Cheap Saeco Magic Comfort Plus SuperAutomatic Espresso Coffee and Cappuccino Machine, Silver (Kitchen) Price

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Customer Reviews of Saeco Magic Comfort Plus SuperAutomatic Espresso Coffee and Cappuccino Machine, Silver

Makes great coffee, cappucino and espresso, but has some quirks
I've been enjoying my Saeco Magic Comfort Plus machine for several days now. The machine works as advertised, but it does have some quirks. Fortunately none are very serious. <
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>The first thing you will find when you unpack the box is that, in addition to three instruction manuals (one each in English, French and Spanish), there is also a "quick start" guide, a packet of errata pages for the detailed instruction manual, and a separate packet containing the warranty booklet and descaling instructions, along with a couple of strips of colored paper containing other sundry notes. The guide, manual and PDF files found on Saeco's web site don't always agree with each other (even factoring in the errata). Fortunately these discrepancies are minor and it isn't difficult to figure out which instruction is the correct one. (For example, the manual tells you that the package includes a "brew group key [wrench]", but a separate piece of paper informs that, since the brew group is removeable and washable, this item is no longer needed and hence not included.) <
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>Having read the other reviews here, I was prepared for the cryptic "VENTILATE" message. (The manual refers to this procedure as "Loading the circuit", which doesn't help to clarify things.) Of course this refers to what Americans would call "priming" the machine. As mentioned in another review, there is a plastic hand pump supplied for priming, but that is only needed in the event that the electric pump fails to self-prime. All I had to do (following the quick-start instructions) was to select the Hot Water function; the internal pump quickly primed itself. <
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>Another quirk is the so-called "Dregsdrawer", or dump box (where the spent grounds are collected). If this drawer is removed and replaced even while the machine is powered off and unplugged, when powered on you will receive the "DREGSDRAWER MISSING" error, and the machine won't operate. To correct this, you must remove the dump box for a few seconds with the machine powered on, and then replace it. <
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>As mentioned in another review, when brought out of "energy save" mode for the day's first use, the machine rinses itself after completing a warm-up period (it's ready to brew in about two minutes). However, I've discovered that if the machine is in energy save mode for only a relatively short time, it skips the rinsing step, shortening the start-up time by quite a bit. So one shouldn't be shy about putting the machine into energy save mode (two presses of the Menu button will do this, a nice little design detail) whenever you think you won't be using it for a while. The machine goes to sleep by itself after the factory-programmed time of three hours, but this can be reduced to as little as 15 minutes, in 15 minute increments. (It can't be disabled.) <
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>The machine apparently only checks the water tank sensor when you select a function. So even though the machine could tell you to refill the tank at the end of the brew cycle that drained it, in fact it will instruct you to refill when you try to make the next cup, although this might be considered a feature (as you will be starting with fresh water). <
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>The machine comes with a swivel base which allows you to rotate it for easy access to both the removable water tank and the bean hopper (which is not removable without use of a screwdriver), as well the service door for cleaning. This is a very nice feature, although it requires even more clear space around a machine with an already large footprint. <
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>Another interesting feature is the Hot Water function. The machine will supply hot water through the steam tube with the push of a button on the front panel. Through the programming menu, it is possible to set the machine to deliver a programmable quantity of hot water and then stop. (This would allow you to, for example, start the machine filling a cup for tea or hot chocolate, and then walk away without fear of overflow.) As it comes from the factory, the hot water function must be stopped manually, by pressing the hot water button a second time. This of course allows the dispensing of arbitrary amounts of hot water, up to the capacity of the water tank. <
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>Steam, on the other hand, is made available by turning the knob on the front of the machine. (For some reason I found this a little bit counter-intuitive, since every other function is controlled by the buttons.) You need to purge the steam tube of water by turning the knob for a few seconds until only steam comes out. Once that's done, continuous steam is available up to the capacity of the water tank. <
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>I've become spoiled by the ability of the Comfort Plus to make a single cup of cappucino in about a minute. You simply fill a cup about 1/3 full with milk, purge the steam tube (as just described), then froth the milk. The Panarello device makes this simple and foolproof. You then place the cup of frothed milk under the nozzles and brew; your fresh cappucino will be ready in under 30 seconds! <
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>Prior to the Comfort Plus I owned a manual (steam) espresso machine. I never had very much luck frothing milk with it, and since it required grinding in a separate device, transfer of the ground coffee, tamping, filling the boiler with water, not to mention the cleanup, it never got used very much. <
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>The Magic Comfort Plus is used every day, throughout the day for coffee, cappucino and espresso. I'd like to second the other reviewer who said that while you might by it on a splurge, you will quickly come to think of it as a necessity. <
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>One final comment: Another reviewer said that the machine is mostly plastic. This isn't true. While the drip tray, dump box and upper fascia are plastic, the body of the machine is constructed on a sturdy welded metal frame, which can be seen when the drip tray is removed. The side panels are also metal. The plastic used is ABS, which is exceptionally strong, yet flexible (not brittle). There isn't anything about the machine that I would call "flimsy".

