its all just opinions at the end of the day which is why we're here on a discussion board. 🙂 i didn't get the impression that FC was trying to write the machine off, there is just some skepticism there and lets face it, most coffee lovers who have owned a good quality italian machine and have had experience with a major appliance model will testify, hand on heart, that historically the major brands don;t stack up to the good quality italian machines like pavoni, gaggia, saeco etc etc. the other thing he is saying to consider is the longevity and support you recieve from appliance brands compared to the quality brands which we all must agree is true. i've had my machine for the greater part of 8-9 years and i bought it from euroespresso in sydney. service is magnificent and i maintain a relationship with the SAME owners to this day. thats longer than alot of freindships last !! i would feel confident dropping my machine off to them if there was ever a problem no matter when the thing broke. lets face it if you buy a major appliance brand from DJ's and it broke after 6 years would you feel as confident going back to DJ's or sunbeam asking them to fix it ? lol i can tell you right now that the look on their face would go something like this..."look champ, you had a good run, we have a new and improved model, go and buy a new one." 😉 i think FC is just trying to point the service stuff out as a selling point for the quality machines. the other thing he is pointing out is that it's whatever floats your boat. i thought the car example was a great one. some people will buy an italian sports car cos its italian and it "feels" better. others buy a japanese sports car which does exactly the same thing, has just as many features, performs just as well for less money and are just as happy. another example is clothes. a $2000 valentino suit Vs a $500 ron bennett suit. etc my kid bro has a fully auto sunbeam, has had it for 3 yrs and its never missed a beat. if we both made coffees at the same time and had a blind test i doubt i could taste or see the difference. but i dunno it doesn;t do it for me. i have to admit anthology that the sunbeam sounds great and logically for me it is a great choice. for $600 i can buy a machine that heats milk and makes coffee at the same time ASWELL as, (by all accounts), making a great coffee. but there's this niggling little man on my shoulder that whispers..."but it's a sunbeam". i guess i gotta figure out if i can live with that. snobby ? sure. irrational ? absolutely. but hey, it's what makes us all different that makes life so interesting !!
