If you want a machine that makes near perfect expresso or latte at a reasonnable price and that will last for a very long time , buy the Rancilla combo, you won't regret it.
Positive Product Points
We are two living together and we drink exclusively latte out of this machine. Very well built (Rancillio Silvia and the Rocky NO DOSER) five years daily use without a glitch. easy to clean (stainless steel) Brass boiler quality product that should last over 20+ years The grinder is built like a tank and it weights 7 Kg (15+ lbs) with a 1400 Watts motor, with a bean capacity of 300 gr. ( .66 lbs)
I also gave the same combo to my son and his wife a year later after purchasing ours and for them also no bad surprises after over 4 years. Before that they owned a cheap Saeco (225$) that worked for about two years before dying on them.
Negative Product Points
Single boiler frotting is not easy . A workaround we found is to use the right milk (1% fat + omega 3) and to place your stainless steel pot in the cooler for at least 10 minutes before performing the operation. This helps to avoid to burn the milk during the process. very noisy pump Rancilio grinder (ROCKY NO DOSER) is also very noisy , and when the coffee falls in the portafilter it has a tendency when its more than half full to jump out of it , messing the kitchen area where its located. But the grind is very uniform even after all theses years of use. water reservoir is made of plastic, and the hose after a certain time change their color (darken)
Detailed Commentary
Six years ago, I owned a Delonghi automatic expresso machine. The machine after only 7 months old came very close to catch in fire. At that time I thought paying 600-700$ for an automatic expresso machine was surely buying me a high quality product. I was wrong and after searching the internet I found this fantastic site. After reading the great reviews on the Silvia I decided to give it a try. That was a great decision.
Extra comments: Not many products today are built to avoid obsolescence. This one is one of them and the company should be congratulated. We drink between 4 to 6 lattes everyday of the year. When we have guests at home this number increase significantly. One negative point its not an easy machine to dismantlle if you ever need to take it apart for maintenance. This should be left to the service departement of your reseller. The group head is recovered with a very thin stainless steel foil to make it look like mirror stainless steel and after 4 years it is tearing leaving a cheap look for the group head (minor inconvenience).
Buying Experience
our seller was very kind and spent a large amount of time responding to all of our questions.
