I think it’s great to hear all the different and valued reasons why people choose one machine or another. What stands out above all, and what is going to define my choice is not whether this or that machine is better, but more which machine is best suited to my needs as I believe both the ECM or Lelit are great machines.
So in my very personal analysis the factors that I am looking at are:
reliability-equal. I have shown this as they both are very well engineered and the individual accounts from a user/vendor point of view have to be taken with a pinch of salt NOT because necessarily of differing opinions and or biases but purely because even if we were told that x machine has broken down more often tells us very little as we do not know what water the user used? what maintenance took place? how well it was looked after? etc So effectively even if a retailer tells us they receive more x machines back would mean nothing because there are too many variables we do not know. How many did they sell? how well were they maintained etc.
Performance-equal. This is shown as equal as although the lelit clearly shines in the profiling aspect, for me personally that would not be a deal breaker as I mostly drink cappuccinos/lattes with the odd americano and I am quite happy with a good quality 9 bar extraction with maybe the odd preinfusion
Value for money- Lelit. Whichever way you look at it the Lelit is an incredible machine for the price, accessories included. I have to also think of it in terms of a purchase to last a long time so general features will also matter.
E61 Mushroom- ECM. This is a personal nit pick for me as it does annoy me why any manufacturer puts a chrome plated mushroom in a top end machine. This is a general gripe as chrome will break down and the thought of drinking it in my coffee does irk me. I can only assume it’s done because it saves money and a large majority of users would not even know what a mushroom is unless they saw it on their plate. A large majority of buyers will not have the depth of knowledge of the likes of people on this forum.
Water tank -Lelit. Again this matters to me as I will be using the tank. The Lelit is genial and innovative in this department as it can be made to hang on different sides. A main reason I ruled the profitec out as having to take off cups and a tray to put water in is not something I would be happy with. in fact I would go as far as saying poor thinking. Ecm is ok as has a simple opening closing lid and would only be a problem if I was fitting underneath a cupboard which I am not.
Steaming- ECM. This is important for me as I do a lot of milk based drinks and although when looking at steaming power I see both as equal, the reason I have said ECM is that the joystick wands I think I would like. I have tried them and i do like the fact that turning off the steaming is instant.
So as you can see from above I am not so much looking at which is better? but more which is better suited to me. I also totally agree with DaveC looking at videos that pitch one against the other is not helpful as they do not necessarily identify the machine best to the USER.
On a slight side note I have also heard on the grapevine that BB are now not going to have non flow models for the ECM sync. Effectively now both the 700 and ecm sync are going to be sold with flow valve models only. Lelit pushing them in that direction me thinks.
