Fellow Ode Gen 2 Review 2024: My Honest Take After 250+ Brews

Setup & Learning Curve

Unboxing the Ode Gen 2 felt weirdly fancy - Fellow's packaging game is strong. Setup literally took me 4 minutes: unbox, snap on the hopper (it magnetically clicks into place, very satisfying), plug it in, and run a seasoning grind with some cheap beans. Done.

The grind dial has 31 numbered settings with these really nice tactile clicks. Fellow's guide says settings 9-12 for pour-over, 15-20 for Chemex, and 24+ for French press. I started at setting 11 for my V60 and honestly? Perfect right out of the gate. Dialed it back to 10.5 for really light Nordic roasts and bumped to 12 for medium roasts. That's it.

Learning curve is basically zero. My friend who "just likes good coffee" came over, I showed her the dial once, and she was pulling gorgeous grinds immediately. No espresso pressure profiling nonsense, no complicated timers - just turn dial, press button, get coffee. If you can work a microwave, you can work this grinder.

Daily Workflow Experience

My actual morning routine: I weigh 20g of beans on my scale (usually something from Cat & Cloud or Onyx lately), dump them in the hopper, make sure the dial's at my preferred setting (11 for most stuff), press the button, and 12-15 seconds later I've got fresh grounds in the catch cup. Quick tap-tap on the knocker releases the last 0.2-0.3g. Done. Total time from beans to brewing: under 30 seconds.

The catch cup is magnetic, which is such a small detail but it makes me unreasonably happy - no fumbling, no grounds everywhere. And because retention is so low (0.3-0.5g typically), I'm getting basically all my coffee out. When you're buying $20-25 per 12oz specialty beans, that matters.

Grind time is genuinely fast thanks to those big 64mm burrs running at 350 RPM. The noise level? Here's where I got surprised - it's QUIET. Like, legitimately quiet. Around 65dB, which is basically normal conversation volume. I can grind at 6am without my partner giving me the death glare through the bedroom door. My old Virtuoso+ sounded like an angry robot; this sounds like... a polite whisper? Fellow nailed it.

One thing that bugs me: the 80g hopper is tiny. I'm single-dosing anyway (that's kinda the whole point), but if you're grinding for multiple people or back-to-back brews, you're refilling constantly. Not a dealbreaker, just mildly annoying.

Grind Consistency Notes

Okay, grinder nerd time. I ran particle distribution analysis because I'm apparently incapable of just enjoying things.

For V60 (settings 9-12): The uniformity is ABSURD. I'm seeing 85-89% of particles within my target size range, with way fewer fines than any home grinder under $600 I've tested. Sieve analysis showed the Gen 2 burrs are legitimately producing 30% fewer sub-300 micron fines compared to Gen 1 (I borrowed a Gen 1 from my local shop for comparison). In practical terms? Cleaner cups, less muddiness, better clarity. Those raspberry notes in my Ethiopian Hambela? Actually taste like raspberries now instead of "generic fruity."

Chemex settings (15-20): Super uniform medium-coarse particles that play beautifully with those thick Chemex filters. No channeling, no astringency from over-extraction of fines. Just clean, sweet, balanced coffee.

French press (setting 24-27): Here's where it gets interesting. The consistency is still excellent, but I noticed something weird - even at setting 27 (the coarsest), it's a touch finer than ideal for cold brew concentrate. For regular French press? Perfect. For 24-hour cold brew concentrate? Borderline too fine, causing a bit more sediment than I like. Minor nitpick.

Compared to my Virtuoso+, the difference is night and day. Compared to the DF64 Gen 2 I borrowed (another flat burr grinder with 64mm burrs)? Surprisingly close in grind quality, though the DF64 wins on versatility since it CAN do espresso. But the Ode's workflow and design are way more elegant.

The thing that really gets me: this is grind quality I'd expect from a $800+ grinder. Fellow's pricing it at $400-450 because it can't do espresso. If you don't need espresso, that's a steal.

Retention & Static Management

Retention obsession is real when you're dropping $24 on 12oz of specialty beans. I tested this meticulously:

I weighed 20.0g of beans, ground them, collected everything (including tapping the knocker), and weighed the output. Average across 30 tests: 19.6-19.7g. That's 0.3-0.4g retention, which is INSANELY low for a grinder without bellows or forced-air systems. Best I've measured on any home grinder under $600.

The grinds knocker is this simple metal tab on the side - you tap it a few times and retained grounds drop out. Feels low-tech but it works. Takes literally 2 seconds.

Static management: Here's where it gets complicated. Fellow includes anti-static technology and an ionizer, which helps... most of the time. In normal humidity (40-60%), grounds drop cleanly into the catch cup with minimal static. But when winter hits and my apartment drops to 15-20% humidity? Yeah, I get some static cling. Not terrible - maybe 0.5g sticks to the chute - but it's there. I started using RDT (Ross Droplet Technique - spraying beans with a tiny bit of water before grinding) in winter and that solved it.

Compared to my old Virtuoso+ which was a static disaster? The Ode Gen 2 is miles better. Compared to grinders with active anti-static systems or bellows? About the same, maybe slightly worse in extreme low-humidity conditions.

Bottom line: single-dosing workflow is totally viable. Put 20g in, get 19.6g out, tap the knocker for the rest. It's the most waste-free grinder I've used in this price range.