Thank you everyone for your replies. I really had my mind made on Elizabeth due to ease of use and functions of pid temp control, great steam and size. However always in the back of my head is the look of e61 group heads with levers. Quite shallow i no and i am sorry.
Mark-drinks-coffee i have read numerous things on dual boiler and hx. I keep leaning towards the dual boiler with pid because from what i can read is, it gives a more stable temperature with zero flushing before use etc. Again, I could be wrong and for my type of use a hx could be more than perfect, that’s why i have decided to ask for help. How do you find the pro 500? It was also something i liked the look of but when i found the 600 for almost the same price on sale i kind of ruled it out due to the dual boiler of the 600, which may be foolish of me if it would be better suitable to my needs. I really want something that i am going to be happy with for years to come
@ “tompoland”#p15602 How long have you had the Breville Dual Boiler. From a lot of what i have read it does get very good reviews, however there does seem to be a lot of cases where after warranty people have upgraded to different machines due to the lack of getting parts from sage for repairs. Sage seems to be expensive for repairs once warranty is up. Realistically if i got 5 plus years from this machine for that price then it has surely paid for itself and an upgrade could be welcomed and from there i will no what i really need in a machine compared to what i think i want.
dndrich The Rancilio Pro X was also considered but i did narrow it down to the Elizabeth between the two. The black in it looks great. If the Elizabeth came in black i honestly don’t think i would be asking any of these questions and it would be on its way. There is just something i like about the e61 group head, but its the additional maintenance keeps me from committing to it. The joys of living in Northern Ireland where all i van go by is photos online and youtube.
LMSC I have been reading through the ACS Minima thread and it does get alot of praise. I am going to be honest i never really looked further into it as i could only find it on blackcatcoffee but was sold out. I am not sure coffeeitalia for ordering off. Bella Barista would be my ideal choice due to the high level of praise they receive. There is a place down in Southern Ireland that i can get profitec and another does Rocket machines. If worst comes to worst i can drive down and return a machine for warranty repair if it did happen that i could not fix myself. I really am hesitant paying a large sum of money to even have to ship it off to uk again. I worked for a very popular delivery company for a brief time years ago and i can comfirm there is zero care taken when loading parcels from lorry to van, at least from what i saw. £1500+ for my first machine, as much as i would honestly love to just seems far too high considering i need a grinder and tools etc as well as probably about 5kg of coffee to get a drinkable shot haha. I really need to draw a line on price somewhere. I have started off looking at 500 super auto machines that quickly went up to 750 ish then over 1000. For that price i considered a niche grinder and either a bambino or a gaggia classic pro. After more and more research i decided to raise it for a machine around £1000 which brought me to Elizabeth and lelit mara x. This is where dual vs hx came into decision making. I am more sold on dual boiler with pid to maintain temps hopefully in return of conisitent shot after shot so i can turn machine on and enjoy it without temp surfing to find that sweet spot each time. Maybe the temp surfing is actually easier done than what i picture in my mind. Elizabeth seems to win here again. At the minute it all boils down to, is the profitec pro 600 worth the extra £350 than the elizabeth? Based on looks it is nicer but i cant base my decision off that alone, that’s where i need the help of you guys who know best when it comes to the workings of machines.
I hope from reading i have gathered up the information correctly on dual boiler, hx, pid temp control etc. If i haven’t please don’t hesitate to correct me. For all i know a hx could be perfect for my situation, or i could be correct that a dual boiler with pid would be more consistant and in the long run be worth the extra money to get many happy years use out of.