kheptan the Argos would be another option for you to consider. Probably available sooner than the Vectis too.

    kheptan now i’m searching for a simple spring lever machine and vectis seems good enough for me, i’ll wait to see some user experience feedback

    Same here. I’d love to own a simple spring lever machine, and the Vectis seems to be the right machine at least “on paper”.

    After watching some videos, I’d like to see:

    • someone pouring a shot with it: will the machine flip over? Do you have to hold over the boiler to prevent flipping?
    • temperature stability: I’m a one shot at a time person, so for me at least, I want the first shot to be great and the second to be equally great or at least good in case I have a guest. From what I saw, the machine was dispensing water and steam through the group. That’s far from ideal.
    • meaningful data: I want to see the machine’s capabilities and operational pressures and temperatures. I certainly don’t want someone to tell me “it produces perfect espresso” or “it’s temperature stable”. I want to see data collected from a Scace device.
    • Hopefully the boiler will be insulated. I just can’t see those wires and connectors surviving in there for too long otherwise!

        MediumRoastSteam I’d love to own a simple spring lever machine

        Why you want a spring lever with closed boiler? Because of the milk?

        Things like CT2, Robot, Flair, Kazak Rota - manual machines - they should tick all the boxes for home espresso lover who wants to play with machines without electric pumps. Open boilers machines for espresso only make perfect sense.

        Machines like Vectis, LaPav, Argos - with close boilers, they add complexity, reduce ergonomy of the machine just to allow you to steam. If milk drinks are not required, not sure what close boiler design gives you.

            DavecUK “Message passed on to Ross and positively received.”

            I knew it 😃

            Current setup: ACS Vesuvius, Nuova Simonelli Mythos One. Past experience, Nuova Simonelli Apia 1 gr., San Remo Capri 1 gr., Bezzera BZ 35e, Fracino Heavenly. Anfim Super Lusso.

            Contact me at: john_yossarian11@yahoo.com

              DavecUK

              To be honest, my interactions with Ross started with me buying Lever Fever mags off his website and then being interested in his “new” lever.
              I had recently come back to the fray with espresso machines and was experiencing disappointment in the lack of development in the small home lever section of the market.
              At the same time I was impressed enough with your clinical reviews of the Bianca to buy one.
              I nearly bought an EVO but it was just a bit too soon after the Bianca.
              Whilst not an engineer, I have an aviation (ATC) background and trust science and engineers well above social media influencers.
              I understand that the general public needs to find facts somewhere but I’m not a great youtuber.
              I have ordered an Argos, I have also ordered a Vostok, the Studmistress will probably be unhappy if I don’t sell the Bianca but it will be hard to let go.
              I really hope that the Argos/Vectis/???? succeed and put a bug up Olympia and LaPav’s fundaments and we get even more great little machines.
              I don’t really care about the politics.
              TLDNR :
              I don’t have a private line to Ross, I just emailed him at support@odysseyespresso.com.
              I don’t have a private line to Dave either.
              I want more great machines and oh, um, world peace.

                  Amberale I really hope that the Argos/Vectis/???? succeed and put a bug up Olympia and LaPav’s fundaments and we get even more great little machines.

                  I agree that the small home lever market is not well served, more competition, better for consumers. That’s been proved in the large home lever market, where one company seemed to dominate too much for it to be healthy and there was little to no development and poor value for money.

                  Now we have quite a few larger home levers, decent competition and of course that has bought with it…innovation.

                  One of my hopes is to check the work that’s been done on the Vostock 1 group prototype, around the pressure release system, because releasing the pressure that way causes some issues (very wet pucks).

                  I first found this issue on the Nurri I tested, which at the time used a slightly different group and it was actually even worse. Now Antonio uses the same group manufacturer as the Vostok for his machine. Of course the problem would now be the same as the Vostok. Less wet, but I still felt could be much better.

                  When I used the Vostok machine extensively at Trieste, it was good, but I personally wasn’t happy with it and said to Paolo it should be revised before shipping. We discussed some solutions and Paolo, fortunately has the skills, ability and equipment to actually manufacture and engineer things. Apparently the solutions have worked very well and I have seen videos, but I want to see for myself. I will be out there on 17th January.

                  The development changes for the Vostok 1 group prototype are:

                  • Minor changes to drip tray cover, finger holes for removal, better centre pattern for any spout flow to go down cleanly
                  • Increase in drip tray size
                  • Changes to entire venting system mechanics and group mechanics (not software, that’s perfect!)
                  • Possible reposition of the front panel cut-out for the timer/control buttons for easier access
                  • Addition of rotary pump (model already identified, requires internal case mod) , the Trieste machine used a very expensive gear pump that was quieter, but not as quiet, or suitable as a rotary pump. Which also means the 24V transformer is no longer required. It was under the machines drip tray, so you couldn’t see it.
                  • Pressure transducers with a higher burst pressure.
                  • Internal changes to tidy up the system e.g. in the same way the Evo was made very tidy inside.
                  • Something very minor with the frame, but I forget

                  Paolo wants to get this all right before shipping units. I can’t talk about the solution for drier pucks when pressure release is used, because Paolo understandably wants to keep that one to himself.

                  Contact me

                      dfk41 Partly, there will be copyright, but if he asks manufacturers to do these things, he isn’t in control of who they sell it too…if he does it himself, then he is.

                      Contact me

                        DavecUK

                        Thank you Dave.
                        You might even see my machine in its early stages of construction. :)
                        I’m happy to wait while the machines are fine tuned, I obviously have the patience with the time I’ve been waiting for the Argos.
                        Mind you I seem to keep buying other machines.
                        Also I need time to reconstruct my coffee side board with a 620mm deep bench and a 600mm deep steel frame on wheels hiding under its skirts for stability.
                        I know it shouldn’t make the coffee taste any better/worse but I do prefer dry pucks.
                        Enjoy your time in Italy and say Hi to Maria for me.

                          6 months later

                          Looks like it’s finally out… 6 years or so after the initial announcement. But the price… oh boy… £1.5k excluding taxes, VAT, duties etc.

                          For a machine which was bragged about for being approx. £1k… (https://www.home-barista.com/levers/announced-londinium-compact-t59354-190.html#p884749) as of Sept. 2022 that’s a price hike and a bit.

                          At least it’s out, and happy it is. I thought this would be a machine I would be interested in, but with such a price tag and all the “magic” behind, I will pass, at least for now.

                          I look forward to seeing more data regarding tempereture, pressure and evidence on how the machine works.

                          Intrigued to know how it deals with lighter roasts.

                          Best left there to,

                          Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                          Franz has been advertising it hard for Reiss on HB….funny considering their rules. Someone else is poised to push it hard for Reiss in the UK.

                          Contact me