In an ideal world, capable of making great coffee; in the real world, much more dicey.
Positive Product Points
Perfectly capable of making good coffee, technically. The few times I lucked out, the coffee was as good as I've ever had. Nice to look at...looks groovy sitting on my range. Ground glass seal works better than you'd think it would.
Negative Product Points
The main problem with this device is the Cory glass filter rod. In essence, the rod is a great idea...a perfectly simple solution to the filtering problem that all vac pots have. HOWEVER, in practice, the thing jams all the time.
Also, the handle is a hokey joke...Cory attached the metal band, not particularly well, right around the glass neck, and also flimsily attached the hinged pot lid right to the whole mess, and it moves all over hell. I've always imagined having crashing glass and hot coffee all over the top of my stove, but have luckily avoided it.
Detailed Commentary
I suppose that a lot of the people that own these and review them in here have a big collection of vac pots and enough money to buy a Solis Maestro; I do not. My crappy grinder (a commercial Bunn unit) makes too much dust, and so the Cory rod jams...pure physics. With the rod, all the coffee in the upper chamber must squeeze through the small slit that is formed where the rod seats in the bottom of the brewing chamber. When there is dust, this slit is quickly and completely filled with sedimentary MUD, which allows no coffee to pass. Compare this to the Silex style cloth-over-porcelain filter mechanism, which has four nice, large holes in the porcelain disc. The cloth might become slightly choked with dust over these holes, but the flow is kept free enough that the system is almost impossible to clog.
So in essence, unless you have a REALLY accurate grinder, either buy a Silex (or one of the newly-made vac pots that use a cloth filter), or at least buy a new cloth-style filter for your new Cory from Hario (http://www.hariousa.com/). My only hope is that I can save someone from the frustration I've dealt with for the last several months of experimentation with my Cory.
See also my review of the small-necked Silex, which I find to be superior in every way.
Buying Experience
Typical eBay purchase, I guess...I paid, the guy sent it to me. I believe I underpaid for this unit, too...WWII freaks pay stupid prices for these all-glass models.
