Lelit Mara X V1 and V2 – the differences

RobertRo101 I think you will be surprised at how much milk you can steam even in coffee mode after one or two shots, it’s even better, for longer steaming, with a single hole steam wand tip

I agree in the dedicated coffee only mode, there is enough power to steam milk for the sort of smaller (not big gulp) latte I would drink. Think Expobar dual boiler which ran at 1.0 bar steam pressure to avoid overheating the brew water (that’s why they actually did it, made a bit of a design faux pax).

In the coffee steam boost mode, it should be good for steaming and multiple drinks, but will overheat if left for 4 min or so..

Losing the HX mode is the good thing, because that simply made it an HX machine that needed flushing before use.

This post really made me curious, so I did some research. 30 minutes were spent wisely:

Here is the complete manual of the V2: https://espressissimo.azureedge.net/media/pdf/db/af/1f/LELIT-MaraX-PL62X-V2.pdf

The same retailer also states (in German): “Nun war es aber Anfang 2022 doch soweit: die neuen Maschinen der PL62X ab Versionsnummer 417066 sind alles Vertreter der neuen VERSION 2.”

In essence: All Maras beyond version number (not sure if that is lot or serial number) 417066 are V2 machines.

Still, all black machines should have the OPV mod.

portafilter that’s very good information, thank you.

This sentence from the V2 manual “*The above features have been progressively introduced in MaraX V1 starting from April 2021” makes me wonder that since the OPV redirection is on some non-black-logo MaraX, maybe there might be some non-black-logo MaraX with the new Xmode!?

If it’s the case and if anyone finds a way to identify which ones have the new Xmode in the red logo MaraX, I’ll be extremely interested since I’ve been told the black logo may not be available before late 2022 in Canada. The person may wrongly have assumed that it also meant the no Xmode on MaraX with the red logo.

Or maybe I’m too optimistic! :D

portafilter

Now that think about it, I tried a machine that had all the general features change listed in the PDF (copied below) except the black logo:

General features*

• Hot water and steam taps with LELIT logo embossed and visible from above. They are longer than the former ones, therefore the wands will not touch the body of the machine, preventing any possible scratch.

• IMS filters made of 304 stainless steel: 1 dose (9-11 g), 2 doses (16-18 g), 2 doses PLUS (18-21 g), blind.

• Water tank with LELIT logo embossed.

• The OPV drain system discharges the water back into the water tank instead of the drip tray. In this way, the user needs to empty it less often and the water consumption is halved.

• New silk-screened logo displayed on the front to give the machine a new minimalist look, in line with the company’s rebranding.

The Xmode change is not listed as a feature but only explained later on.

@DavecUK, or anyone else who may know, except the serial number and the black logo, are you aware of a way to verify if a machine has the XmodeCoffee change?

They mention in the manual that the power led would blink at startup: was the previous version doing that too?

No, the V1 had a different way of confirming the coffee mode. Mauro has a youtube video about it, the two lights for temperature and water would stay on for 5 seconds (or something like that).

Snooze @DavecUK, or anyone else who may know, except the serial number and the black logo, are you aware of a way to verify if a machine has the XmodeCoffee change?

I would say the best way is to switch in away from 1 to 0 on the right hand switch under the tray and see if the steam goes up and stays there…then you know it’s the old software and is working as an HX machine. When I get the stuff I shall put a video up before I change out the Gicar box

Anyone know what “Hot water and steam taps with LELIT logo embossed and visible from above. They are longer than the former ones, therefore the wands will not touch the body of the machine, preventing any possible scratch.” actually means?

The wands on my Oct-2020 machine have an engraved (as opposed to embossed) Lelit logo on top, and the elbow of the wands will not touch the front of the machine, but you can articulate the arm in such a way so that the tips of the wands could touch the sides of the case. Do these new wands completely eliminate the wands from touching any portion of the case?

A Gicar box can be programmed using the correct procedure, and although I know exactly how, I don’t have the programming kit to do it…or I might not. The one thing I know for sure, Lelit don’t give any Retailers the ability to reprogram anything.

I would imagine the Retailer would simply replace the Gicar Box and perhaps that what they mean….maby they assume if they send the old box back to Lelit they will be credited for a replacement. I have no idea. Not something I get into.

My view is if you already have a MaraX, wait till the Gicar box fails, then replace it with the new box/software. You can be assured that such an approach will result in your Gicar box never failing (that’s how it works). Or bite the bullet, get a new box and keep the old one as a spare. The MaraX already works pretty good…this is just fine-tuning, and it does remove the pure HX function (which I never used but YMMV)

I also have no idea of the Retail cost of a MaraX Gicar box with the new software…or even if retailers have them yet.

DavecUK ok thanks a lot again Dave. I’ll dig a bit more on that with the retailer.

As usual, your help is of extremely useful and valuable. I like this forum!

I reached out to Chris’ Coffee and they claim to have had the V2 for months. Red logo. I’m not convinced. I’ve also reached out to Lelit to see what they say about availability in the US. The “single boiler espresso” and switchable steam functionality is exactly what I want. I only wish it were fully polished.

jmimac351