Which to buy · Every setting
Breville Smart Grinder Pro vs Fellow Opus
Two grinders cross-shopped at the same money. The Opus is numbered 1–11; the Smart Grinder Pro is numbered 1–60.
Which to buy
Choose the
Smart Grinder Pro if you…
- grind from a 1 lb hopper with a locking system and an airtight lid
- grind into a portafilter — cradles for 50–54 mm and 58 mm come in the box
- want a timer set in 0.2-second steps, by shots or cups
Choose the
Opus if you…
- want cold brew as well as espresso — Fellow rates it from espresso to cold brew
- want an inner ring for micro-adjustment between the 41 dial settings
- want a timed auto-stop at 30, 60, 90 or 120 seconds
Shop links are affiliate links: BrewMark earns a commission if you buy through one, at no extra cost to you. The verdicts were written without regard to it.
Fellow now sells the Opus 2 in place of the original; the settings on this page are for the original.
Sources: Fellow — Opus (archived) · Fellow — Opus gear guide · Breville — Smart Grinder Pro · Breville — Smart Grinder Pro manual
| Smart Grinder Pro | Opus | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Breville | Fellow |
| Scale | Numbered dial | Numbered dial |
| Dial range | 1 – 60 | 1 – 11 |
| Burrs | Conical | Conical |
| Espresso → filter | 27 numbers | 5.7 numbers |
| Filter → coarse | 15.8 numbers | 3.9 numbers |
The same number means different things
Both grinders use a numbered dial, which makes it tempting to copy a number straight across. Setting 6 sits at grind index 0 on the Smart Grinder Pro but 34.2 on the Opus — far enough apart to change the cup.
Converting a setting
If a recipe quotes a setting for one of these grinders, read across for the equivalent on the other. Rows are spaced evenly by grind size, not by dial number — on a conical burr those are not the same thing.
| Smart Grinder Pro | Opus |
|---|---|
| 15 | 1.2 |
| 16 | 1.2 |
| 23 | 3.2 |
| 35 | 5.3 |
| 44 | 7.1 |
| 50 | 8 |
| 54 | 8.2 |
| 57 | 8.3 |
| 58 | 9.1 |
| Opus | Smart Grinder Pro |
|---|---|
| 1.2 | 15 |
| 2 | 16 |
| 3.2 | 23 |
| 5.3 | 35 |
| 7.1 | 44 |
| 8 | 50 |
| 8.2 | 54 |
| 8.3 | 57 |
| 9.1 | 58 |
| 9.3 | 58 |
| 10.2 | 58 |
| 11 | 58 |
Side by side, by brew method
Where each grinder lands for the same brew, worked out from its own dial curve.
| Method | Smart Grinder Pro | Opus |
|---|---|---|
| Espresso | 12 | 1.2 |
| Moka pot | 16 | 1.3 |
| AeroPress (short steep) | 23 | 3.2 |
| Pour over — V60 / cone | 41 | 6.3 |
| Siphon | 44 | 7.2 |
| Pour over — flat bottom | 46 | 7.3 |
| Steep and release — Clever / Switch | 48 | 8 |
| Drip / batch brew | 50 | 8 |
| Cupping | 51 | 8 |
| Chemex | 54 | 8.2 |
| French press | 58 | 9 |
| Cold brew | 58 | 10 |
The shape of each dial
Where the connectors bunch, that grinder’s dial is compressed and single steps count for more. Comparing the two shapes tells you which gives finer control, and where.
Breville Smart Grinder Pro
Fellow Opus
Dialing in the Smart Grinder Pro
Sixty settings sounds like fine control and mostly is not — the useful espresso territory compresses into the bottom handful of steps, and there is an internal burr adjustment most owners never touch that shifts the whole scale. If the finest setting still pulls fast, the internal adjustment is the fix, not the outer dial. Filter and French press, by contrast, are well served and easy to hit.
Dialing in the Opus
Marketed as all-purpose, and it genuinely does cover more range than the Ode, but the espresso end is workable rather than good — expect to chase it. Where it earns its place is the coarse end: cold brew and French press come out notably even. If you bought the Opus mainly for espresso, dial it as a brew grinder first and judge it there.