Awesome espresso machine after a year of daily use

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great tasting coffee drinks. Ease of serviceability and reliability.

Cons: Slightly confusing documentation missing one important detail about the tray.

The Bottom Line: 
Reliable design, high quality coffee drinks, excellent value.

Author's Review
This espresso machine has turned out to be an awesome purchase. It has been completely reliable and produces tasty espresso shots and cups of coffee--on demand.

I just finished putting it back together after cleaning it, and it hit me that this machine is a breeze to maintain. There are only three things to clean and the machine disassembles quickly and easily. I believe it is because of this design simplicity that the machine is so reliable.

I have seen two complaints about this unit on which I would like to comment: 1) poorly written documentation, and 2) the "Tray Missing" message. The documentation is indeed somewhat difficult to follow. But I think that is the complaint with all feature-rich, complex devices. Rare is the instruction manual that is enjoyable and at the same time succeeds at explaining all the options in a comprehensible manner.

That said, the documentation could have helped avoid the next complaint: "Tray Missing". This very problem plagued us for at least the first three months of use. It seemed to come up at random and we couldn't figure out what we did to fix it. It just randomly appeared and disappeared.

That is, until one day that we realized that the tray is actually designed to clip into place. It isn't enough to push it into the machine, as the manual suggests. Once it has been pushed all the way back, you then need to push it down slightly. You'll feel it click into place. And your troubles with the "Tray Missing" message will be gone.

Don't let the documentation or "Tray Missing" complaint get in the way of choosing this appliance. Because it provides easy serviceability and cleaning of its internal parts, you will find it to reliable and dependable. And it brews awesome espresso shots! I just had one and it had great crema on top and tasted great!