I can confirm that after speaking with Lelit representatives the V2 is only available in a few European countries, I don’t know exactly which ones but it is not available at all to the rest.
Lelit Mara X V1 and V2 – the differences
RobertRo101 thank you for the information. That explains why I’m not able to get one yet in Canada.
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DavecUK I’d love to see the new gicar box retrofitted into V1.
If it works out well I could see myself doing the swap too.
fl13dl1c3 If it works out well I could see myself doing the swap too.
I guess it depends on the cost, although you will of course have a spare Gicar Box out of it.
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.
Here in the US, the main retailer sells two versions with different prices and firmware.
Gicar 9600096 Brain Unit – 9.3.01.30G01: this one sells for $189.99 USD
Gicar PR00709 Brain Unit – 9.3.01.46G: this one sells for $299.99 USD
I presume by the firmware numbers the 2nd one is a later version? I’d have to reach out to the retailer to ask what the difference is. But in the retailer’s parts diagram page for PL62X they reference the first gicar with the parts number 9600096.
I won’t put much trust in the diagram. My V2 came with a V1 manual and so is the manual on the Lelit platform. I think they may have rushed the lunch of the V2 because, in theory, it would be a no-brainer to buy (as above, the ability to have extremely good temperature stability and froth a little bit of milk, it’s unbeatable for the price), and things like manuals and diagrams were not updated, maybe the new machines were not tested enough (as in my eg. where I had to send the machine to the dealer’s service and it’s been over a week with no updates yet). But if it all works, and for this amount of money, there is really no other machine to go for, unless you really WANT a dual boiler and have the money to spare. I actually could get around 1-1.2bar of pressure on “single boiler mode” 30 seconds after making 2 coffees, which was enough to froth milk for two flat whites.
RobertRo101 that is interesting. I’m debating if I should get a dual boiler but I’m really the only one drinking coffee in the house and as long as I can once in a while make 3-5 coffee in a row, but maybe with a little bit of waiting in between, I would be fine. I’m also drinking cortados so I really don’t put much milk in it.
One thing I also don’t like about DB is that there is more water in the boiler than I need so I would have to make sure to get the old water out accordingly. This is where the MaraX has its advantages.
Also since the flow control works great on the MaraX, I really don’t see why it would not be the perfect machine for me.
This forum is very helpful! Thanks all!
RobertRo101 just realized that you say “if it all works”. But you do own the V2 right? So what are you referring too if you can actually see if it works or not? Maybe you are referring to DaveC temperature testing discuses earlier.
I do have the V2, but mine had some temperature problems and I had to send it to their service to get checked up and repaired. That is why I said that they may have rushed the lunch and if they managed to update their manuals and had more transparency to the public about how the new V2 works and managed to reduce the machines that had some kind of defect from the assembly line, the MaraX V2 would 95% be a marker changer and could make Lelit a ton of money.
RobertRo101 I think they may have rushed the lunch of the V2
I first suggested it to Lelit over a year ago, so I don’t think they rushed it. The owner really liked the idea of loosing the pure HX mode. From a personal standpoint, pure HX was a mode I never used and wanted a coffe only mode, then flip it into steam boost if I was ever making milk drinks…say for a visitor @MediumRoastSteam 🙂
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.
DavecUK 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
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
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).
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?