JHCCoffee - Sorry if I came across the wrong way. Apologies. My comment wasn’t against you, but on your comment comparing the DB with the Elizabeth in terms of features, which I don’t think is quite right - and hence my comment. Anyway, point taken.
back on topic…
I went through this very dilemma when I bought the Elizabeth, as one of the contenders was the SDB. For me, the reasons I chose the Elizabeth was:
- Availability of parts: If something goes pop with the Elizabeth, I can source that pretty easily, as most of the parts are box standard and ready available. Group gaskets, temperature probes, safety valves, vacuum breakers, expansion valves, solenoids, portafilter selections. When I tried to do a similar search for the DB, it was hard, and there was either ebay or in the UK, one specific vendor.
- As you say: Build quality. I’m not saying the Elizabeth is the best, but the DB is very plasticky and you only need to google to find out quite a lot of them failing outside of warranty. When failing within warranty, at least in the UK, that’s fine, as retailers or Sage (Breville) pretty much replaces or fix them without further questions. Saying that, there are many owners out there who never had problems with their DBs. Maybe it got better over time.
and the fun fact… Breville bought Lelit last year. Although Breville doesn’t seem to be interfering with Lelit at present, I am just wondering how long it will be until Breville gets more involved in Lelit affairs.