There are lots of quite legitimate ways of justifying the existence of all different types of coffee machines, not the least of which is good base model machines that will eventually lead people to uptrade when they start looking for something "more" or simply get tired of something that has been in their kitchen for some years and is starting to look tired. .....Even $100.00 domestic machines can be a good thing because despite they put a certain proportion of people right off espresso on the one hand, they will lead interested consumers up the ladder to something better (and bring them in our door). Your comment re "group head design" is a goodie because it exemplifies the kind of garbage that does the rounds. As has been written so many times by me and many others, a machine is NOT the sum of its individual components, it is a holistic working "entity". It either runs well as a total design, or it doesn't for whatever reasons. A very good example of this (because of the amount of discussion it gets in forums in terms of the number of different brand and model machines that use it) is the E61 group head. That group is just a single component that gets bolted to the front of any number of machines. It of itself, does not govern the overall performance of the machines it is bolted to, and they don't all work in the same manner or perform similarly to each other because, that is governed by the total package of the internal design and build of each different brand/model....and not the fact that they each have an E61 group bolted on the front. Another very good example: saturated group heads. If you don't have a good design and build in the box behind the group head, a saturated group certainly does have the capability to fluctuate unacceptably in its temperature in continuous use. Ergo advertising that any model is super fantastic because it has saturated group heads means diddly squat (not to mention in that case, that of its own an E61 group head may well be far superior to a saturated group head because the roughly 3.5 kg brass mass protects it from wild fluctuations...ergo, will the "better" group please stand up...). It's the total design that delivers out the front of the machine, as governed by the capability of the operator, and the type of coffee. If someone indicated that the BZ99 is (was?) a "coffee burner" because of its group head design, then that is entirely incorrect (and I hope I never wrote that 🙂). If it is a coffee burner, it will be because of the rest of the total internal design that manages what comes out the front of the machine. Perhaps because it is a base model in a certain price bracket, the manufacturer may not feel it is worth spending extra Lire (now Euros) on the design and build to better manage what comes out the front...by whatever means (including using some other group head). Ergo if a client has had one and decides down the track to venture into something better (what does better mean...in this case something perhaps better controlled), then he has to trade up to a more expensive model.... In which case the little 99 has done its job well (to get someone to trade up), in addition to delivering good coffee to its owner for a number of years beforehand, as long as the machine is maintained well and the owner is well versed in the black art of making good coffee (no matter what model he/she is presented with). How many so called professional baristas are thrown into total disarray when given a different grinder (not top mention different type machine) and don't know how to dial a grinder in... That is not the fault of the equipment (a good tradie doesn't blame the tools). There are some excellent base model machines around and in many cases they eventually lead to people trading up....and in many corresponding cases, their owners will sit on the one model and NOT trade up because they remain perfectly happy with what they have until many years down the track they get jack of maintenance costs when paying workshops to do the work. The problem in terms of eventually trading up to something referred to as a "dream machine", is the amount of BS out there to convince people to buy their machines over someone elses, in the search for some kind of intangible coffee nirvana / wow factor that is entirely an individual thing, is transient, and doesn't necessarily translate for all into something that actually makes significantly better coffee (for the significant difference in cost) when you start to factor in all the variables in making that coffee no matter what equipment you use, coffee supply or situation you are in, including your intended use of the equipment and the ability of your individual palate. When you are already sitting on really good equipment (of whatever brand/model), you are already moving in the kind of circles where you will pay very very dearly to trade into something that may give a very small difference in the coffee...if your palate is good enough to detect that (and as often written, is different "better", or just "different" for any particular individual). Discussions in internet forums can play a huge roll in making consumers feel insecure about their encumbent equipment lest they are somehow missing out on something, and the art of marketing all that is to sell the sizzle of how much better of a coffee machine something is and to aspire to, when in reality a client may be paying a huge price difference to step pretty much sideways for his or her actual intended use and capability, and in reality get a very stylish looking box with a name plate for the dollars spent. If that is what a client wants then so be it, but again....Eyes open please.
