MediumRoastSteam In all honesty, if this new firmware works well, the MaraX would all of a sudden become a very good and viable proposition for those who don’t steam milk very often (say, at the weekends only, as an example). They can run the machine in “coffee mode” most of the time and only use the “steam mode” when they need to.
I think the main advantage of the new Xcoffee mode (coffee priority without steam boost) is for multiple shots in a row, where a steam boost might overheat the group when you actually only want to brew a few shots of espresso one after the other. It isn’t like a dual boiler machine, where turning off the steam boiler can save a lot of energy or shorten heat-up time, so there isn’t a huge advantage in turning steam boost off if the machine is usually used to make one or two shots at a time (you can potentially save some energy by not having a few seconds of steam boost, but it is probably insignificant).
While it would be nice to know I have this mode, I personally would probably never use it, because I mainly make coffee for myself, and when I have guests - 99.99% of the time they want a milk drink.
DavecUK Lelit are sending me the new Gicar box with the revised programming of the V2 MaraX. It’s good because I can update the MaraX review and answer any questions once I fit it
That’s great! As explained above, personally I am mostly interested to learn about the changes to Xmode steam (formerly known as Coffee priority mode). To be honest, for the way I use the machine I find the V1 Coffee priority mode to be perfect, so I can’t think of anything I would want to change about it. I never need to wake the machine or trigger a steam boost. I just make a shot, clean my basket and steam - and always have good steam power, no matter what I do or how long I take between brewing and steaming. I can imagine other workflows that might benefit from a stronger or longer steam boost, but I don’t find that I need that. Still, it would be very interesting to know what the change is.