CHULUX Single Serve Coffee Maker for K Capsule, Mini Single One Cup Coffee Machine, Perfect for Small Space, Black

I bought this single cup brewer for several important reasons:Small size/footprint— takes up very little countertop spaceLow power—800W allows me to plug in same 20A kitchen outlet as the 1200W microwave oven, which also shares the same circuit as the rice cooker and refrigerator. Once in a while the branch circuit breaker trips when the rice cooker and microwave oven are both running. But I have not had the problem when the Chilux and microwave are both running. Some more “powerful” coffee makers might brew your cup 30 seconds faster, but then I might have to go outside to reset the circuit breaker more often.Perfect for Travel—this little thing is light and compact. While it doesn’t have a water storage tank that traps water inside, I still place inside a plastic bag when packing into my bag just in case there’s a few drips.Low Price—the price for this little thing is fair. I wanted a small unit without any fancy features and it fit my needs perfectly.Now on to my long term review. Maybe I have had extremely good luck with my unit, but it has worked flawlessly for one year and about 9 months. For the price I could not ask for anything better. I have used it daily for a morning cup of coffee since my doctor advised me to cut back on caffeine when diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia condition. I don’t want or need a large coffee pot and the single use k-cups are perfect for me when brewed with 12-14 oz water and then poured into a vacuum insulated coffee mug to last all morning. I also have used it for single cup afternoon coffee either decaf or regular with an 8oz to 10oz water charge. I use a 2 cup Pyrex glass pitcher to fill water and then collect the brewed.I have only used tap water from the municipal water supply. This is great water I’ve been drinking for years. This might be one of the reasons I have not had to clean my unit for 1.75 years.Now the failure came over the course of a week recently. The coffee maker would dispense the brew more slowly than normal, and I noticed a little bit less volume when it reached end of brew cycle. Finally it would simply turn off after only half the water was dispensed. It seemed that the problems people reported in their reviews finally reached my unit.Ok, so I had never attempted to clean the unit in the whole time I’ve used it. So, I thought I should try the vinegar cleaning method. My box and cleaning instructions were long gone. Instead I poured standard white vinegar 6 oz into the reservoir and started a complete brew cycle with no coffee pod installed. I then added a few ice cubes to cool down the brewed output and poured it back Into the reservoir for another run. It did not do much good and I thought to myself that maybe I should have been cleaning regularly as recommended.So I stepped it up a notch by using CLR cleaner because that stuff does wonders for cleaning mineral deposits like calcium and lime and rust — hence the name CLR! I knew that the CLR product is non toxic and is recommended for cleaning coffee makers. I failed to read the fine print on the bottle that said to use 1 part CLR to 8’parts water for this task. Instead I used 6 oz straight poured into the intake, then I ran a brew cycle. The new cycle terminated early after only half the fluid had been transferred. So I hit the brew cycle button again for more action. After that I added ice cubes to cool the solution and dilute a little and I ran it again through the brewer. I did this several times until had about 12 ounces of working cleaning fluid. I poured the solution in the reservoir hit the brew button until the unit started to produce an output then I promptly hit the button again to stop the action. I came back an hour later and decided to continue running the cycle which seemed to be much improved! The cleaning actually worked great!Now the problem was flushing out the coffeemaker with clean water.... running the CLR straight meant higher concentration and it took about 10 cycles of running 12 to 16 oz clean water each time to clean the unit. I let the water sit in the unit for an hour between cycles and it eventually reduced the residual CLR cleaner smell to levels my sensitive nose could no longer detect.Looking back I should have first followed the directions of using 1 part vinegar to 1 part water, poured into the unit and start then stop the brewing cycle to let it sit and clean the unit for an hour. I plan to do this next time the performance degrades — either the brew flow slows down and/or the volume out does not equal the volume in. I don’t think I need to do this every 2 weeks since my water seems to not cause buildup problems for about 18 to 21 months. Maybe every 6 months would be good.I bought a second Chulux unit a few days ago when my first stopped working, but then after cleaning my original is back running good as new! ! !I’m keeping the second unit anyway since it arrived today. I almost feel like buying a third unit to keep as a spare for 10 years down the road when you probably cannot buy them anymore. I think eventually the electronics or mechanical parts, hoses, etc may fail. But until then I will keep using and cleaning this little champ every day!

I've had my "CHULUX Single Serve Coffee Maker Brewer for K Cups" for a year and a few months. Over that time, I've regularly made about 6 cups of perfect coffee with very few issues. I was a former owner of at least 6 Keurig brand coffee makers that worked, but failed after about 8 months.. YES.. all of them lasted ONLY about 8 months. Tried everything on YouTube to get them to work again... but nothing. So, I got fed up with their POOR quality and decided to try the CHULUX. This little thing is built like a "tank". It just keeps going! Coming from the BIG BULKY Keruig's to this small thing was a bit of a surprise.. but I now love it's smaller size and foot print.The Keurig tank and water handling system design is flawed. The whole system constantly holds water in the internal tubes. I found this IS a breeding ground for mold (after taking a few of mine apart trying to diagnose issues) that you cannot see (without disassembly) and cannot get rid of. Flushing with vinegar or their brand of cleaner only "kills" the mold. This leaves "dead slime" from the mold that gets hung up in the system. The Keurig water pumps are definitely inferior (longevity wise) to the CHULUX. They just will not hold up to 6 cups a day for more than about 8 months.As to those that have had the water overflow problem, the issue (CHULUX's) is there is a small particle strainer at the bottom of the "throat" where you pour the water in and it passes through the strainer into the tank. The holes are just too small and too few. Unless you slowly pour the water into the tank.. you will occasionally get a back flow. I feel this is a design flow on their part. What I have done is to remove this strainer (easily done with one finger) and use it without it. I've not had any issues with the tank getting foreign matter accumulated or in the machines operation.As to those with the grounds coming lose from the pods and getting into the coffee or on the machine itself or counter top. I've not had this issue. It could be the pods themselves have a defect or poorly made. It could be how you are putting the lid down on the pod and latching it shut. The motion should be swift once you start to the closure process. I make one swift movement and latch it immediately.As for the heat up time of the water. When I first received my CHULUX, my last old Keurig was still working. So, I timed how long each took from "start brewing button push" until coffee started flowing. The CHULUX was maybe 5 seconds slower than the Keurig.The improvements I would like to see would be a faster brew time ( I would pay more for this feature or such a model) and bigger holes in the water strainer.