Solis Barista Perfetta Espresso Machine, Stainless Steel (Renewed)

Machine solidity; made well and came with many more extras than other espresso makers. I appreciate the heavy weight of the tamper in particular as well as other solidly built parts.

I like the footprint. I like the manometer. I like configuring the shot time. I like the water tank size. I like the stream wand. I like the tamp. I like the drip tray size. I like the taste.I don't like the 54mm portafilter that comes with it; it's cheap and the baskets come out easily, too easily when using a knock box. The handle is uncomfortable to use and poorly made.I don't like the noise the steam wand makes when starting to steam milk. It's obnoxious. However, if I lift the tip out of the milk just to the meniscus (top surface of the liquid), the screeching stops and then I can continue to steam the milk by lowering the nozzle into the milk. It gets hot quickly, too.I use filtered water so I don't like how I have to run cleaning and descaling cycles to eliminate the red light alerts. Oh well. I could just live with red lights.Probably the very best espresso machine for the money (a bought a refurb) for $299. The manometer helps me dial in the grind accurately. If you don't have a conical or flat burr grinder (I have a Turin), buy Illy Espresso grind. A little expensive, but a much better grind for this machine than Lavazza, which is too coarse and so won't produce high enough pressure.If you don't want to fiddle to produce a good double shot, buy the Breville Bambino. However, the Breville doesn't have the manometer and the steam wand is not as flexible. Now that I have the Solis, the Breville's not for me.Have fun...

La Solis Barista Perfetta Plus es una cafetera semiautomática capaz de elaborar excelentes espresos. Es muy parecida a la Breville Bambino, pero esta última tiene la ventaja de producir espuma en la leche de mejor calidad. Esa es la razón por la cual la he valorado con tan solo cuatro estrellas.

The steam function malfunctioned after 6 months of use. I adjusted to 3 stars because the company provided a refund as they didn't have a machine available to replace it.

I had this machine for a 6 months now or so, and all of sudden the machine is malfunctioning and not operating properly. It blinks rapidly as though there is no water in the machine and will not work now. I wasted my money trying to go the cheap route was definitely not the best decision for the long run.