The one use case I can see for commercial pros in a cemmercial setting is the brew assist REALLY speeds up dosing because you don’t need to be as precise and you still get the perfect ratio. Big time efficiency, which does in some ways make the brew assist a pro setting, just not in the way you would think at first
We use a couple of these in our cafe, and they’re outstanding in that setting. They’re super durable and accurate. My biggest gripe is how the brew assist only allows ratios in 0.5 increments. Unless you’re brewing at a perfect 0.5 increment, that feature (one of its biggest selling points) is useless. Considering how common it is for people to brew at 1:16.6, for example, this feels like a massive oversight.
I hope fellow is reading these comments because there is some really great feedback here. And, depending on how the USB port works the scales may even be able to receive a firmware update
I got it immediately when it came out and agree that it is a wonderful investment that will pay in dividends of joy. The price is not an issue for me, as I pivoted to coffee from a craft beer brewing/drinking hobby which is 10x more expensive. Everything is relative. I do have one huge issue (that i need to bring up to Fellow). The battery management is horrible. When in guided mode, the power-off timeout is like 60 minutes which eats up the battery life. When the battery is dead, it let's me know half way through my brew and just immediately powers down leaving me hanging. It seems like it should give you more advance warning. This happens about once a month.
Great review! I am especially happy that you highlighted the glossiness which is an absolute pet peeve for me and will be the reason I'll look for alternatives. I also checked out a few other videos and they were equally detailed, covering things that others do not go into. The Cafesing Orca video was especially good.
I have one, and agree the user experience is fantastic. Because it responds so quickly, while you pour there's direct feedback from the screen which is something I haven't experienced with any other scale, including acaia. Worth it? Definitely for me, as making a pour-over is a very important daily routine in my life.
Just ordered my Fellow Tally Pro because I saw your review and bought the Fellow Stagg EKG Pro a few days ago. Thank you so much for this accurate and honest review. I guess I'm a bit disappointed now that the scale doesn't work with my Filtru app to check flow rate, but hey. The better is always the enemy of the good. Isn't it?
This is a nice looking scale. I like the ratio brewing feature and that there’s no apps or Bluetooth. If I drank pour overs as much as I drank espresso, I would consider splurging for this. Fellow needs an espresso scale now that can fit the Flairs! Something like this, not many features, no connectivity, quality and durable. I’d pick one up
It does what it’s suppose to do without frivolous features I’d never use. It has a really nice user experience. Not crazy about the glass but just having such nice physical buttons and the OLED is already worth the price.
Really if I was recommending to someone just starting out in pour over, who had a large budget to play with… sure. In any other instance….. I don’t think so. It seems too posh for the cafe and too expensive for average users to justify the cost. But if your really into a brew bar that has everything matching, and your going the fellow route. Then it fits right in.
I would agree, except I have seen several cafes that use them. Have to be the right type of cafe. I think home users this will come down to budget/priorities
I love the brew assist feature, but my biggest thing I want for “the ultimate brew scale” is Flow rate mode. If you’re deep down the pour over rabbit hole which I’m assuming most who would pay 185 for a pour over scale have also gone down the flow rate rabbit hole lol I want to play with my flow rates sometimes and do comparisons.
I recently started my coffee journey, and the Fellow scale was my very first purchase. I have noticed however, that after weighing out a dose of coffee, the displayed weight will drift away a little bit from the original weight. Usually not more than a few tenths of a gram.
I've had one for some months now and enjoy using it and how it looks on the coffee bar. Yes, cleaning is a bit fussy, but so are a number of items on the bar. I really appreciate the very fast response and how good the screen looks. Lots of $ for a scale? Yes, but pales in comparison to other coffee gear.
The timemore scales are a nice middle ground that I’ll frequently recommend. There’s some solid options on aliexpress too if you go for that sort of thing
I will admit that I’m in the same camp as you are… That is, I like nice stuff. I have thought about the scale, and thought about the scale, time and again. I keep coming back to the fact that coffee/water ratios are so easy to compute, that my $11 scale is really all I need. Cannot justify it.
I have the digital kettle that matches this (not even going to try and type the whole name out…silly naming convention), and I’m picking this scale up because it matches the aesthetics and build quality of the kettle, but also seems really responsive, with the quality OLED screen. I’d personally like to see a video where you use this scale with the AeroPress.
Does it measure negative weight, if you put a weight then zero it, then take 1g increments of say water , will it register -1grams then -2grams etc? Can auto off be disabled?
Can you use it as a food scale? And does the scale remember what mode it last used? (When I turn it off in weight mode, does it come back on weight mode or does it automatically go to default mode like timer or w/e?)
Great review, but you didn't mention accuracy, which I trust is excellent due to the price and the Fellow brand. I recently bought an expensive coffee scale ($20) for travel, with an excellent form factor, almost matching my Acaia Pearl scale which I have used fondly for years. The difference is accuracy, the Acaia is dead on every time (I have some inexpensive calibration weights I tested them with). I trust the Fellow is the same, but it would be nice to see some test results. If I didn't have the Acaia Pearl, this scale would be a strong contender.
So far, I absolutely love this scale. My only real complaint, especially at this price point, is the lack of Bluetooth connectivity (which I appreciate with my Acaia Pearl). It should be built on a platform that supports firmware updates as well as connections to various brewing apps.
For $185... without a firmware upgrade option.... NO WAY. I'll wait for better firmware/software support. I was temped... but no way now. Do your own math. Also, many recipes don't use ratios as a guide... it's time and weight. Nah. Did they give you this? Because if you're too lazy to pick a coffee bean out of the dosing cup...
