Breville's new dual boiler machine BES900

Muscles

Anger Management wrote:

I think Muscles has tried the 22g VST and is able to squeeze about 28g ? into the basket.

Correct. Too much coffee for one cup for me... I would rather have 4 decent doubles than 2 of those "monster" shots but if that's what you like - go for it! FYI you can fit 20g easily in the VST 18g ridgeless basket and even push it to 21g with the BES900 but 19-20g does it for me and all my guests.... never had anyone tell me my coffee is too weak 😉

admin

Ok guys, it's been a little more than a year now, since this came out... what's the 'ducks guts' on this, in terms of price, performance & the whole package? A

Cuppacoffee

I sold about 50 units. One customer decided to sell his unit and buy an Italian built HX machine. His main reason for the change was that he wasn't happy with the steam performance on the 900. After his purchase of the Italian machine he contacted me to say he was pleasantly surprised to find his coffee tasted better too. Three other customers have contacted me (all quite recent) for copies of their invoices, as they needed to make warranty claims.

Muscles

No buyers remorse here :thumb: Features, love em and use them all daily! Price was good then and even better now! Service, Phil fixed my OPV while I watched and waited! Can I think of at least one thing to complain about? Umm, my coffee intake has gone up since getting the BES900 and my Inlaws now regularly pop over not to visit me or the wife or our little girl but simply for a cuppa!! Honestly I took a punt and won with this machine. Would be happy to answer any specific questions that some may have...

Hatchy

I'm very happy with the machine and the coffee that I get out of it. Even more happy after the OPV adjustment done by AM. Was going to 12 or more, now sitting on 9.75b. It's pretty well foolproof, but allows you to do some adjusting to the prefinfusion etc. The timed turn on of the machine is a plus for those working regular hours. Next step for me is a naked pf and a VST. Both are in the pipeline as soon as time permits. I think the steam is lacklustre, though we did test it at AM's and it's within spec and would beat the sunbeam. I picked mine up in the boxing day sales for ~1200. I'm fairly sure you can get that most days of the week now.

Muscles

Dennis wrote:

I sold about 50 units. One customer decided to sell his unit and buy an Italian built HX machine. His main reason for the change was that he wasn't happy with the steam performance on the 900. After his purchase of the Italian machine he contacted me to say he was pleasantly surprised to find his coffee tasted better too. Three other customers have contacted me (all quite recent) for copies of their invoices, as they needed to make warranty claims.

So 6% have required unkown service or warranty? That's pretty darn good especially since most of yours would have been from the first run. I would happily wage $100 that that has dropped closer to 3% by now and would be lower than what Breville themselves would have expected, or would it? I remember all the testing that you and Chriss talked up prior to launch and it was all very impressive...

Muscles

Hatchy wrote:

I'm very happy with the machine and the coffee that I get out of it. Even more happy after the OPV adjustment done by AM. Was going to 12 or more, now sitting on 9.75b. It's pretty well foolproof, but allows you to do some adjusting to the prefinfusion etc. The timed turn on of the machine is a plus for those working regular hours. Next step for me is a naked pf and a VST. Both are in the pipeline as soon as time permits. I think the steam is lacklustre, though we did test it at AM's and it's within spec and would beat the sunbeam. I picked mine up in the boxing day sales for ~1200. I'm fairly sure you can get that most days of the week now.

See, I didn't even think to mention the auto on. Taking it for granted already... Go the VST before you get naked!

Cuppacoffee

Personally, I don't think the steam flow is a deal breaker. For people new to espresso machines I think the softer volume of steam is an advantage as it is easier to control the process. The claims don't sound like user initiated faults to me - dead pump and lights on but nobody home kind of problems. I still haven't heard anything as nutty as the Sunbeams that wake themselves up in the middle of the night! :rofl: I'm conscious of the fact that some customers may have had an issue and gone directly to Breville without my involvement. So the possible percentage of faults does concern me. Hopefully Breville have learnt from these experiences and made improvements where needed. While it would annoy me to need to return a machine for warranty, particularly if it weren't repaired quickly, I still believe the machine represents good value, particularly at its current street price.

Rider

Dennis wrote:

I still haven't heard anything as nutty as the Sunbeams that wake themselves up in the middle of the night! :rofl:

I had the Sunbeam and _never_ experienced a middle of the night wake up... in fact I never experienced any issue with it, bar the necessary (overly necessary) maintenance. I am still amazed at the amount of crap this machine gets without any suspicion/assumption that user involvement may be a contributing factor.... why has everyone bar a selected few got it in for the Sunbeam?

