If you have pre ordered I would love to know why. For me it's interesting: 58mm basket in a lever, 9 bar or 6 bar spring or direct. PID. Optional mobile phone app for pressure profile and shot recording. That's quite a mix. The creator of the Argos, Ross, posted on Discord yesterday to say that he has 282 pre orders. He is building 500 machines for the first batch for shipping April. He also posted to say that if pre orders exceed 500 by April he will order parts for another 500. Sounds like progress.

> @"tompoland"#p2540 He also posted to say that if pre orders exceed 500 by April he will order parts for another 500. Did he also say what would happen if pre orders do not exceed 500 units? 🤔

@"MediumRoastSteam"#p2545 Umm? He’ll have some in stock to sell? Be able to fill orders straight away.

@"Amberale"#p2546 - what I’m saying is… say he sells 480 by the April deadline. Will this mean that he will then have 20 in stock, but, should he have sold an extra 20, he would have had 500 in stock? Seems like a strange thing to say.

As I said in the other forum, if Ross (or Reiss?) ever decided to sell a bare bones package for self assembly, in much the same lines as Westfield cars, I would seriously consider buying one. Price could reflect savings in assembly labour, some parts and perhaps some taxes.

With shipping it comes to just over $1000 to send to UK. What would be the expected bill for vat/tax etc?

@"Beverast"#p2551 I'd bung 20% VAT 7% import and customs handling…so perhaps $300?

@"MediumRoastSteam"#p2547 I reckon 500 units is his best/minimum order for parts. Say his pre-orders hit 350, he will have parts for another 150 on hand. If orders get closer to 500 then he orders parts for another 500. Maybe even 1000 if it manages to meet all its targets and demand rises. Time will tell. 🤔

At the moment he seems to have an open field with no defenders or goalkeeper to stop him as long as he can make it down the end of the pitch. There is really no other competitor in that space.

@"DavecUK"#p2560 So nearly £1000 overall. As you said competitive space/price…even better if you live in the States.

@"DavecUK"#p2625 Wouldn't the competition be the Pavoni, the Microleva & the Cremina? (who will hopefully revise prices downwards)

Odyssey Argos

CoyoteOldMan

tompoland Thank you!

DavecUK

tompoland All very interesting, a little dickie bird told me they have actually got a group (or perhaps more than one) for the long awaited Vectis made by Fracino for Londinium. From your post it seems like the Vectis might be a little late to the party and potentially a quite dated approach compared to the Argos. Especially considering the flexibility to be both a manual and spring lever, plus PID control of boiler temperature.

Good luck to Ross as he is building the machine himself, a big undertaking rather than being a large commercial machine builder like Fracino.

Amberale

tompoland

I think the real question is whether it will replace my Strietman, I reckon that I will keep my Bianca as a workhorse.
🤔

tompoland

Pretty sure the Streitman will be staying, should be fun to play with the Argos though and there is definitely only enough room on the coffee island for one of them.

First dibs on the CT1 if you sell it? (Potential travel machine 😀)

Amberale

tompoland
I’m modifying a new 2 metre long sideboard at the moment to accommodate them all.
It has been too cold to apply the last couple of coats of stain but I figure I’ll get it finished before the Argos arrives.
😃

tompoland

Amberale

Amberale Someone who is aware of my rule that I limit my espresso machine addiction to whatever fits on my coffee island, suggested I simply add another story/level to it. Pretty sure it would not get past the Missus Committee though.

DavecUK

Really warm here….

Amberale

DavecUK

Would that be around 22C?
I had a couple of weeks in Queensland recently and then got back down to Victoria and a fortnight of 11-12C maximums.
TP has it easy.

DavecUK

Amberale Actually we had a few days of 27 to 32C temperatures, then it dropped back to around 23, gradually going up to 29C on Thursday though.

dutchy101

DavecUK

It was quite interesting how much the coffees I made on Friday and Saturday were affected from the dialed in grinder settings. The water flew through the pucks.

tompoland

Yes we do have it easy up here in the North, sunny most days during winter and around 21. But summer can be a tad hot!

