Brewing temp not high enough. Slot to pour water in is small.
Detailed Commentary
We have had this machine for 3+ years and had no problems with it. This is a well built appliance. It has a lot of features including auto on/off, hotplate with low medium and high settings, setting for brewing small (1-4) cups, brew pause if you want to pour a cup before the brewing is finished, and self cleaning feature. The setting for brewing 1-4 cups heats the water to a higher temperature before brewing. It has a large 12 cup glass carafe with markings to show how many cups. These markers match up perfectly with the water capacity taps inside the water chamber. Looking down the water chamber, you can only see the 12 and 10 cup markers clearly. If you want to make less than 10 cups you can use the carafe as a measuring guide for how many cups you want to brew.
In the $100 or under price range, I think you would be hard pressed to find a better automatic drip machine. It brews a good cup that is plenty hot (I leave the hotplate set to medium while brewing) once the brewing is complete. I do find that the coffee is a little more thin and bland than what I get with a Chemex. But if you want the convenience of waking up to a hot pot of coffee, this is a good machine to own.
