Bean to cup coffee machines
Discussion
My cheapo Krups Vivo 880 is coming to the end of its life and I have decided I need a bean to cup in my life.
Finding it rather comfusing so looking for some recommendations. Budget is £400 max. Don't need automatic milk stuff, prefer to get my hands dirty and it's just more to clean.
I have been looking at the Delonghi machines but my god they are confusing - the model numbers are like telephone numbers with no pattern to them, they seem to have about 30 or 40 machines which are basically the same, but impossible to work out a pecking order or what is an old model or a new model. There is a webpage I found dedicated to how confusing they are, but that in itself is confusing and doesn't tell you much...
Hoping somebody can make sense of it all here.
I have looked at:
ECAM 23.420 £349 @ Currys - looks good, even has a display on it - but discontinued according to DiLonghi website. Parts availability? Don't mind so much as long as I'm not paying over the odds for an old one. If I'm getting money off because it's a better one but old model I'm happy,
Magnifica S ECAM 21.117.SB - £350 @ John Lewis (although none on display when I went in today) my brother has an older version that he rates apart from a slightly weak frother. According to Delonghi website it's been discontinued though!
Autentica ETAM 29.510.B - £350 @ John Lewis. Looked OK but saw one in person and it's very plasticky, membrane buttons, and pretty ugly
Looked at quite a few others online with totally different model numbers, but the features all seem the same - 1450W, 15 bar pressure, all have milk steamers, etc.
Any other makes worth looking at? Krups?
Finding it rather comfusing so looking for some recommendations. Budget is £400 max. Don't need automatic milk stuff, prefer to get my hands dirty and it's just more to clean.
I have been looking at the Delonghi machines but my god they are confusing - the model numbers are like telephone numbers with no pattern to them, they seem to have about 30 or 40 machines which are basically the same, but impossible to work out a pecking order or what is an old model or a new model. There is a webpage I found dedicated to how confusing they are, but that in itself is confusing and doesn't tell you much...
Hoping somebody can make sense of it all here.
I have looked at:
ECAM 23.420 £349 @ Currys - looks good, even has a display on it - but discontinued according to DiLonghi website. Parts availability? Don't mind so much as long as I'm not paying over the odds for an old one. If I'm getting money off because it's a better one but old model I'm happy,
Magnifica S ECAM 21.117.SB - £350 @ John Lewis (although none on display when I went in today) my brother has an older version that he rates apart from a slightly weak frother. According to Delonghi website it's been discontinued though!
Autentica ETAM 29.510.B - £350 @ John Lewis. Looked OK but saw one in person and it's very plasticky, membrane buttons, and pretty ugly
Looked at quite a few others online with totally different model numbers, but the features all seem the same - 1450W, 15 bar pressure, all have milk steamers, etc.
Any other makes worth looking at? Krups?
Trouble is, there seem to be loads of Delonghi Magnifica models, all slightly different, but no bloody order to them - no pecking order, no idea of what is current or discontinued!
Not even sure where you get that above one from? Amazon has some shonky marketplace seller and JL looks like they've stopped selling them. Are they in the middle of bringing out a new range or something?
Not even sure where you get that above one from? Amazon has some shonky marketplace seller and JL looks like they've stopped selling them. Are they in the middle of bringing out a new range or something?
Seen this one in Currys, looks pretty good but a bit unsure about buying from there, they always used to be crap. Also I found a video on youtube from 2011 making me think it must be a really old model...
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/...
Thoughts?
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/...
Thoughts?
(Weirdly, the 23.120BK (which seems a model down from the above) is for sale at £430 at Argos and indistinguishable featurewise from my brother's (ECAM 22.110B) , bought a year ago for £300!)
