Amazing coffee, lots of bad engineering
I'm giving this machine five stars even though it has a lot of big problems. The reason I'm giving it five stars though is that it simply makes the best coffee I've ever been able to make — and better than most of the coffee I've ever had anywhere. Tip: Yes this automatically runs hot water every time you turn it on (in order to warm up the internal parts). But you can disable that permanently or on the fly. To disable it temporarily, turn it on and press the third button from the left so that the light turns off. Press that button again before you turn the machine off. To disable it permanently, don't press the button a second time. The pros: 1. It makes the best coffee I've ever made (once I figured out its quirks). 2. It can handle the absolute finest grind with no problem, unlike any other home espresso maker I've used (Breville and others). 3. There is zero leakage. The other home espresso makers I've had have all consistently left puddles on the counter. (Electrocution anybody?) This doesn't leak at all. 4. For a home espresso maker, it's fairly quiet. And the glasses you keep on the warmer won't rattle all that much. I think that's because although there's a lot of plastic, this has a nice heft to it. 5. It looks nice on the counter. 6. The top cup warmer is large enough to hold four double-wall shot glasses comfortably. The cons: 1. The pump is not self-priming. This means any time you run out of water, you will get vapor lock, and you'll need to re-prime the pump manually. This includes the very first time you use the machine. Priming the pump is tricky, and doing it right the first time is largely a matter of luck. You turn the machine on, then open the hot water valve (push the fourth button from the left, then open the steam wand dial). As that water starts flowing, push the second button from the left to pour hot water through the group head. If you get an error light, unplug the machine then start over. 2. Related to that, the water tank is tiny. You're going to run out of water. And then you're going to have to re-prime the pump. Also unless you place this in great lighting, it's very difficult to see the water level. 3. To get a good cup of coffee with a nice crema, you need to get the portafilter in at just the right tightness. Too tight or too loose, and it's wrecked. (The handle should be a few degrees to the right of center, at least on my particular machine.) 4. That automatically centering handle does not automatically center. It flings back after you tighten the portafilter, but where it ends up depends on how much you tightened it. So what's the point? Just extra moving parts to break eventually. 5. According to the infomercials I mean reviews of this product I viewed before buying it, you can use any coffee, and you don't need to tamp. That is wildly inaccurate. Use a very fine grind. Tamp lightly. That will get you the best result. 6. There will be a lot of grease in the portafilter and basket when this arrives. You'll want to wash that out and run hot water through it to get rid of it. 7. As others have noted, the instructions are useless. Philips is the owner of this company. You can get limited info from their site. There are third-party sites that have better info for whatever question you have. 8. De-scaling is a little annoying. The instructions aren't clear on some points. Good luck. Oh by the way, that's what the flashing yellow light next to the explanation point symbol means: Time to de-scale. Not that you would be able to know this from looking in the manual. 9. Finally, you're going to have to play with this a while before you get it to make the coffee you desire consistently. When I first got this machine, I was getting maybe one in three cups with a decent crema. The rest were flat. Playing with the grind, the seal, the tamping, the amount of coffee used and making sure there were no grounds on or near the lip of the basket got me the results I'm now consistently achieving. Read more