Hi Mark, I'll share my opinions.
The brewtus is pretty hokey inside, so won't call the construction 'suburb', but at the same time I've found it to be very maintainable for many years. As in, I'm managing to keep it limping along just fine for years now. At this point to me the brewtus is like an old can opener, an old appliance. You'd need to have something wrong with you to desire a different can opener. Brewtus gets the job done. I'm sure there are others that do so in the same price range. I find a real difference between the best café coffee and what I make at home, but its not enough of a difference for me to care about. I did buck up and get a used Robur grinder and for me that made a huge difference in consistency (and huge reduction in kitchen sound level.) In my experience while the grinder isn't more important than having a decent machine, it is much more magical and worthy of desire than the machine itself. I got to use a Versalab M3 with the brewtus for a week, it was the hugest PITA to use - wife complained, but it did make delicious coffee. Won't say M3 was better than robur but was different. Brewtus is good enough to appreciate those differences which itself is pretty crazy. I have a Lido 3 that I use for pourover at work (just a melitta #2 cone.) I used the Lido 3 a few times with brewtus and again flavor is excellent with brewtus, not better than robur but different. I wouldn't want to hand grind in the kitchen though. I have a friend with an upgraded GS3, with same beans it can pull a better ristretto. But delta is not nearly enough to give me upgrade-itis. Downside of GS3 is big entry price, I think it is ugly and then ~$250 and transport hassle every so often to get that preinfusion control rebuilt. LaMarzocco is fantastic about parts and service though. Fantastic. If I was in the market for a more expensive machine than a brewtus I'd look for a Synesso or Slayer, those would maximize pride of ownership for me and they're f'ing gorgeous inside. That is pretty far out along the lunatic fringe though. Wish I knew someone that crazy. My Brewtus does go down with an issue every few years. Once or twice my wife has suggested we get a different machine. Each time the fix has been <$100, and that is sweet bullet dodging compared to the 5 figure cost of a real upgrade. I think the Brewtus is a pretty damn good deal. No regrets here. Don't skimp on the grinder and don't skimp on the beans (which are what really dominate the cost of ownership...) Eric -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
