Best coffee maker I've every purchased and no regrets. For just a little more in cost over others you get hot coffee, neat looks and a quality machine. Save a few weeks more and get the best coffee maker over the others.
Positive Product Points
Hot coffee, finally home coffee at the right temperature. Great looks Ability to adjust flow from basket from no flow, for stirring your grind to full flow Ease of use
Negative Product Points
Pouring from the Carafe is difficult compared to others Plastic parts feel cheap
Detailed Commentary
Having just received our machine I'll just do a preliminary review and give a more detailed update down the road.
The KBT 741 arrived double packed from Boyds with a free pound of coffee and pack of filters. Like others have said the manual isn’t much for looks, just a 8.5x11” piece of paper, but then again we are only dealing with a coffee maker which is pretty straight forward with it’s use and after reading the tip sheet at Sweet Marias (http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.technivorm.shtml). We anxiously brewed our first pot, with the coffee supplied, but it certainly was not to our taste being what we would call an over roast. After a hasty trip the next day to a local roaster we tried again…. Success and the most wonderful cup of home brewed coffee we have enjoyed. It was hot compared to our old Braun, just the way it shold be. By the way if your looking for some great roasts I would suggest trying the Rainforest or Glassblower blends at A Soul Full Cup, in Corning NY. (http://soulfullcup.com/ ) They ship the day they roast so when it arrives it is rested and ready to brew. OK, back to the KBT 741….. Like others have reported the plastic covers feel a little flimsy, but time will tell how they hold up. Today I brewed a pot in the AM and didn't finish it. I deceided it would be a good time to check the carafe out. I was gone for about 9 hours and on my return opened it up to pour a sample cup. It was still at a good warm temperature and drinkable, so I was quite happy with how long it kept the coffee hot.
At this point the only negative comment, and it’s not about the brewer itself, we have is what some others have reported as well and that is the pouring from the carafe. It is not user friendly and if trying to pour into a small mouth thermos you better be over the sink, as it likes to pour out in a wide stream. Into my larger opening Nissan mug is not a problem.
One thing we did notice was that our old Braun 4045 grinder was not helping our brewing and flavor, as it was very inconsistent in it’s grind size and we were getting a lot of powder, so I did upgrade to a Rocky Doserless and between the TV and Rocky we are now in coffee heaven.
When you look at other good coffee makers on the market the cost for the TV is only slightly more and from what we have experienced with the hot / proper brew temperature the TV is worth the small difference in price. We highly recommend the TV
Buying Experience
Other then a long wait, Boyd's was OK to deal with. After having difficulty in getting a response to my emails on the status of my order and other items ordered I responded negatively to a buyer survey. That prompted an email from the owners who did everything I could ask for, except get their order in faster. Having a limited choice for purchasing this unit makes it difficult and everyone was out. I chose Boyds because they have a return policy, not that I planned on using it, but since the price was within $10 of the others that option was worth it to me. The owners were very responsive, but the staff doesn't seem to have that same commitment. About the time the order was supposed to be in I sent a note to their Web page site questions in box (with my order #) after a day with no response I sent another email to the owners address I had and promptly got a reply that my machine had shipped the previous day. The next day I got a response to the status on my order from the web site (staff) and it said they were in and to place my order via phone or on the web....???? I guess I am spoiled by other web sites that give you shipping details and status on your order when shipped and provide you the tracking numbers, Boyds site does not do this, thus forcing you to have to check back to find out your order status.
Three Month Followup
Still to soon to tell....
One Year Followup
Well I still love the brewer, however the carafe doesn't not hold the temperature much more then a few hours now. If I brew at 6AM by 9AM it is luke warm. When I first got the unit after 8 hours, with the same warm up process, I still had hot drinkable coffee. That is the wek point and a disappointment for the price paid.
