After owning the Saeco Giro Plus for about a month, here are my observations
Pros:
Great tasting coffee! Very strong without tasting bitter. Rich creme.
Affordable price. Paid $400 from a "club" store.
Relatively quiet compared to my sister's super-automatic Krups.
Cons:
After installing the water filter, the water storage is pretty low, 3 cups of Americano at most.
Machine is very finicky (will go more in detail later)
The "cup warmer" feature is a joke, only thing it can warm are ice cubes.
Here's a list of stuff that might cause the warning light to go off.
Solid Warning Light:
Steam knob not turned all the way off (need to click in place)
Water is low (20% full is still considered low, sensor goes by weight it seems)
Drip tray is full
Slow Blinking Warning Light:
Brew group not inserted properly (DON'T hold the Push button when inserting, it should click in)
Grounds bin not inserted (the sensor is finicky, sometimes you need to pull out and push in again)
Fast Blinking Warning Light (hot water dispensing light will also be on):
Machine needs to be primed (while the hot water dispensing light is on turn the steam knob on till the red light goes away)
Don't forget to rinse the brew unit in hot water (no soap) once a week. This will prevent build up of oils and sludge.
I purchased this machine on the "whole latte love" website. It took a week to arrive via ups ground. Upon arrival it was 100% dead. as soon as you turn it on the alarm light turns on and the machine does not do anything. also the optional filter was missing as well. I called the seller that told me to call Saeco, this is their agreement. I called Saeco (Philips) that issued me a promise for replacement
I received this replacement within less then a week, which is great. Initially they "promised" 10-14 days, but changed that after long phone discussions. the second machine arrived and turned on as promised. It made 5 great espresso shots and after the 5th shot the alarm light turned on (again). Nothing helped besides resetting the machine. Every 3-5 cups I need to reset it for the same reasons. The resetting itself takes about 30-40 seconds, but it is pretty unpleasant to need to do this all the time.
In summary, although it makes a good espresso shot and despite good foaming, I would not buy this one again. I think a machine that needs to be re-set every few cups is pretty unreliable.
Also I tried to publish a negative review about it on the wholelatte art website but they did not publish it. i think they filter negative feedbacks so whatever you read there is most likely unreliable as well.
Buy Saeco Odea Giro Plus Fully Automatic Espresso Machine Now
This is a review by a Coffee Fanatic who has owned several machines, including the $8000 industrial version. I had the Vienna Plus for 8 months and decided to give that away to get the Odea Go. It does not matter which model you get, all the Odeas have the same BMW mechanics and design. All work the same way. So I'll give a comparison for your own judgement.
The Vienna Plus had more water in the dredge drawer.. so much that I first thought the machine was leaking!! Found out that IS the way the machine works.. But the machine was bigger than the Odea, so it had room. I had to clean it out every 6-8 cups made.
The Vienna also allowed me to see the water level, so it was easy to refill.
Now for the ODEA:
Doesn't matter which model Odea you get, they're the same build. I was impressed by the BMW-designed mechanics, so I bought it for the sleeker look. Smaller unti fitted well on the small kitchen counter I have.
MAKES STRONGER COFFEE than other models of Saeco that I've tried/borrowed/owned/tasted. It's able to extract more flavor.
PROBLEMS:
1. The water container is smaller than the Vienna. And the tank is hidden, so you can NOT see when it's time to refill. YOU MUST refill before it's down to 2 cups left, because the light weight will make the sensor stop working. The sensor is not by water, but by weight of water!
2. The coffee lid can't be opened while the machine is ON. The other models can. This is weird.. because I used to be able to refill the Vienna while it's brewing.
3. The dredge drawer needs to be emptied for every 3-4 cups of coffee brewed!! Though it's not really full, the sensor will not let you brew coffee with water in this drawer!! So you will end up cleaning this every 4 cups max.
4. The drawer can't be seen, the spills can't be seen, because of the sleek design, everything is covered. And everything is BLACK, so you can't see whether you've cleaned it very well. Coffee grinds may be hidden in places you can't see... all gray and black plastic!!
WHEN MY NEW MACHINE WAS 5 WEEKS OLD, THE 3 RED LIGHTS FLASHED QUICKLY which means electrical problems. Turning it off and on did not help. Calling the manufacturer, diagnosed over the phone, and ended up to have to replace it with a new one. IT SIMPLY STOPPED WORKING.
Making the story short: I am now on my third Odea -only because they won't let me get a different one even if I offered additional money to upgrade. And I'm not about to waste over $600 for a couple of months' use.
Read Best Reviews of Saeco Odea Giro Plus Fully Automatic Espresso Machine Here
Let me just start by saying I managed coffee bars for many years. I not only used commercial machines but maintained them as well. I have now owned three different Saeco machines. First was a hand me down. It would leak water all over the counter and had been repaired multiple times. Second I owned was an Incanto, and it was great. I had no problems with this machine at all. Sadly it is only made in Europe, so I could not bring it back to the states with me because of the voltage. Now I own this pile of garbage. First of all it does not have a bypass, so you cannot use any other coffee without digging out all of the beans from the hopper. Sometimes I would like some decaf later in the day, so this is annoying. Unless you managed to use every last bean in the grinder, you might have some caffeinated ones left behind. If you don't have enough beans in the hopper, it will just dump whatever amount into the waste. This machine is very fickle about the beans it likes. When you switch over beans, it will dump that first round of beans. Sometimes it will just waste beans for no reason at all even when you're using the same beans you always use. I like expensive coffee, and for $14.50 for 8 ounces this makes me want to throw this thing out into the street. I will say these machines do give a good shot. This machine has two boilers so you always have enough pressure. Other than that, I wish I could have a different machine.
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I have tried quite a few machines. This is by far my favorite. Every shot is perfect and the crema is gorgeous too. The panarella wand makes perfect froth of microscopic bubbles. I am a latte fanatic and my lattes are gorgeous. When I was researching this machine, I came across a youtube video of a woman that was comparing frothing and showing how to do it on this machine, and basically saying that this machine sucks. She is an idiot. She seriously does not know how to froth milk with a home machine. Maybe her method (no skill whatsoever) works on an industrial machine. Anyway, don't pay attention to her if you come across that video. The reason I didn't give her or any of the negative reviews too much credit is because my sister, who is a personal chef, swears by her Saeco, so I just trusted her. I am really glad I did. A couple of my friends have also bought Saeco machines after using mine. I so prefer my Saeco to the high-end machine we have at work. The shot the other one produces is just as good, but the frothing on the Saeco is substantially superior.
So, a few notes: Yes, the machine is a bit finicky. You do learn quickly what the lights mean when they blink or hold solid or whatever. It takes a bit of just looking up the error message and fixing the issue. The issue is never a big deal. Just clean the dreg container or provide more water (it has a kind of small receptacle). Or, fill up the coffee bean container. But, you have to do stuff like that with every machine, unless you spend $$s to hook one up to a water line or whatever.
Anyway, I have had really good luck with my machine and I would buy another one. And, if it does break down, I would take the effort to find a shop to repair it. I did accidentally drop my panarella wand into the disposal and wrecked it. I called the company and they worked with me to get me the right part for a decent price. Good luck with your decision!!
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Hoping that the universal design label was true, I bought this as a replacement for my Bodum press. The fit is loose. Fortunately I had an old Bonjour press in the back of my cupboard that works nicely. Bodum buyers, this is not your best choice.
