Review: The MHW-3BOMBER Sniper Grinder

New coffee grinders are hitting the market all the time these days, and certain Chinese brands in particular seem to be launching new products at a breakneck pace.

In this review, I’m taking a look at an intriguing new single-dose grinder from a brand with a rather quirky name.

This grinder has a lot of cool features on paper, but there are also some potential drawbacks to consider.

I’ll be putting this grinder through its paces, evaluating its strengths and weaknesses, to help you decide whether it’s worth your hard-earned cash.

Please note: The brand did send me a review unit for this test, but has had no influence on the content and has not seen this review before publication.

About MHW-3Bomber

MHW-3Bomber is a somewhat enigmatic brand coming out of China.

The company name itself is a bit of a head-scratcher – I saw somewhere that “MHW” stands for “Make Hard Warm,” though I’m not entirely sure what that has to do with coffee grinding or bomber aircraft.

Despite the militaristic branding (the grinder model I’m reviewing is even called the “Sniper”), MHW-3Bomber seems to be a serious player in the coffee equipment scene, with a growing range of accessories and an expanding global presence. I have already used the brand’s puck screens and tampers and I’m quite impressed with the quality-to-price ratio these guys are offering.

First Impressions

Upon unboxing the MHW-3Bomber Sniper Grinder, I was immediately impressed by the solid build quality.

Despite the reasonably compact size, the grinder feels sturdy and well-made. It weighs in at 8.76 pounds (just shy of 4 kg), so it’s around 30% more heavy compared to typical entry-level grinders such as the Baratza Encore.

Thr grinder has some nice touches like a wooden cap and panel on the back.

Actually there are three different lids – a metal one, a clear plastic one for a view of the beans, and a wood one that feels like the best match by far.

The included cleaning brush is an absolute unit – a thick, substantial wooden brush that would be equally at home in a hipster lumberjack’s toolkit. There’s also dust blower for cleaning.

And then finally there’s the powerplug which to be honest feels more like something that belongs with a Windows Laptop from the early 2000’s than a modern grinder.

But this is a trend we have seen more and more recently, starting with the Lagom Mini. With an external power brick, the grinder itself can be made more nimble and elegant, but then you have the additional headache of hiding a potential eyesore in your kitchen/coffee station.

Everyday Performance

In daily use, the Sniper Grinder is a pleasure to operate.

One of the key features of the MHW-3Bomber Sniper Grinder is that it’s designed for single dosing. Single dosing is a method of grinding coffee where the user weighs out the exact amount of beans needed for a single brew, rather than filling a hopper with a larger quantity of beans.

This gives more flexibility if you want to change beans, and usually grinders build for this dosing method, have lower retention and exchange.

In my experience, the hopper capacity is well-suited for the typical home user who primarily makes one or two cups at a time. If you’re someone who regularly needs to grind larger quantities for bigger batches or multiple people, you might find the hopper size a bit limiting – more than 35 grams and it starts to a problem. That said, for the average solo coffee drinker or couple, the Sniper Grinder’s capacity should be more than adequate.

The Sniper grinder’s burr chamber design is similar to that of the Varia S3 and Lagom Mini manual grinders, so it’s well-suited for single dosing.

This type of burr chamber does have some advantages, it’s very easy to clean you don’t need any tools take it apart and the retention is also very low. The burr chamber is compact and the path from the burrs and down into the chute and further down to the ground bin is shorter than on many old-school electric grinders. So overall there’s not really room for much retention.

The magnetic grounds bin and chute also make for very easy cleaning.

Grinding for pour over is a standard affair, but espresso requires a bit more patience due to the slower grinding speed. For reference a 17 g dose of espresso beans takes around 33-35 seconds to grind.

The grinder has a rather low retention around 0.1 to 0.3 grams. If you give it a few pads on top of the grinding chamber, you’ll usually get a bit more retained grounds out, getting very close to zero retention.

The magnetic grind size indicator ring can slide around a bit, but it’s easy to realign with the zero point.

Conical Burr Flavor Profile

When it comes to taste, the Sniper grinder delivers solid results. Espresso shots exhibit the characteristic thick mouthfeel of conical burr grinders, with reasonable flavor separation.

In side-by-side tests with the popular 1Zpresso K-Max hand grinder (which uses a similar heptagonal 48 mm conical burr set), I found it nearly impossible to distinguish between the two in the cup.

For filter coffee, I initially found the Sniper Grinder to produce a slightly astringent, bitter finish.

However, after experimenting with grind size, I discovered that coarsening the grind yielded increasingly better results. At the optimal setting, the Sniper Grinder again matched the 1Zpresso K-Max in blind tastings, and I was unable to consistently pick which cup was which.

Ultra-Low RPM Motor

One of the standout features of the Sniper Grinder is its ultra-low RPM motor. The manufacturer claims an RPM of 160, though to my eye, it seems even slower – just slightly faster than a manual grinder. This low RPM helps to avoid both generating heat as well as the regrinding effect sometimes encountered with high-speed electric conical grinders. The result is a flavor profile that showcases the best of what conical burrs have to offer.

Some users might be concerned about the longevity of the motor, given the issues reported with similar designs like the Varia and Lagom Mini grinders. However, in my testing (which included heavy use for espresso), I encountered no problems with the motor.

Detailed Testing Results

After my initial testing, during the time when I recorded my YouTube review, I borrowed the grinder to a friend, and he has since been using it to make 3-4 espresso shots per day for more than 6 months, and the grinder is still going strong. So I feel pretty confident in it.

In my extensive testing, the MHW-3Bomber Sniper Grinder consistently delivered impressive results. Espresso extractions were on par with top-tier hand grinders, with a thick, syrupy body and good flavor separation. Filter coffee, once dialed in, was clean and balanced, without any noticeable astringency or bitterness.

Retention was minimal, averaging around 0.1 to 0.3 grams with a quick whack of the grinder after grinding. The low RPM motor and optimized burr geometry seemed to contribute to the grinder’s excellent performance.

External Power Brick

One potential downside of the Sniper Grinder is its reliance on an external power brick. While this design choice helps to keep the grinder compact, it does add a bit of clutter to your coffee setup. You’ll need to find a place to tuck away the power brick, which might be a challenge in some kitchens. However, this is a relatively minor quibble, and the grinder’s performance more than makes up for any inconvenience.

Conclusion

The MHW-3Bomber Sniper Grinder is a compelling entry into the high-end home coffee grinder market. With its low RPM motor, all-round burr geometry, and solid build quality, it delivers impressive results for both espresso and filter coffee.

While the quirky branding and relatively high price point might give some buyers pause, the Sniper Grinder’s performance is on par with some of the best hand grinders on the market. And that means that it’s very good!

If you’re looking for a compact, single-dose grinder that can handle both espresso and filter coffee with ease, the MHW-3Bomber Sniper Grinder is definitely worth considering.

However, in today’s crowded market, the Sniper Grinder faces stiff competition from high end flat burr grinders like the DF64 Gen 2, which can further be modded with SSP burrs.

If this grinder had been released just 3-4 years ago, I would probably have called it best-in-class. But today you have so many stellar options in this price range that it just stands out as yet another very good option.

➡️  Check the current price here