This is one of my favourite WDT tools (I’ve bought quite a few) when it comes to quality vs price, and when it comes to just being able to use one tool.
Features and Benefits
• Made from machined Aluminium, ergonomic and lightweight
• 0.4mm pins, perfect for a single WDT tool
• Dulled ends for less basket scratches
• Weighted holder to stop it constantly toppling over
• 9 pins for more thorough distribution
• Fully replaceable pins
Fusedline are a small family firm with a passion for coffee, I first came across some of their tools a few years ago via Etsy, and I found them to be among the more interesting brands developing new espresso related accessories.
This has 0.4mm pins, which I think is the best size if you’re using one WDT tool. Some people use two WDT tools, and each to their own, if want to do that then a 0.4mm tool or slightly thicker, even, is good for the first stage, and then maybe a 0.2mm tool for the surface.
It has 9 pins which I think is about right, and the angle of the pins seems good to me, too, you feel like you’re getting decent coverage with each concentric circle movement of the tool over the grounds.
The pins are very easy to replace, it comes with a little plastic tool so you can do so, so if you do damage a pin you don’t have to buy a whole new tool, and it comes with a spare pin, too.
The handle is nice to hold, it’s a bit bigger and easier to grip than some of the other tools on the market, and the tool and the stand feel and look well built, so I can’t see this being a tool that you’d need to replace for a long, long time.
There are cheaper DWT tools on the market, there are much more expensive DWT tools, too, this for me is just in the sweet spot when it comes to investing a reasonable amount of cash on a well designed and well built tool without going overboard on what is essentially replacing a cork with needles sticking out of it.