Great convenience and good but not perfect espresso
We finally took the plunge and bought yet another complicated piece of machinery to share our house with. Why a superautomatica? Making espresso requires a lot of fiddling---even with a simple Italian-style moka machine (if you call that espresso). When one, like us, is constantly running around with a long list of high-priority tasks in mind, the desire to eliminate any avoidable fiddling is strong and legitimate. <
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>I am pleased to report that this machine does the job. It makes an honest espresso quickly, consistently, and so far reliably. It's not a great espresso, but it is creamy and sufficiently hot for me (and it's not even at the highest temperature setting), even with an unheated cup. I am not an espresso gourmet, but I am fairly picky. <
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>Initially the machine's servings were too large. Even at the smallest setting, they completely filled my standard espresso-size cup. It took me a few days to notice that it was possible to program the amount of water used for each coffee size (small, medium, or large). I expected this setting to be accessible through the menu display. Instead, one has to push and hold the "make-one-coffee" button, then release it when the cup contains the desired amount of coffee. This indeed means that you should program the coffee size only when you are ready to drink one. <
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>Another minor problem is that making coffee is often a two-step process. After a programmable amount of time (about 3 hours by default) the machine puts itself in energy-saving mode. It takes two or three minutes for it to wake up, and during the wake-up process it rinses itself, spitting some water out of its nozzles. This means that one cannot place a cup under the nozzle and press the "make one coffee" button. The first person to wake up needs to go to the Magic Comfort, wake it up, usually by pushing the "Menu" button, go do something else, and come back five minutes later (or more) to make the coffee. <
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>Considering that it grinds the beans, the machine is reasonably quiet, but I wouldn't put it in someone's bedroom unless you are single. I wouldn't even put it one room away, although that would depend on how good your door is (usually not that good). We put it two rooms away and that's good enough. <
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>Perhaps the main gripe is that I found the instruction manual surprisingly poor. The information is probably all there, but the machine's functions are skimpily presented one by one in random order, without any overall advice on how to optimize one's coffee. For a one-thousand dollar piece of machinery, they could do a lot better. Perhaps they have discovered that their typical user is so busy that he won't bother reading the manual, and so why waste time on that? Perhaps they are right. Still, when the machine ran out of water for the first time while my wife was steaming some milk, the message "VENTILATE" appeared on the display and stayed there for a long time (20 minutes) even after power cycling. The message was not in the troubleshooting section, so I was stumped, although it only meant that the water circuit had to be reprimed (a small hand pump is provided for this purpose). The (presumably) original version of this message in Italian was equally unhelpful. <
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>There are three parameters one can play with to optimize one's espresso: amount of water, amount of coffee, and grinder setting (finer vs. coarser). I am not including temperature (minor effect, probably) and coffee type (obvious). The manual says that it takes 3-4 coffees to observe changes to the grinder setting, so one has to be careful. Note that the grinder setting must be changed while the grinder is operating. I just started playing with these and if discover anything useful, I will report it here. <
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>To summarize, this machine seems to work as advertised, and so far I am reasonably pleased with it.