Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

    Hi,

    Need some help. Have about a $2000 budget on a new machine (upgrading from a 7 year old Baby Gaggia and have a Mini Mazzer) and Id pretty much settled on an Isomac Tea II for bang for buck features. That is until I walked into a store today where they are having a 30% sale off on the Isomac Mondiale, bringing it down to ~$2100.

    When questioned over the dramatic price drop, I was advised it was due to clearing old stock of the Mondiales.

    My question is this, what is better to go for a Tea II or an "older" version Mondiale (new, in box and 12 month warranty)? Have there been major changes to the Mondiales in recent times? Or are the changes in the Tea II worth sticking with? What gotchas should I look out for?

    Any insight would be appreciated.

    Thanks.

  • #2
    Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

    The Mondiale has a 2.2l boiler. That extra litre would potentially give you better steaming and temp stability, though as an owner of the tea i find its steaming is satisfactory for me even with guests over.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

      The larger boiler and steam valve controls on Mondiale would sway me in that direction and at that price its a good buy

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

        Make sure to clarify if there is a 12 months parts & labour warranty at those prices.

        Also at that budget price point I would recommend looking at the Diadema as well with current discounted pricing of $1,999-$2,099.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

          Hmm....Youd have to wonder if theyre selling off the back of a truck or without GST? Is it a demo or maybe even a trade-in masquerading as a demo?

          It seems there are some good ones and bad ones from what I can see..

          CS member Cooper69 had a terrible time with his: perhaps it was an older one?

          I have played with a couple of Mondiales and they were ok, but Coopers machine sounds significantly different....

          Maybe get them to show you this particular Mondiale in action. Get them to leave it on for a couple of hours and check the cooling flush. If its huge, it may be from the same batch as Coopers which seems to be pretty nasty...

          At 30% off, Id be very curious as to why they need to dump stock so rapidly as they will definitely be selling at a significant loss. Perhaps you will find you have purchased a "box" and ultimately receive no warranty nor support if/when they go bust, and with this strategy, they may well do that.

          Fire sales need to be approached with due diligence. If its too good to be true, its often too good to be true  :-?

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

            Youd be mad not to consider some of the current deals on the Diademas. If youre in Brisbane get in touch with Roger from Supreme Roasters. I have heard some horror stories about people buying from places with no real aftersales support or bench testing. Im not saying that the place youre considering buying from is dodgy, just beware prior to buying and find out whether they bench test or sell in a box. Do your research not only on the type of machine but also on the retailer.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

              Thanks all for your help. Im actually in Adelaide (havent updated my forum file yet having just moved - part of the contract of moving back to wifes home town was the purchase of a new coffee machine yay!) and the company that is selling the Mondiale is one Adelaides long serving roasters who also service the Isomacs, so there should be reliability on parts and warranty there.

              Im mainly interested if there were any real technical differences between the Isomac Tea II and a previous version Mondiale as Ive noticed on Isomacs home page, along with a change in the Isomac logo, the Mondiales have been fitted with cool touch steaming and hot water wands like the version 2 Tea and Millennium. So I wanted to confirm if there were major internal upgrades that may have gone through.

              As this may be my last chance to get the okay to upgrade I wanted to get it right Am I really just worrying over semantics?

              Oh well, now off to see if I can upgrade the heat gun as well ;D

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

                BR have you paid a visit to Coffee Craft yet? If not Id definitely recommend it.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

                  Yes I have, thanks Caffeine_Junky. Very nice!

                  Basil there was suggesting the Isomac Zaffira and I was preferably going to go with a Tea II through them as I wanted an HX until I raced out to get some last minute beans last night (The other guys happen to be a lot closer to home ) and saw this discounted special (with only 2 left). Hence I ended up in an emergency dilemma.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

                    OK Im pretty sure I know who the other guys are.
                    Does sound like a tempting deal although I cant help with any of the questions you posed in the OP.

                    I agree that being made to move to Adelaide deserve some type of compensation

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

                      Well the decision has been made for me. I get home and the wife has already gone out and purchased the Mondiale so I have it waiting at home sitting on the bench.

                      Definitely not unhappy about that Now, just have to figure out how to use it. 7 years with a Baby Gaggia, going to be a bit of a change and the user manual is a bit light on. Years of reading these forums and dreaming of the day I held something like this in my hands youd think Id be able to step straight up to it, but no, research, research, research before I even turn it on ;D

                      I think the wife may have to wait a bit before her morning coffee is at least up to par with what I was pulling on the Gaggia (its the milk texturing that has me the most concerned, going from 1 minute + to texture and a bit of time to fool around to one thatll turn your milk from cold cow juice to cooked yoghurt in the matter of 10 secs).

                      Anyway, wish me luck, here I go...

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

                        Congrats on the decision made for you.

                        If you visit Brisbane again in the future (you know you will..you will always head north again!) Feel free to drop by and have a coffee.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

                          Originally posted by 545357586944595745425F5851360 link=1274795703/10#10 date=1274866535
                          Anyway, wish me luck, here I go...
                          I am also considering a La Mondiale. Any early impressions? Tips for beginners?

                          Cheers,
                          Morgz.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

                            Originally posted by 545357586944595745425F5851360 link=1274795703/10#10 date=1274866535
                            (its the milk texturing that has me the most concerned, going from 1 minute + to texture and a bit of time to fool around to one thatll turn your milk from cold cow juice to cooked yoghurt in the matter of 10 secs).
                            Use the KK method
                            http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1220959662

                            Originally posted by 545357586944595745425F5851360 link=1274795703/10#10 date=1274866535
                            Anyway, wish me luck, here I go...
                            No luck needed just a little practice in the V6 and you will driving like a pro

                            KK

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Isomac Tea II or older Isomac Mondiale?

                              Morgz,

                              After about 5 days of reasonable usage (theres only so much coffee you can drink  ) I can seriously say Im in love (or lust). The wife is now thinking she may have made a mistake as shes found when talking to me, Im staring over her shoulder at the Mondiale.

                              It took a few attempts but my shot pouring is back to almost consistent par with the Gaggia and Ive managed a few better which shows there is potential for improvement which is what I wanted. When you land those good ones it definitely justifies the purchase. Now, if I could just do it consistently...

                              Milk texturing is off the scale in comparison to the Baby Gaggia. 300mL  done in around 25s (have to get a stopwatch, so thats a guesstimate). Had to pull out the old milk thermometer to relearn the temp timings as it is so quick.

                              The Mondiale is a beautiful machine to look at and certainly works as "kitchen bling". The lever action switches for the steaming and hot water wands I like (mind you I had gotten used to a shifting spanner working as a replacement for the broken steam knob on my Baby Gaggia ;D). Time to warm up; I usually give it half an hour in the morning as I get ready for work. I havent really worked out the minimum period yet. Some people complain that the drip tray is too small, but it is designed to be plumbed in (which I am aiming to do in the future) and I find the size actually works for me without an issue. The only real complaint is probably the water tank. Its a bit crude, food grade plastic that seems to have been slightly malformed in the production process to have a slight bow in it which causes it to stick when trying to remove from the Mondiale. Not a real major problem and easily replaced if it does end up annoying me.

                              Overall, with my very short ownership, Im very happy so far with the investment, and I look forward to improving my skills with what appears to be a quality HX machine.

                              Ive included a couple of photos of the Mondiale in-situ in the kitchen.



                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X