Hey All,
In a bit of a conundrum in regards to upgrading from my current basic setup (Lelit Anita Combi - PL042TEMD). It's served my wife and I well for the last 7 years although its been in and out of the workshop for various repairs almost every year for the last few. Wife doesn't want to spend any more money repairing it and feels its time to move onto something new.
Pre COVID it was just the two of us drinking 2 - 4 milk based drinks a day on the weekend to post COVID to now making 2 - 3 milk based drinks in the morning daily plus another 4 - 6 throughout the day depending upon mood and whether in-laws are around. We always drink milk based drinks (although will have the odd espresso here or there), usually medium/dark roasts and buy fresh beans from our local roaster as we require. I've never played with the PID nor explored light, single origin varieties or have multiple roasts going at once, etc.
We bought the PID version of our machine (as opposed to the Rancilio Silvia + Grinder which was popular at the time) as I didn't want to temperature surf and we liked the convenience of a all-in-one solution. I think we make pretty good drinks, pretty consistently but don't have anything to compare that to.
Which brings us to now and where we go from here. I had a good chat with one of the site sponsors last week whom recommended a HX machine would well suit our purposes, which I'm OK (with until I started reading online all the challengers with a HX machine, although, depending on whom and where you read, there's a vast difference of opinion, particularly given the newer/modern HX machines available (i.e. no cooling flushes, more temperature stable, etc.).
Similarly, we've never owned an E61. Certainly, I love the look of those machines and warm-up times aren't necessarily a problem for us (we usually turn the machine on when we get up, leave it for a while, the make our drinks) but again, whilst a popular/stable design that's stood the test of time, is temperature stability really an issue as opposed to my little saturated/ring group I have now? Will I have to temperature surf all day to make a good drink?
We're looking for smaller footprint style machines and the machine's we were interested in were:
HX:
- Lelit Mara X
- Profitec Pro 400
DB:
- Lelit Elizabeth
- Profitec Pro 300
Obviously we'd need a new grinder so was thinking pairing with either a Eureka Mignon Specialita or XL. Was considering the Niche Zero also but as above, don't think the workflow would suit us, nor do we change out beans all that much. The wife also has to be able to use all the equipment easily.
So I guess in a nutshell, I'm wondering:
1. Should everybody own an E61 once in their life;
2. Will I regret buying a HX over a small Dual Boiler.
3. Will I forever be getting inconsistent shots/tastes from a HX setup.
4. Will I get much better coffee and overall experience from such an upgrade.
What we need:
1. Reliability/Longevity.
2. Ability to make drinks quickly and back-to-back. Takes forever on our current setup!
3. Ease of Use.
4. Serviceability and Cost of.
Sorry if my post is TLDR but like anything, its a serious investment that I don't want to regret nor do we want to get that dreaded upgraditis bug, so seeking a bit of validation!
Cheers
In a bit of a conundrum in regards to upgrading from my current basic setup (Lelit Anita Combi - PL042TEMD). It's served my wife and I well for the last 7 years although its been in and out of the workshop for various repairs almost every year for the last few. Wife doesn't want to spend any more money repairing it and feels its time to move onto something new.
Pre COVID it was just the two of us drinking 2 - 4 milk based drinks a day on the weekend to post COVID to now making 2 - 3 milk based drinks in the morning daily plus another 4 - 6 throughout the day depending upon mood and whether in-laws are around. We always drink milk based drinks (although will have the odd espresso here or there), usually medium/dark roasts and buy fresh beans from our local roaster as we require. I've never played with the PID nor explored light, single origin varieties or have multiple roasts going at once, etc.
We bought the PID version of our machine (as opposed to the Rancilio Silvia + Grinder which was popular at the time) as I didn't want to temperature surf and we liked the convenience of a all-in-one solution. I think we make pretty good drinks, pretty consistently but don't have anything to compare that to.
Which brings us to now and where we go from here. I had a good chat with one of the site sponsors last week whom recommended a HX machine would well suit our purposes, which I'm OK (with until I started reading online all the challengers with a HX machine, although, depending on whom and where you read, there's a vast difference of opinion, particularly given the newer/modern HX machines available (i.e. no cooling flushes, more temperature stable, etc.).
Similarly, we've never owned an E61. Certainly, I love the look of those machines and warm-up times aren't necessarily a problem for us (we usually turn the machine on when we get up, leave it for a while, the make our drinks) but again, whilst a popular/stable design that's stood the test of time, is temperature stability really an issue as opposed to my little saturated/ring group I have now? Will I have to temperature surf all day to make a good drink?
We're looking for smaller footprint style machines and the machine's we were interested in were:
HX:
- Lelit Mara X
- Profitec Pro 400
DB:
- Lelit Elizabeth
- Profitec Pro 300
Obviously we'd need a new grinder so was thinking pairing with either a Eureka Mignon Specialita or XL. Was considering the Niche Zero also but as above, don't think the workflow would suit us, nor do we change out beans all that much. The wife also has to be able to use all the equipment easily.
So I guess in a nutshell, I'm wondering:
1. Should everybody own an E61 once in their life;
2. Will I regret buying a HX over a small Dual Boiler.
3. Will I forever be getting inconsistent shots/tastes from a HX setup.
4. Will I get much better coffee and overall experience from such an upgrade.
What we need:
1. Reliability/Longevity.
2. Ability to make drinks quickly and back-to-back. Takes forever on our current setup!
3. Ease of Use.
4. Serviceability and Cost of.
Sorry if my post is TLDR but like anything, its a serious investment that I don't want to regret nor do we want to get that dreaded upgraditis bug, so seeking a bit of validation!
Cheers

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