valentine

Well, after a little over 3 yrs of faithful service it seems my superauto Saeco is failing. It still froths/steams the milk beautifully, but the espresso is not hot. I'm thinking of replacement as I do not want to send it away for service. I notice the Gaggia Titanium Superauto is now being offered for less than $700 at wholelattelove. Any recommendations or advice? I'd like to get the new machine before the Saeco totally fails as I cannot bear to think of spending a day without at least warm cappucino! I like the dual boilers on the Titanium and for that price, just don't think I can get a dedicated cup warmer, rapid steam and piping hot espresso. I also like the bypass doser option for those times when babies come to visit and they want decaf.

valentine

PS: I'm also considering the Gaggia Brera which is offered for around $600. I hate being such a brat since no one else in the house drinks coffee drinks, but . . . I'm still a brat.

Zippy

I am convinced that these machines will fail after about 3-4 years. I think that it is the pressures in the systems that tend to be unsustainable, but that's mere speculation on my part. But, I can't live without it.

That said we have a Titanium which we got after our Platinum failed. I like it. We have had it for a little over two years now with very little problems. It has an automatic descale cycle which is nice, and that is the only issue I have with the unit. It leaks a small amout of water during the cycle, but never any time else. All said I really like the unit, the only thing I would like is to have a larger dreg drawer, we are constanly emptying it, I guess we dring too much cappuchino .

valentine

Thanks, Zippy. Looking back it would seem that all my machines have failed generally at 4 yrs or so except for this one. This one is just over 3 yrs old and is the only Saeco I've ever had. The longer lasting units were Gaggias, so I'm thinking I'll go back to Gaggia. I noticed in the review the small dreg drawer. One of my automatic movements in the morning is the immediate emptying of the dregs from yesterday's drinks. I'm either going with the Brera or the Titanium and I may pull the trigger sometime today. I'm giving wll a call a little later. I guess I could have worse addictions, but alas, I am totally addicted to coffee.

valentine

Oh, Zippy, how often does it go through the descale program? And, was it hard to adjust the programming to fit your needs? I guess I'm asking how often does it need descaling? I generally only need to descale 2 or 3 times annually.

Jet sitter

I don't know how much coffee you make at once, but my wife has a Krups that makes about 3 cups. They usually last her several year's w/o any problem. She also grinds the beans, so she always has a spare grinder that she picks up when they go on sale.

Zippy

It actually counts cups and when you have made enough, it tells you in the LED window. You can continue to operate it like that indefinitely, but all you need to do to descale is to put the "descale stuff" in the tank and tell it to start, it will do the cycle all by itself. When it is done, it will ask you refill the tank and run it through, but it will not force you to do it in order to operate.

All though things said, I do like mine a lot, and the price is nice.

valentine

Okay, Jim and I went up to Market Common in Myrtle Beach today for lunch at Gordon Biersch. We then took a little walk down to Williams-Sonoma and looked at espresso machines thinking it would be nice to be able to get it locally. A similar machine to the Titanium (they do not have any Gaggias) is wayyyyy overpriced. I'll order the titanium.

Zippy

Yep, Williams Sonoma has some very cool tools andetc., but they are quite expensive.

valentine

Machine is on its way. Should be here in a couple/days. WLL threw in some descaling tabs for free. Looking forward to getting it and I appreciate your comments/advice very much. Thank you!