Cuppacoffee

Rider wrote:

I had the Sunbeam and _never_ experienced a middle of the night wake up... in fact I never experienced any issue with it, bar the necessary (overly necessary) maintenance. I am still amazed at the amount of crap this machine gets without any suspicion/assumption that user involvement may be a contributing factor.... why has everyone bar a selected few got it in for the Sunbeam?

I didn't make it up. See: http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1339019002 Unless the owner sleep walks I don't know how this could be user error. 😃

Hatchy

Have not forgotten AM. Have sourced a nice piece of wood for the handle too. I've lost access to a lathe at present, but should have a workaround hopefully soon. Then to find the time. Have kept the cradle aside in the cupboard for you.

Cuppacoffee

I think it was suggested in Rider's comment AM, not yours.

Rider

Anger Management wrote:

Because it was the first to try to bridge the gap between cheaper appliances and something that might offer a step up and closer to the prosumer. So while it was ground breaking and good for getting the "issue" of better quality coffee machines into the home, it also trod on lots of toes... Personalities and perceived impact to their bottom line, led an interesting and often one sided spiel. Then toss in Paul B and you have another variable and personalities... Thus, after some 4 plus years, the BDB came along and more than a few said "Crap, if the EM69xx did as well as it did, and the BES900 is a major improvement over the EM69xx. Then we had better get on board and make $ while we can." So I also find it interesting that some will promote the BES900 and yet bag the machine that made the acceptance of the BES900 possible. Mind you; I also think it is interesting that it is still ONLY the major White goods suppliers that can provide the BES900. AND with the EM7000 about to hit the shelves the pricing should get even better on the BES900. And that has to be good for any number of those looking to get into coffee. AND after all, is that not the aim...

All brilliant points AM and in particular I would point to the last one... Myself, derrilex and many many others got as far as we are into coffee purely and simply because the 6910 was there to bridge the gap as you pointed out so well. Had that not been there I doubt I would have leapt to where I am now. Some of us need that bit of convincing and therefore take the windy road rather than the freeway in their journey. The 6910 and 0480 showed me the value in stumping up the bucks for the VBM and Macap. My comment has been taken to extreme and I would have thought the main point was exactly what you have focussed on. Therefore I say thank you, sir. Wouldn't it be nice if forums/people spent a little more time looking at the positives that the 6910 brought to the coffee industry, rather than constantly looking at the negatives....?

Muscles

Yep and same could be said of the BES900, it's positives are numerous but ~~so many~~ actually a select few try to bring up the few early issues to put would be purchasers off

ajst2duk

Grrr, our BDB fallen in the line of duty after 7 months. Two weeks so far at the service centre so far without an eta, thats about $20 per day in extra trips to the village for coffees, not to mention the grumpy starts. It's amazing when you have something taken away that you take for granted. Anyway - <rant off> - we will wait patiently until mr fix-it lets us know what the problem was, symptom was no pressure at the brew head, just clicking solenoid sounds. Hot water still functioned as did steam. - AJ

Dinsdale

ajst2duk wrote:

Grrr, our BDB fallen in the line of duty after 7 months. Two weeks so far at the service centre so far without an eta,

Mine just died at 6mths 😢, but was ready today - 7 days. My problem is that I now have to make the 410+ Km trip to Perth to pick it up 😡.

Dinsdale

Anger Management wrote:

What was the problem with yours...

It wouldn't make more than 3bar when brewing, though with a blind filter it did very slowly climb to 10bar - about 10secs to get there. I won't find out what they found until I go to pick it up..

ajst2duk

We are in Sydney, and I did make some quiet enquiries before I sent it to a service agent up here (Nth Burbs). He suggested that it might be a minor issue, I wasn't overly concerned at that point and I'm up to having a crack myself but don't want to mess with the warranty. I guess now we have experienced 2 weeks without a machine, during the busiest few weeks in our house all year - it really blows your day to bits when you lose that nice warm shiny hub of the household. Anyway - specifically the poblem a;ll started out of the blue with one shot - it couldn't get past 3 bar - as I mentioned the hot water still functioned ok (not sure if they use the same pump) but after that it just failed to build any pressure at the brew head - just a solenoid click and nothing. This machine was def one of the first batch, we have had it since new, and I replace the filters and flush with a blind filter regularly. Hopefully it does just turn out to be a minor issue and it's just that the service place is useless at time management or as it looked when I dropped it off, just extremely busy with a backlog of broken appliances. In any case - we miss our BDB and are hanging out to get it back. - AJ

ajst2duk

Machine is back - a blockage in the solenoid. Peace has been restored, happy times are back again. I will however need to readjust the OPV. AJ

Brett_H

Good news mate.

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