Saeco V'spresso Superautomatic

[Chas811]

I am considering the purchase of a Saeco V'spresso and have not been able to find very much first-hand information.

Features all seem to be there (bypass doser, LCD, easy clean, burr grinder, etc.,).

I would appreciate any comments or personal experiences, pro or con, about this machine, perhaps comparing it with one or more SuperAutomatics in the same price category (about $800-$1000).

Thanks

Chas

 

[Navi723]

Chas,

Not sure how much help I can be, but here's my experience. My husband and I bought a Starbucks Italia about 6 months ago and loved it. What joy it brought to our lives! Until the day the steam knob popped off and apparently it was unrepairable. I mourned as if a dear family member had died! Starbucks isn't making any more of those machines at this time, probably because the steam knob is coming off of all of them and Starbucks does full refunds for them. Joy to us, since that provided the funds to purchase our next machine, a Saeco V'spresso. In our search we found out that the Italia was actually a Saeco machine.

The Saeco V'spresso took us to a whole other level of coffee delight! The steam wand is ready instantaneously (or at least it seems that way. The panarello attachment actually does a pretty good job frothing, not quite as good as we did on our own with the Italia, but I'll take a little less foam if I don't have to stand there holding the steam cup the entire time! I wish the water tank held a little more water, but it's sufficient. The controls are super easy to use and the machine is incredible easy to clean. We were able to set our Italia to warm up and be waiting for us in the morning. The V'Spresso doesn't have that feature, but it only takes about a minute for the machine to be raring to go, so that's not an issue. My one and only complaint is that the grounds are coming out too wet when they're dumped into the dredge drawer. I came here today to see if I could find a solution to that. The coffee taste is incredible. We use Starbucks coffee and found we like it better than anything else out there, even the drinks prepared by the Starbucks cafes themselves, using the same coffee!

In my opinion, if you have $1,000 to spend on a machine, the V'Spresso is the way to go. As much coffee as we drink now, this machine will more than pay for itself in six months, tops.

Hope that helps, and good luck with your decision!

Kim

 

[Chas811]

Thanks Kim, for posting your comments about the Saeco V'spresso Super Automatic.
We ordered a V'spresso from J&R Music and Computer World yesterday. While their web site lists the cost as $999.99, we just received a sales flyer (we are a former customer) that listed the V'spresso at $799.99 if ordered by phone only.
The order-taker said they had two machines in stock, checked the price, and said that when he entered the dreaded "Priority Code" number that we gave him from the label on our flyer, the price changed on his computer terminal from $999 to $799. No tax, but shipping from NY to FL was about $34.
We're scheduled to take delivery this coming Friday, and will post any observations or experiences that we think might be of interest to forum members.
Chas