i did upload pictures, and they were up for a while, but I notice they are gone now. Oh well. I found a flaw in the plastic geartrain. UPDATE 3: I like Peet's coffee (mocha java) and figured out it is a big part of the problem. It is just too oily for this grinder. The throughput is slow and it builds up. When I use a medium roast (Blue Bottle) it works much better.