Don't expect it to maintain its original working state.
Positive Product Points
It started out very well. Great shots with decent creama, using fine grind and decent tamp pressure. After priming for steam, the steam wand can be used even after the 'heating up' light comes on.
Negative Product Points
After about 2 months, the steam wand began leaking in spurts. With a full boiler heating up, the wand would spit out water erratically.
After 5 months of use, the wand spitting had evolved into leaking. Imagine a tap turned on just enough to flow without slowing to a drip.
After 7 months of use this leak is even worse and worsening by the week it seems :( I think this leakage is affecting the pressure of water moving through the group head. I use finely ground coffee, and I have to tamp it as lightly as possible (just enough to flatten), and it still comes out much too slowly. Switching to a coarser grind does not really help. A 25 second single shot can be pulled with coarser grind, but with considerably less crema than before, or none at all. This is with a HEAVY tamp, a tap of the portafilter, then a HEAVIER tamp.
Detailed Commentary
After using this machine for 7 months, it has lasted shorter than I expected. It does not perform anywhere near how it used to in its first few months of use. Steam wand leakage is costing me pressure in the group head, so I am about to return this for another brand of espresso machine altogether. I'm considering a Gaggia (maybe the Gran), or a Saeco or DeLonghi of some sort. I most probably will not be buying a Krups.
Admittedly I have not descaled it in its 7 months of use, though I do clean the filter shower and I always use filtered bottled water.
Buying Experience
Bought it from Grace Bros (Australia), so it shouldn't be hard to exchange. It was AU$230, around US$138 with a 60c exchange rate.
