Londinium Vectis

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.

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.

FYI, if anyone hasn’t seen this thread!

https://www.home-barista.com/levers/user-experience-londinium-vectis-t88435.html

https://londiniumespresso.com/store/lever-espresso-machines?product_id=351

Cuprajake - sorry I’m not sure I understand. I’ve been saying this for the past 4 years at least. I actually read that HB thread now, and it seems that the experience is positive. But still, terms like “the group has reached equilibrium” - fantastic, that’s great. But at which temperature?

Another video of someone pulling a shot barely managing to get 32g out of it (up to the last drop). Again, I’d love to see that the peak pressure is, and the declining rate overtime is.

I just want to see facts rather than opinions, that’s all.

There was one comment there saying that the group is very heavy, designed in such a way so it can keep at the right temperature, and that even after 20 minutes the group was not ready to brew.
It’s an interesting read, and would love to see real numbers.

Cuprajake Just think this thread is a bad idea that’s all.

Agreed, I’ll lock it off then. In fact considering who started it and why…I might just remove it.