Makes good coffee. Temperature is in 200 - 210 degF range. Quiet operation. Hasn't broken yet. Carafe keeps coffee warm for >4 hours with lid on.
Negative Product Points
Coffee saturation is not great. Not enough pressure generated as heated water leaves spray head.
Detailed Commentary
This is a great brewer which makes hot coffee. The spray head is not the greatest though. The water just dribbles out a few of the holes in the spray head.
I think the idea of closing the filter basket drip switch for the first few minutes (as described at sweetmarias.com for example) of brew time is ill-advised. If you measure the temperature inside the filter basket, you will find that during the first few minutes, the slurry in the basket is well under 190 degF (coffee grinds start out at room temp.) By closing the basket drip switch at the start, you are allowing the underheated water to remain in the basket for a longer period of time which could lead to sour coffee. Perhaps if you were to close the switch sometime in the middle of the brew, the technique would work better. I recommend to leave the switch in the full open position and maybe just stir the grinds (if you really want to) after a few minutes to help get all the grounds in contact with the water. This allows the underheated water at the start of the brew to exit as quickly as possible.
Lately, I've gone so far as to preheat the carafe by running the full brewer without any grinds. This preheats everything (heater, spray head, basket and carafe). Then I refill the water, add the grinds and brew. This makes a slightly hotter pot of coffee, but I'm not convinced it's worth my efforts. At this point, I fear that I may have become more interested in the readout on my thermometer than in the taste of my coffee. Oh dear..
Anyway, just thought that was odd advice, especially since the main reason for buying this brewer is its temperature performance.
Buying Experience
Bought from local coffee shop, Atomic Cafe. Can't go wrong buying anything there. They're awesome.
