Machine advice - Expobar Office auto

[tannyboy]

Hey Coffeeheads,

Just love to get your thoughts on a mild case of upgraditis. It's almost becoming a necessity as my little Gaggia Baby decides to leak every so often now. It's served me well as my morning coffee/pre work machine - making a couple of milk drinks every morning and a few extras over the weekend.

You all must be thinking this is a bit of a jump up in quality for me to be posting in this area, but hear me out

I've managed to stumble across an Expobar Office Auto (from all the pictures it looks like it but the seller doesn't know the machine model) for $750 and is considering pulling the trigger (if the wife allows =)), its 6 y/o and currently sight unseen and they say that it has been serviced just 6 months ago (i don't know where or by who). It seems like its a decent deal.

A few Qs about the machine itself.
Its a HX machine from reading up, how much of a learning curve would this be? Cool flushing etc.
I currently have a Breville smart grinder (with a few washers in there to help out proceedings ) would this still suffice for an Expobar machine?

I know they said it had been serviced, i'm fairly finicky about my machines (tech or otherwise), if the servicing wasn't up to scratch I'm sure one of our lovely sponsors would be able to offer servicing service - what would that set me back?

Should I consider or should I keep on saving the pennies until the Gaggia completely craps out

Happy to hear all comers.

[artman]

The Breville SG will be fine for this sort of machine, you can always upgrade later if you so desire. My BSG has served me well for over three years on my Faema and now Bezzera.

If it doesn't need any replacement bits a look over/tweak shouldn't cost too much. If the previous owner has looked after it (backflushing, softened water etc) there shouldn't really be any issues. You can ask to get an idea of their care routine, have a look under the shower screen etc.

In terms of learning curve , I think you will be fine, the e61 group is fairly forgiving. It's a big step up from the gaggia.

Cheers

[mmmcoffee]

Hi Tannyboy,

No need to feel guilty or justify upgradeitis here!! we are all guilty and I would say its almost compulsory here I would happily say it's happened to almost everyone here

It's hard to judge without seeing it. Can you see it in person and try it out. It it's in good nic it will last a long time. It sounds like the Gaggia is almost dead anyway. Good thing about the Expobar is they are worth fixing. Can you ask more questions eg. Who serviced it (sneaky call to service place to ask if they remember it)

It's easy to use, shouldn't be any cooling flush and will by much quicker than Gaggia (I recently went from Silvia to Domobar Jnr).

Smart grinder should be in with it (until your next upgradeitis- hit me too- Rocky to Mini Mazzer not long after Domobar upgrade). Smart grinders get pretty good reviews so shouldn't have any problem with Expobar.

As far as services go, if you can't look at it in person and pull a shot and make a latte out of it, will test a bit of how it's going.

Check it out in person if you can and find out more details regarding it.