Nearly decided on a new set up
I’m sure compared to other machines it’s probably not dissimilar in ‘failure rate’, I just noticed a lot of tech requests from owners on forums etc only after a few months and haven’t really seen that compared to ECM, Rocket or Profitec machines.
Lelit have crammed a lot in for the price point, but when you’re spending 2 grand for essentially some hot liquid I wanted a little more reassurance in my purchase.
dang2484 but when you’re spending 2 grand for essentially some hot liquid I wanted a little more reassurance in my purchase.
Good luck. Don’t buy Profitec/ECM then. My failed at 10 months old.
Bottom line… it happens. And that’s the point of a warranty.
MediumRoastSteam that’s a shame, and sounds like a pain after 10mths.
I had a Bezzera Duo for 5yrs and never had an issue so reliability is achievable without breaking the bank. I think when you’re paying thousands for a hot water machine reliability should be as standard!
dang2484 - Yes… But remember that the machine failure is at the mercy of the weakest component in that machine, and those are sometimes outsourced. If there’s a bad batch that has been used (as an example, if I remember correctly there was a bad batch of temp sensors during the pandemic) then it’s just fact of life, no matter what you buy. Take cars for example… Buy German. Built to last. Well engineered - Not in my experience. :-)
MediumRoastSteam I’m also curious about this. What else could cause problems?
Water that’s low in limescale but can leave other residues.
For me RO water is not only clean, but for the 2+ decades I have been drinking it, greatly reduced my exposure to microplastics, chemicals, hormones and pesticides.
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DavecUK - understood. But how does these other contaminants, or elements, can adversely affect the high/low flow valve of the prototype Bianca you had?
dang2484 when you come to a specific brand forum, you only see people come there to ask/complain about their problems, so the essential “feeling” is overwhelming by the errors. but you will see same with other brands/machines. (With the caveat that Bianca is very popular due to its performance/price so the total number of errors reported will be higher, but I expect the rate to be roughly the same)
the only advice I can give, regardless of the machine you pick, is to buy from a reputable seller who is true to their words. and learn how to fix small things. Espresso machines work with very hot water and/or high pressure so things like valves will eventually fail. they should be fairly easy to fix if you know how. if you want to keep your machine for a very long, long time, that is
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It’s my birthday today… I’ve just pulled the trigger on a Bianca and Duo. Will also order an Acaia and nice jug. Any advice on distribution tools? I’ve seen some mad ones lately.
FedEx tracking for delivery tomorrow received within the hour. Nice work.
Seand It’s my birthday today… I’ve just pulled the trigger on a Bianca and Duo. Will also order an Acaia and nice jug. Any advice on distribution tools? I’ve seen some mad ones lately.
Happy birthday, I would wait as far as other accessories go and see how you get on. Then if you find you need something, drop hints at Christmas.
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Seand unless if you are sure you need Acaia (for whatever reason). it is great but also very expensive/overkill. A Timemore black mirror works well enough (accuracy/responsiveness) for a fraction of price
A simple WDT should do the job well. I have a blind shaker from 3MH-BOMBER which is a copy cat of Weber, which works well given it’s around $20 buying from Aliexpress.
My tip is that refrain from buying too many accessories. A scale and a WDT are two things that I’d consider essential. Nice to have are coffee brush( is included with Duo I think), a blower, puck screen. Buy quality but not luxury thing (say, Weber), unless it’s your thing.
And Happy birthday!
Seand happy birthday, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed in your choices and can crack out some great espresso 😉
I agree on the tools, not much is needed other than a wdt tool. I did get a 3bomber palm tamper which makes tamper a lot more consistent but I’m sure there’s cheaper versions! I’ve got a cheap scales from amazon that works fine and is still going!
Lovely. I’d like a Bianca, it’s certainly on my radar as a 40th present to myself. Got the duo already and it’s brilliant, very repeatable results from it.
As above. Tamper, WDT tool, scales and milk jug are the bare essentials. I’ve been using cheap WDT tools and they all do a decent job.
Have fun!
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dang2484 think when you’re paying thousands for a hot water machine reliability should be as standard!
LM Linea Micra and Mini. More expensive than most E61 machines. LM is a “premium” brand. Yet… there are failures.
MediumRoastSteam the sooner someone accepts everything can fail, and will likely fail during their ownership, the happier they will be (or at least, less unhappy stuck in a dilemma) 😀
Sure we should avoid notoriously bad machines with a reputation of unreliable, but well, it’s not that different amongst the rest
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I think that a lot of these ‘failures’ are not the machine but of parts bought in. My Evo ‘failed’ after 8 months….actually it was the pstat and nothing to do with the design of the machine, but they all count!
delta76 - I think the whole dilemma is not about failure rate, but about warranty and repairability.
Buy a machine with standard parts and a reputable brand and you are likely to be OK. If something fails, hopefully you can contact the distribution network, obtain spares and fix the machine relatively effortlessly and inexpensively. That’s why I chose the Lelit Elizabeth over the Sage Dual boiler.
It’s my contention that the more standard generic parts used in a machine, the better. If they are high quality parts, that’s a big bonus. In the olden days La Spaziale and a few other companies were truly terrible for having bespoke parts.
This applies to grinders as well, those fancy screens are not standard parts and on some makes can cost £300 for something you think should cost less than £20 and in fact they should cost around that, but the manufacturer knows you can’t get one anywhere else…enter ceado.
DavecUK - same for gicar boxes, LCC and similars, right? My understanding is that you can only get those from the manufacturers directly, so technically they could charge whatever they want 😔