DavecUK

dutchy101 I noticed my extractions were also faster…on a grinder that had been dialled in.

tompoland

Latest photos including two powder coated versions that were on display at Host Milan recently. Note the black powder coasted version has the steam wand on the left and the white version has it on the right.

DavecUK

tompoland I think the forthcoming Londinium Vectis has some tough competition from Argos. I know which lever I would rather have.

tompoland

DavecUK I’m beginning to think that Londinium is a bit like owning a Harley. Both have a cult like following and evoke a feeling of pride but based on price/features/quality/service comparison, purchasing either of them would be hard to justify.

That’s not to say that a feeling is without value. It’s a matter of the buyer’s priorities.

tompoland

The Argos is certainly the best “bang for bucks” lever option, assuming the quality is up there with the others.

It’s not just the price advantage that appeals to me though, it’s the versatility that I find tantalising: add a pressure gauge if you like (or not), add the digital Bluetooth transducer (or not), switch from direct to 9 bar spring or to a 6 bar spring (yes please).

The options are quite extraordinary and I don’t know of any lever machine that has that range of features/options for any price, let alone under US$1,000.

Temperature stability is going to be the most interesting feature for me. The Strietman is not as temperate stable as I would like. It requires some temperature “surfing” and whilst it comes up to full heat in under ten minutes, there are significant fluctuations within the first 30 minutes and even after that there is a four degree variance at any given point in time. I can live with that but if I had the choice, I’d prefer not to. If the Argos can deliver better temperature stability in addition to all of the options I’ve listed above, that would be a simply amazing “icing on the cake”.

ez4prez

tompoland

Totally agree. That’s why I bought one!

For anyone interested, here’s Ross’s update to backers today:

Odyssey Espresso Argos Update: July 12, 2022

Hello all! I have done a horrible job with updates over the past month but I assure you that significant progress is still being made. We have finished hiring all of our Assembly Technicians/ Manager for this initial run of parts and plan to hire more in the future to keep up with demand.

We decided to do a quick last minute trip to World of Coffee Milan. This was a fun experience where we had a small booth with the powdercoated units on display. It was a great opportunity to connect with other lever machine manufacturers as well as suppliers for Italian made products.

While hardware is being finalized and procured, I am working on figuring out the best way to keep track of assembly and quality control tracking for when we start assembly. This will allow us to track which technician has performed each assembly task for each machine in the event of any defects or malfunctions.

Hardware

When sourcing on/ off switches we made a significant change from 2 toggle switches to a single on/off rocker switch next to the plug and a custom temperature knob with an integrated push switch into the knob. We like this design as it cleans up the back of the machine while integrating all temperature related control on a single knob. Users will be able to set the brew temperature from 85C-95C then push the knob in to turn up steam temp which will be indicated by a 3rd LED on the top.

Previously exposed screws on the top of the machine have now been moved to mount the boiler to the top plate from the underside. This will clean up the overall look.

Powdercoated parts have arrived and were on display at World of Coffee Milan. We are working on getting product photos for those options to add to the site. Anyone interested in changing from a stainless steel finish to the black or while color will be able to purchase the “Machine Color Add-On” from the site. This will go live when the photos are released and on the site as well, ideally by next week.

An additional person has been brought on temporarily to help finish up drawings for production.

You can check out the updated checklist here.

ez4prez

I’ve been looking for an excellent coffee Discord. Do you belong to one that you’d recommend?

tompoland

ez4prez espresso aficionados. If you look for the lever folder there is a sub folder for the argos

tompoland

Email update from Ross this morning included this:

“I expect to start shipping first thing next year once certification has passed.”

So his original estimate of “shipping in April” was pretty close after all. I mean, to be fair, we forgot to ask him which year 😅 🤷 🙃

Still, it’s getting closer.

Amberale

tompoland
Shipping dates were always aspirational.
However, I’m not waiting on this unit to be able to make coffee, I have other stuff.
I am backing it because I think it is a good move for home espresso gear.
We still have no idea how well the production unit will work but I am happy to believe that it will make espresso at least as good as an LP or a Cremina,with better temperature stability( and plumbablility eventually)and I hope that it will kick off a number of other small machines.

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