I've lusted after a Super Auto for years. When I finally decided to get one, I did a fare amount of investigating. The Gaggia Titanium had the best spec's for the price and good reviews. I decided to spend the extra money for the Stainless unit. I haven't seen the painted plastic model so I can't comment on the appearance. I do think the Stainless looks great! You can find reviews of the non-stainless here on Amazon and other than the outside appearance, the device is the same.I've only had the unit for a few days but so far, I'm very happy. To the negatives first. The manual is awful! It's not just the Italian to English translation! The text is skimpy and the illustrations not so great. I spent a fair amount of time making sure I understood how to setup and use the unit. I'm pretty technically savvy and in the end, I figured it all out. But don't rush into using this product until you've figured out how to set it up, clean it and adjust all the settings (there are many).
The only issue I've had is whereby the auto bean grinder thinks it's empty when it's not. Open the lid (which could be a bit better designed) and stir and it works. Could be the beans I'm using not sure. It's an intermittent issue.
The good stuff: once you figure out the coffee strength and grind, the Gaggia makes a delicious cup. I wish the brew were a tad hotter (I have it set to max) but using the cup warmer helps. No issues making froth with the wand; much better than the older manual machine I had. You can't put a huge mug under the unit (the max size is 4.5 inches) but its so easy to make a cup you just make fresh when needed. You can set the unit for the amount of brew. However, I found that clicking the "large coffee" button twice, the unit thinks it's making 2 cups and that just about fills a decent size mug. It's much stronger too since the unit grinds two doses of coffee instead of just adding more hot water using the programmable size. You get a nice foam on top and as I said, the coffee is outstanding.
I love the clean up (or lack of) compared to the drip maker I had (a Bodum Vacuum unit). I still have that unit should I need to make a lot of coffee for company. But for the two mugs I drink in the morning, the Gaggia easily replaces this unit. And there's far less cleanup. The grinds sit in a canister and after a few days, you just tap it out into the trash and maybe rinse. So, you can use this Gaggia to replace a conventional coffee machine as long as you're making a cup or two. What I love is just pressing a button twice (for two large coffees) and walking away from the unit. A minute later, a great cup of Joe. It truly is super automatic.
I have the unit set for Energy savor whereby it's in a kind of sleep mode a few hours after I use it. I only drink in the morning. However, if you decide to "wake it up", it heats up in about 2 minutes. It also does a rinse cycle so I keep a small glass under the unit so it can clean itself and rinse out about 3oz of water. There is a little pan under which would catch the water but then you have to toss it out ever few days. There's also a "full Rinse" cycle that thoroughly cleans out the unit and uses about half the water in the reservoir. It's a menu item so don't select it unless you really want to do this (takes about 5 minutes and a lot of water goes into the catch pan or several cups if you so desire).
Yes it cost big bucks but as long as it works well for years and keeps its great looks, I'm very happy.
UPDATE. The issue with the grinder was the beans (too oily). I called the NY office and got someone in "tech support" in minutes. She knew her product. Sure enough, the inside of the grinder area was super oily making it hard for the beans to fall into the grinder area.
UPDATE: Dec 31st 2010. Approaching nearly 5 years with the unit, its preformed nearly perfectly and brewed 6377 cups of coffee! The only tiny issue I've had was the float in the water tank needed to be replaced (easy to do, cost $15). Over time, it gets water logged or something and stops floating, causing the unit to think there is no water in the tank. I was actually able to go quite awhile with a kludge fix using a small plastic tie to keep the float in the up position. Eventually I just ordered the part and replaced it in 5 minutes. Otherwise, the unit has worked preferably.
UPDATE: Dec 19th, 2012. 10377 cups of coffee and still going strong.
My first machine was dead on arrival with the fateful "Ventilate" issues seen by other purchasers. The second machine, which although shipped and sold by Amazon was manufactured 18 months prior to my purchase (Jan 2007). This started to give trouble after about 14 months with the boiler leaking steam and flooding the counter-top which, given the claims of a stainless steal "durable" boiler was risible. This, coupled with the fact that the brewunit has jammed three times (requiring a trip to the local repair shop) means that 18 months in to the purchase I've spent over $650 in maintenance fees. For 2-3 cups of coffee per day, a trip to Starbucks begins to look cheap!
Buy Gaggia 90501 Titanium SS Super Automatic Espresso and Cappuccino Machine, Stainless Steel Now
I bought my Gaggia Titanium about 1 year ago and hated it for the first month. The machine kept showing the "ventilate" sign (apparently a common problem) and I couldn't figure out what to do. (Manual is terrible!) I went to fix it.com and found someone who was able to solve the problem. Go in the menu and get the asterik to show next to factory settings. (Use the arrow buttons to get the asterik on factory settings. Push "yes." That should solve the problem. You will have to reset the cup sizes.I haven't seen the ventilate sign for a long time now. My family has made over 1,500 cups now and we love our machine. It is very easy to clean too. We use Lavazza Super Crema beans ($27 for 2.2 pounds) It's a smooth, mellow tasting Italian bean that is not bitter or greasy. (Beans never get stuck in the hopper.) It makes a nice, authentic Italian "crema" too. Enjoy!I was very leery of spending this kind of money on a product that might or might not work...but I am very very happywe love the Gaggia and totally enjoy it...I have severe RA and cannot manage muchthis item is totally user friendly to anyone with hand strength problemsI have no trouble using it...it is a welcome surprise to a lot of items that are hard to usethe other user friendly products I find are all of kitchenaid....yes we enjoy the gaggia and coffee time is very specialthe frother works perfect i use it daily...anyone looking for the best out there should consider this machine!This has been an excellent trouble free product. The Lattes we can now make at home are better than ones bought in Starbucks, etc.. The unit has been flawless and we are very satisfied.
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