This coffee maker is overpriced, unsafe and doesn't last longer than a few months if you use it everyday.
Positive Product Points
Makes good french-press tasting coffee. Fun to watch and a conversation piece for parties.
Negative Product Points
Very cheaply made. Breaks far too easily. Hard to clean. Not safe to use.
Detailed Commentary
I've been through two of these. Although Bodum offers a 2 year warrentry they only replace it for other merchandise and not a cash refund. I'm going to try my luck with a non-electric vacumn pot and a stainless steel french press instead (both items on the Bodum website add up to the $100 I paid for the Santos 3000 at Amazon).
After two months, the first one I owned failed to auto-shut off one day, leaving a big smokey burnt mess. I called Bodum, shipped back the pot and got a new one. This one lasted two months and now longer turns on. This followed a period in whcih the machine would oddly shut off and on and vary the temperature of the coffee -- sometiems so hot that I worried about some of the plastic burning off and getting int the coffee. I don't trust this coffee maker. I tried very hard to take care of it and not get a lot of water near the electronics when I rinsed it out -- so there are definately very severe qaulity control problems here. Many stores no longer carry it due to constant returns.
Other than the faulty pot and electroncis, the base timer is very cheap, with a read-out that is impossible to read and tiny buttons that are hard to push. The top portion where the grounds go and the coffee brews is also hard to clean since the filter always spurts out wet grounds everywhere when I pull it out. And I can't find any stores locally that sells the $5.00 filter, so it has to be mail ordered from the Bodum website.
On the plus side, it is interesting to watch and makes decent coffee. But no better than the couple french presses I own and my Krups coffee machine. Overall, it is not worth the trouble or expense.
Buying Experience
No problems from Amazon. However, if you want to return it after 30 days, Bodum will only offer a replacement or othter products.
