Higher maintenance than I'd like, but good coffee quality
Positive Product Points
Easy to use, reasonably attractive, large water capacity, pretty good capacity for grounds and overflow water.
Negative Product Points
Maintenance is a pain and has to be done too often for my taste.
Detailed Commentary
It's a reasonably attractive machine for being plastic, and most of the plastic is of high quality and durable. It makes predictable, high quality shots with decent but not great crema. Could use a bit more pressure I think. There is quite a bit of programmability, some of it digital and some set by levers. Grind level and amount of coffee are set with levers, while temperature, water amount, and other settings are done digitally. There are three coffee size (water quantity) buttons, and each can be pressed twice for a double.
Seems to need cleaning of the grinder rather often, and it's an involved process. The grinder will often clog up and simply stop passing grinds at all. Because of the design you have to vacuum out the beans, use a screwdriver to take off the bean hopper, remove several internal parts, use a fork to clean the grinder blades, then recalibrate the grinder and put it all back together. The screws go into thin plastic which is starting to crack.
The brew group pops out quickly and is easy to clean. The grounds bin is ample. The tray holds plenty of liquid, but be careful dumping it! The shape makes it easy to spill from the side when you go to dump it in the sink.
I can't help but feel that there's probably a better machine out there in a similar or slightly higher price range that would be better. I don't know this for a fact, but if I had to buy another machine today, I'd take the risk with a different one. Not that this machine is terrible, but I think it could be better.
Buying Experience
Shipped directly from Costco, and arrived in 2-3 days. Great price.
