Reddit reviews Jovs Burr Conical Stainless Steel Grinder for Manual Use with Brush, Coffee Spoon, Bag

Unlike what one said above, I think you would be fine with a properly made prolex clone. I have one of these I can travel with, and I take a kalita and filters, or an aeropress with me.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019YO1DRQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Use this for a while and see if grinding your own coffee this way is really worth it to you. Grinding your own coffee, and understanding how coffee extraction works are the two biggest steps you can take to better coffee. After doing this for a while, see if you want to step up to a prosumer quality electric grinder (like a baratza).

Thanks, I was thinking of getting a nice Bodum one for ~$70, but then I realized I could get one like this, and to be honest, it looks like it would work just fine. I've looked around and seen the replacement parts, and even a good quality conical burr is $4. The markup for the word "coffee" is just insane. The actual materials are pennies, and the manufacturing and shipping by the OEM is a couple dollars.

I may not be an expert on coffee, but I know about manufacturing, and I'll be able to tell if there's any inconsistency in the grind even if I don't see a difference in flavor.

I'm gonna get that, some Koffee Kult Huila (lots of good reviews on Amazon, and South American is apparently what I want), some Kicking Horse Grizzly Claw (the one I have is good, so I'll try a whole bean of theirs), a scale, and a french press.

Worst case, I return it and get my money back, or I enjoy it. Best case, it does as well as a $100 grinder albeit with less durability. But if I just went straight for a $500 grinder, I'd never be able to do better, and I'd miss out on that.