De'Longhi ESAM3300 Magnifica Super Automatic Espresso & Coffee Machine, Silver

Why did we buy it?Our purchase was based on wanting to improve our morning coffee without the mess of a dirty coffee pot and often wasted coffee, using harmful plastic capsules, or committing the time and effort needed to use a manual expresso machine.What do we love about it?We love everything about it. You simply set your grind preferences, turn it on and after its ready (maybe a minute?) you hit one button and your hot amazing expresso comes out! That's it! And it's very easy to clean and maintain as well.But we don't drink Expresso?Keep in mind, we are traditional coffee drinkers, but this makes wonderful coffee by simply adding your frothed milk to the expresso, and we enjoy adding a little sweetness too. I was surprised to find I'm using less sugar now because the coffee has no bitter taste. We were not even aware our old coffee was bitter until we got this new De'Longhi, and my husband has completely stopped adding sugar all together.What kinds of beans do we use?We use Lavazza Espresso Italiano Whole Bean Coffee Blend as several reviews suggested. The coffee that comes out of this machine with these beans is simply delicious, but sure you can use any quality coffee or expresso beans of preference. We also enjoy using this same brand of expresso beans too, both are excellent.What features are helpful?This automatic machine has smart and helpful light indicators to let you know when it needs water, beans or dumping of grinds so your coffee will never again stop pouring mid-stream. It's well designed and takes us only a few minutes to maintain each week. There are controls for grind preferences and strength. They made everything super easy, which is great because to put it kindly, I'm not technically inclined.Is frothing difficult?Since we are not baristas, and both drink regular coffee with creamer, we were happy that the steam spout is powerful and needs no fancy maneuvers to pile up a quick cup of hot creamy froth.Any Negatives?There is nothing hard or difficult about this machine, with the exception of leaving home, as it will be very 'hard' to pay for a pricey cup of Starbucks as you will find it 'difficult' to go without your wonderful morning coffee!How long do we expect this machine to last?Lastly, we researched different manufactures and discovered Delongi has been around over 200 years and they have shops all over the US that will help maintain your machine to last a lifetime. My sister has same Magnifico De'Longhi machine but a manual model she bought over 20 years ago and it's still going strong!Doubting new automatic machines will last as long as the manual ones (which I think with proper care will last a lifetime) but for the convenience of automation we will be happy to replace it after a decade or so. Imagine by then they will have "touchless" where you just talk to it and tell it what you want, and it will automatically put your cup under the spout and pour it out for you. Then in the not-too-distant future, a robot will bring it to you! (How lazy can we get?)Do I think it's worth the price?We purchased this machine used 'LIKE NEW', which we guessed was an unused return, and we saved half the retail price! When it came, you could tell it was Brand new/ never used, and it worked perfectly! If you'd like to save a small fortune like we did, I suggest you wait for Black Friday or search now for a similar 'like new' return. We knew Amazon would take it back if there were any issue in 30 days at no cost to us as prime members, so it was a 'low risk' for an inconvenience, to save over $600. Would I pay full price for it? Not if I could save a bundle like I did, but if I couldn't and if I could afford it retail, yes, in a heartbeat.

I bought my first ESAM3300 in 2010 -- from a reputable non-Amazon retailer -- after doing a bunch of research and reading. For a bit over 3 years, it delivered an average of 6-10 shots per day. Some days my wife and I need about 20 shots. Other days we're not home. :) Around November 2013, that machine went insane (see below). I did a bit of math, figured that getting 6000-10000 shots of espresso out of a $700 machine was a pretty good deal, and ordered a replacement. Frankly, I'd like to rate this machine a 4.5, but given a choice between 4 and 5, I think 5 more accurately represents the fact that (a) I'm pretty darn picky, and (b) this machine has satisfied me.GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: The machine works well. It makes solid espresso with a minimum of effort, requires relatively little cleaning, and foams milk pretty well. I've used $20K commercial machines at my workplace, and this machine provides 90-95% of the functionality and quality. I only see two significant weaknesses:(1) The espresso leans toward Americano. If you want a ristretto, you're gonna have to crank the adjustment knobs virtually all the way toward "more coffee grounds" and "less water". Middle of the range will provide about 3.5 oz of strong coffee.(2) It *is* rather noisy. Not industrially so, but enough to overpower cross-kitchen conversation and wake up the person for whom you're trying to make breakfast in bed.At the end of the day, what matters to me is that with a push of a button I get espresso that's better than I can get at most coffee shops out there (though not as good as a top-flight shop).RELIABILITY: I do feel that a good espresso machine should last longer than 3 years. That said, even if my second one fails after 3 years, it's still good value for the money. My first one failed because a gasket in a water supply line eroded, water leaked out, and eventually scrambled some of the internal electronics. (I disassembled the machine, found the leak, fixed it, but couldn't fix the electronics). It was leaking water for a week before it went insane, and if I'd realized what the leak meant, I could have forestalled it. So, my conclusion is that it should last at least 3 years without major maintenance, but if you tinker and take extra good care, it will probably last longer.WHY TO BUY FROM AMAZON: When I received my new machine from Amazon, it sort of worked. About 2/3 of the shots were fine... the other 1/3 were brownish water. And it was barfing grounds all over the inside. Clearly something was misaligned. If I hadn't ordered from Amazon, I'd have been fairly traumatized (given that my old machine had just failed). As it was, I called Amazon (on a Sunday, mind you), and within about 3 minutes I had another one scheduled for overnight delivery, and an appointment for UPS to pick up the defective one the next day. Which is about as painless as it gets. Note, in particular, that I got to continue using the mostly-defective one to feed my caffeine addiction until after the replacement arrived. So Amazon gets five stars for the return process.