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/7453605
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/7453605
t up. It was £350, now £600. And it still seems to be an old model.Thanks chaps
princeperch> looks good value for the £350 it was at, not so much at the £600 it went up to yesterday!!
kungfupanda> do you know which model? Unfortunately Delonghi have a mental naming strategy - they have several autenticas, dynamicas, elettas, magnificas, prima donnas, they have ETAM / ECAM / ESAM letters after them, they have daft double numbers (29.510, 44.620, etc.) and some of them say 2700 or 4000 instead. The only decipherable bit is the .B or .S afterward denoting black or silver.
There is no "bigger number, higher up the range", or "bigger number, more recent" protocol, they just seem to be random. It can only be deliberate.
I have found one that looks good though - the Eletta ECAM 44.620s. Seems to have a lot of bells and whistles, generally retail from £500-700 depending on where you look, but it's £400 on AO.com. Current model as well, it seems, been out 2 or 3 years (not sure of what their model life policy is). Still £100 more than I meant to spend (given that the old 22.110B was £300 a year ago and has the same guts) but can't see anything other than the awfully cheap and plasticky 29.510 at John Lewis for £350...
http://ao.com/product/ecam44620s-delonghi-eletta-p...
princeperch> looks good value for the £350 it was at, not so much at the £600 it went up to yesterday!!
kungfupanda> do you know which model? Unfortunately Delonghi have a mental naming strategy - they have several autenticas, dynamicas, elettas, magnificas, prima donnas, they have ETAM / ECAM / ESAM letters after them, they have daft double numbers (29.510, 44.620, etc.) and some of them say 2700 or 4000 instead. The only decipherable bit is the .B or .S afterward denoting black or silver.
There is no "bigger number, higher up the range", or "bigger number, more recent" protocol, they just seem to be random. It can only be deliberate.
I have found one that looks good though - the Eletta ECAM 44.620s. Seems to have a lot of bells and whistles, generally retail from £500-700 depending on where you look, but it's £400 on AO.com. Current model as well, it seems, been out 2 or 3 years (not sure of what their model life policy is). Still £100 more than I meant to spend (given that the old 22.110B was £300 a year ago and has the same guts) but can't see anything other than the awfully cheap and plasticky 29.510 at John Lewis for £350...
http://ao.com/product/ecam44620s-delonghi-eletta-p...
Just thought I'd update this. Bought the Delonghi Eletta 44.620s in the end. It seems to be from a higher up range than the others I was looking at. I am sure they are all the same inside but it has a brushed aluminium front rather than black/silver plastic, and a 2 line backlit display which is obviously good for bragging rights.
http://ao.com/product/ecam44620s-delonghi-eletta-p...
£399 from AO delivered (actually £389 with a voucher code), and the coffee... oh, the coffee. Absolutely fantastic, lovely crema, totally consistent every time, dead quick. Steamer very easy and consistent, all easy to clean. Not too noisy either. Really happy with it, and soooo much nicer than the 29.510 (??) from John Lewis that was only £40 cheaper.
Saving me lots in shop bought coffees already!
http://ao.com/product/ecam44620s-delonghi-eletta-p...
£399 from AO delivered (actually £389 with a voucher code), and the coffee... oh, the coffee. Absolutely fantastic, lovely crema, totally consistent every time, dead quick. Steamer very easy and consistent, all easy to clean. Not too noisy either. Really happy with it, and soooo much nicer than the 29.510 (??) from John Lewis that was only £40 cheaper.
Saving me lots in shop bought coffees already!
at that price hike. Think I did ok on price. Still making great coffee and love the thing. I am drinking absolutely massive amounts of coffee though 
I suppose that was the point...Ranger 6 said:
Have your initial thoughts worn off yet?
We're looking at replacing an old Gaggia with a bean to cup machine and budget is £300(ish)
Well, 9 months and about 800 cups of coffee later according to the display, I am still very happy. I'm not a coffee expert but I like a nice flat white and I can make quick and consistent cups with this. Happy with the machine, best of the bunch at the time and at a good price. Can't believe they are £650 now...We're looking at replacing an old Gaggia with a bean to cup machine and budget is £300(ish)
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