-It's true this machine makes extraordinary coffee! -Hot -Thermal carafe keeps coffee warm - long time
Negative Product Points
-Several weak design features - see commentary -More expensive than it should be
Detailed Commentary
Wow – when our old Starbucks drip machine bit it I turned to CoffeeGeek for advice. My wife vetoed the Chemex, so we jumped in the car and motored to the Boyd’s store in Portland (on line order was out three weeks) and bought the only Technivorm in stock.
There is no question that this machine brews one of the best cups of coffee I have ever tasted! At the same time I think prospective buyers should be clear that this machine does not offer the highest level of industrial design you might expect in something this price.
We have come to expect a few features. While I can live without an automatic brew cycle, I can live with it. But there are more feature shortfalls:
There's no brew through top and no “brew cycle finish” signal – so you need to be on it when the brewing is complete, or you suffer lost of temperature in the brew.
To me the most irritating feature is that the “new style” thermal carafe has a round lip with no indented pouring spout. This means that the pour is erratic. Wide stream, narrow stream, wide stream, etc. I normally pour some coffee into a small thermos daily. It is impossible to do it without spilling. I toast my fingers and make a mess.
My wife thinks the product is cheaply made. Which is interesting when compared to some posts. I think that it’s a matter of perspective. The aluminum body looks substantial. I guess I would have expected glass vs. plastic for the reservoir. The base for the thermal carafe is clearly a compromise in design to convert from a glass to thermal carafe. It is a flimsy piece of plastic that is held in place only be the weight of the machine.
The last funny design feature is that the plug orientation is upside down. The ground of properly installed plugs in the US is to the bottom. The ground on the plug of the Technivorm is to the top of the plug meaning that the low profile cable sticks up from the plug, not down as it should. This is a design error that comes from designing in foreign country with insufficient market research. Something you used to expect in inexpensive Asian products, not expensive European.
Personally I like the retro-industrial aesthetic. I don't really want coffee from a space ship. Also, even though the controls lighting is a little weird, I like the idea that the machine won't function if the carafe is not in place. In three months, in my morning stupor, I have not yet brewed a pot of coffee all over the counter and on to the floor!
In the end, we love the coffee and would probably buy again, we brag on the machine but also feel a little dumb for paying this much for a machine not really refined in its design. Somebody is making a little too much $$ along the line. I am posting this just so any future buyers know exactly what they are getting before they buy and also in hopes that the manufacturer takes notice and improves these features in the future.
Buying Experience
Limited availability. Boyd's website said we would have to wait some time. Went to the retail store and were just lucky that they had one there. Good news we live in Portland!
