I Need help please! Breville 920 or 980

[danielbarota]

G'Day!
I had a Breville BES870 for a year and I had some really good coffee made on this machine. Unfortunately 6 weeks ago my coffee machine developed a series of faults (no pressure past the infusion phase, the grinder on volume control set on min and the machine was grinding a double shot resulting in a lot of wasted coffee). I bought my machine from LV Martin and last week I decided to return it as it was last week of warranty. Despite the problems I had I still loved the machine and I had some really good coffees. Breville New Zealand approved to replace the machine but I asked them if I can upgrade to the BES920 or BES 980 and they approved for me to pay the price difference.

The help I need is to decide on which coffee machine I should buy. I never liked automatic machines because I never had a good coffee from them. A friend of mine has the BES 900 and I was impressed with the machine but then I have seen the 980 and I fall in love with it. I went to Harvey Norman to test the 980 and the coffee they made was very disappointing and I am not sure what to choose. There is not enough reviews about 980 especially from someone who upgraded from a 900.

On my 870 I was able to make a very nice creamy milk but the test at Harvey Norman resulted in a watery milk. The espresso shot was good but the frothing part I found unusual and very limited movement of the wand.

Thank you!

[Journeyman]

I'd say, stick with what you know to work. Like you, I've never had a good coffee from an auto, even when they've just been serviced and I have the next coffee. Better than instant, but hardly worth the money. Just my preference but I reckon the 920 looks better value mostly ebcause you're in charge.

But then, I'm only going by specs and what I have read on here.

[TC]

Why three identical threads?

[danielbarota]

I am sorry for staring a new tread. I am new on this forum ( as a matter of fact this is the first time I post on a forum ) and I wasn't sure how can I get some fast answers. I need to make a decision by tomorrow and I found difficult to choose a coffee machine. My mind tells me that journeyman is wright but my heart is set on BES980. I was hoping to trigger a response from someone who enjoys making the coffee and moved from BES900 to 980 and can tell me how it compares the quality of coffee done on previous machine an now on the semiautomatic.
In all honesty someone who bought a$2500 machine and is coming from a 500-700 machine will think that he found nirvana but someone who is used to a manual machine lis the 900 or 920 might see the 980 different.

Thanks!

[javatime]

The pricing of the BES920 is nice where it offers lots of features for the money but the BES980 is more convenient at double the price. For that difference you could get yourself a much better grinder than the smart grinder and possibly an automated tamper.

[danielbarota]

Thank you all for your replies. I want today at Harvey Norman and tried the 980. It was an OK cup of coffee but I had much better ones on my 870. I enjoy the process of making the coffee so I decided to go with the 920. Breville NZ asked me to get a quote from a retailer and I will pay the difference between my returned 870 and the new 920. I already purchased today from Harvey Norman a Breville BCG820 Pro grinder and I will wait for Breville to send me the new 920. As for quotes Harvey Norman is selling the upgraded Breille Grinders BCG820 for $198 plus $42 for additional 4 years replacement warranty which is the option I choose. As for the BES920 one Harvey Norman gave me a written quote for $999 and for the BES980 $2199. The other Harvey Norman shop gave me a quote for BES920 for $1350.

[michaelbc]

I loved my Breville 870, upgraded to the BES900 ran well for two years developed a fault and Breville replaced it with one week on warranty with the BES920 which just gave me so much more control; I like the look of the 980 but my friend is disappointed with his after living with the 900 for a couple of years.....

[danielbarota]

Thank you for your reply. I bought the BES920 and the Brevile grinder pro 2 days ago and I love it.

[danielbarota]

Breville NZ replace my BES870 and for $300 extra they upgrade me to BES920 and for the Grinder I paid NZD198.

[Barry_Duncan]

Daniel,

Welcome to CoffeeSnobs and your Dual Boiler.

To compare 2 or 3 machines you would need to use the same coffee and operator. I own a BES900 and have made a coffee on a 980 at a demo by Breville. The coffee was great but the machine had been set up by Breville staff. For the time I will stick to my 900 as I like to have some hands on input to brewing my coffee.

A demo at Hardly Normals would be suspect to me unless put on by Breville staff as in my experience H.N. staff are usually very experienced in selling TV’s, toasters and capsule or fully auto coffee machines and not manual coffee machines.

Barry

[CoffeeLee]

Hi all, I have just joined this forum and am looking for some advice on a problem I have with my machine. I bought a Gastroback branded machine in Austria about a year ago and brought it with me to Australia this year. Gastroback are not in Australia but the machine looks identical to the Breville BES900 or 920. The other day making a coffee the pre infusion kicked in, but then the pressure didn’t shoot up into the 7-10 bar range like normal, it stayed around only 1 or 2 bar for the duration of the infusion. After it finished, the temperature display flashed 93 for a very long time, normally it doesn’t flash at all after just one infusion. Has anybody had this problem before? It is doing it all the time now. I have put the cleaning disk in the portafilter and tested the pressure this way, it does eventually reach the 9 bar level, but takes ages to get up there. Would love some advice, thanks.

[danielbarota]

Hi CoffeeLee, this is my 2c, try to decalcify the machine. If this doesn't solve the problem then it might be the pump which I am not sure is cost effective to fix...so you might be in for a new machine. The decalcifying should fix the problem.

[CoffeeLee]

Hi Danielbarota, I’ll give that a go, and let you know! Thanks for the advice.

OK, SO I TRIED DECALCIFYING IT, HASN’T FIXED IT. I HAVE NOTICED THAT WHEN THE INFUSION IS HAPPENING, THERE IS WATER BEING REDIRECTED BACK INTO THE WATER TANK, I CAN HEAR IT TRICKLING INTO THE TANK AND CAN SEE THE SURFACE OF THE WATER BEING DISTURBED. MAYBE THIS IS WHERE THE LOST PRESSURE IS ESCAPING TO.... THINK I’M GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE IT IN. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP THOUGH.