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Advice needed for purchasing sub-$1000 machine

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  • #46
    Originally posted by Hildy View Post
    smaller machines with less metal and smaller boilers will have faster heatup. that means gaggia/saeco.


    it's not necessarily a good thing.

    The biggest factor in heat up time with machines in this class is boiler/group head configuration. The Silvia group head is offset to the bottom of the boiler whereas the Lelits and Gaggias have their group heads attached directly to the bottom of the boiler. This leads to a difference in heat up time which may be significant to you depending on your morning routine. When we Scaced them, the Lelit was ready* in 10-15 minutes and the Silvia took 30-40. (* by ready, I mean brew water close to 90 degrees. The machines were switched on from cold and left to idle - except for pulling a short shot every 5 minutes to get a temperature reading).


    charlie

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    • #47
      Well I can definitely say the Silvia will still pull a great shot with around 10 mins of warm up and a warming flush of water through the group head before pulling a shot. MIght not be 100%, but its still gonna be 90% and for a ryshed before work coffee its 100% fine.

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      • #48
        Or just get a plug-in timer and have your machine turning on half an hour before you usually get up...

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        • #49
          Advice needed for purchasing sub-$1000 machine

          Originally posted by Dragunov21 View Post
          Or just get a plug-in timer and have your machine turning on half an hour before you usually get up...
          You forgot the mandatory reminder to prime the boiler and ensure the steam knob is properly closed. ;-)

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          • #50
            Hi Bob,

            With your budget you can certainly pick up a bargain machine from a CS'er here or buy new - choice is yours.

            I had an em6910 for 6.5 years and it was faultless. I had no problems with the em0480 either. I've recently upgraded to an ECM and a Macap, only because I wanted a bigger machine. I'd have happily bought another 6910 or a 7000 unit, they are very easy to use and good quality coffee can be easily produced. Excellent value for money

            If I had been a CS'er before I bought the 6910 and was able to choose again within the budget, I'd probably look for a PID'd Silvia and a Rocky, or a K3 that a lot of members here swear by.

            I think that the PID is probably the most useful mod to the silvia and makes it an excelllent machine for the $.

            but Grinders…. ha. too much choice there. Have a read of the grinder threads and perhaps check out Chris' talkcoffee site and check out all the different models. choice is hard. But the Grinder is what makes all the difference to your coffee.

            Hope you find the right machine - don't be afraid to test them all out and reserve your decision until you are satisfied that you have the machine that is right for you.

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            • #51
              Originally posted by JoeB View Post

              I think that the PID is probably the most useful mod to the silvia and makes it an excelllent machine for the $.
              The Silvia is excellent value for $ without a PID, rather than modify it spend a few hours learning to use it right out of the box, not a difficult task.

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              • #52
                Originally posted by fruity View Post
                You forgot the mandatory reminder to prime the boiler and ensure the steam knob is properly closed. ;-)
                I'm one of the natural-selection crowd :P

                Last thing I do after steaming milk and when turning the machine off is purge steam pressure and refill the boiler.

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