Saeco Xsmall Plus Super Automatic Espresso Machine, Aluminum (Use for store Display)

When it is good, it's very very good, but when it is bad it is horrid! Bought one of these before they were available at Amazon (too bad for me). It brews a pretty good cup of coffee, when it works, which is only part time. Usually brews the first cup after you turn it on just fine. Then it is a really likely happening that it will just throw an error light and quit. Can often bring it back to life by cleaning everything out, recycling power, and starting over. But by now the coffee consumers are getting pretty restless and it is still hit or miss whether you can brew more. Buy a Vienna don't buy an Xsmall.

I do own 3 of the Saeco auto espresso maker, so I wanted a smaller size for my office, next to my computer, just at the reach of the hand for a coffee when needed. I did purchased this Saeco Xsmall for my birthday on December, from Costco.com, at an attractive price. That was all! The price....only! The machine look cute, but it broke after 12 cups of coffee, when I did have guests for Christmas day, and I just got upset. The brewer system got crazy, and do not brew at all, also the grinder, started grinding only big chunks off coffee beans...I just wasted like 1/3 of a pound of good Lavazza coffee to try to fix the Issue, but no success. I will return that to the store for a full refund(1 year return policy at Costco anyway).This coffee machine is just a joke! Not recommended!

I bought this a year ago - it just sits there laughing at me. It makes 1 cup of OKish espresso then will not make another cup. The bottom right red light flashes rapidly to indicate something is wrong but the manual is of no use on how to fix it.I have 2 of the big Saico machines and they are workhorses, you could feed drinks to a battalion of coffee lovers and they would never stop.But the Xsmall - nope, no use whatsoever, unless you want to make a coffee, unplug, go through the rinse cycle, get a coffee, unplug, .....

I bought this on a Black Friday deal from costco for a great price and have been using it for a few weeks now. My intention was to use this daily in place of our Keurig because the cost of K-cups has become so outrageous. I was a little worried that this would be more difficult to use and clean, but it really isn't.Here are the steps:1) Fill water reservoir (and add coffee beans if needed).2) Turn on and wait for it to heat and run a rinse cycle (about a minute).3) Position cups; push button twice for two shots of espresso. There is also a button for a 6 oz brew.4) Steam milk if desired (first purge water from wand into a separate cup until steam comes out clean).5) Squirt a little water out wand to clean it and wipe the outside. Remove and rinse occasionally.6) Dump coffee grind pucks from waste bin and rinse.7) Dump drip tray and rinse.It sounds like a lot of steps, but once you learn them they go really fast.Pros:1) Makes really good cappuccino (for a consumer machine) and pretty good coffee.2) Really easy to use and easy to clean. Mostly self cleaning except for the steam wand and weekly rinsing of the brew group.3) Much lower cost per cup than the Keurig we've been using.4) The Panarello wand is easy enough to use that anyone can steam and foam milk (a regular steam wand requires a bit of skill).Cons:1) Can't use dark roast beans, they are too oily and gum up the mechanism.2) The two output spouts are too close together, making it tough to place two cups underneath.3) Small water reservoir. Need to fill every day.4) The Panarello wand isn't good for micro-foam, so no making latte art. It would be nice to be able to switch between the Panarello and a standard wand.

Got this machine through Costco as a Christmas present in 2014. I am an avid espresso drinker and this machine gives a good quality and easy to make drink, given that you use quality beans. I am a grad student so I have put this little thing to the test and almost a year on it has met all expectations performance wise. Big tip for current and future owners: make sure to lube up the guide rails (to ensure lifespan) as well as the connecting rod on the piston, at the bottom of the brew unit. If the latter gets gunked up and moves with resistance, the cylinder receptacle for the coffee will not retract all the way and result in coffee grounds build up in the brew unit. This information is not stated in the manual or on the web, so I had to learn the hard way after discarding tons of unused grounds. After grease application, the problem was completely ameliorated.

I saw it on woot today and I wish I had waited to get it at THAT price. I got it during the holidays this year and I don't have enough good things to say about how well it works. I did lots of research and narrowed it down to the xsmall seen here or the saeco odea below. I ended up buying the XSmall and I love it.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QDV4AQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000QDV4AQ&linkCode=as2&tag=stupisms-20Both Machines are in the basic category of automatic espresso machines but still offer full functionality. The Xsmall truly offers instant on capabilities like it claims and allows you to go from a cold cup of milk to fully frothed in 30 seconds including warm up time. It is a simple and basic machine without lots of flashy features and screens but I really appreciate this now that I own it. It does what I want quickly and well and it doesn't take up a ton of counter space when compared to other automatic machines.The biggest complaint I have is the size of the water tank. It holds enough to brew 2 double shots which is most likely enough for one person even if he's "cooking for two". However it does take some of the fully automatic functionality out of it when you have to fill the tank every other time you use it. However, that being said, it still beats the heck out of doing it all manually every day like I was.Hope this helps a little.