It's on sale, but that is no reflection of how good this machine is as a coffee machine.
It only has a 54mm portafilter, wherewith I prefer the 58mm.
If you have an existing / external grinder, this is fine, with the following extra info from awesome commentors:
- the smaller tray that will fill quickly with water after each shot
- the longer wait time between each shot
- less bench space being used, compared to larger models
- less power consumption compared to the Dual Boiler.
I'm still holding out for the dual boiler to hit closer to the $1k mark.. until my one dies completely.
updates being provided based on feedback from comments of people who actually know what they're talking about :)
I agree with most of what you wrote, but this has me curious:
I have this model, and my partner has the dual boiler. I regularly use both, and this one is much faster warming up in every way I can think of. It essentially doesn't warm up at all, it uses instant hot water after a brief initialisation process. What warm-up are you referring to?
Of course, the dual boiler can have a timer set to start the warm-up at a scheduled time. Is that what you're hinting it?
This is a great little machine either way. I recommend it if, like me, you don't have much kitchen space. And as you said, paired with a good grinder.
Cheers.