Between the Saeco Via Venzia and the Gaggia Classic, I was leaning towards the Gaggia for these reasons: 1) Three way solenoid valve 2) Pressurized and non pressurized baskets (no need to disassemble the portafilter) 3) Can put a real steam arm from a Rancilio Silvia on there instead of the pannarello, if you want to
I ended up going with a higher end machine, but that's why I'd go Gaggia over Saeco. Then again, I know two people with 9 year old "Barista" machines still going strong - one of them has never descaled.
Black plastic panarello tip that came with my Baby has multiple holes (slots) around the top and incorporates way too much air, it's just not very good Silver tip that comes with the Baby Twin has a single small hole and is much better, but a little too much if you want to do art, overall this one works well Silvia tip swaps over of course (directly on my Baby no mods at all needed) and incorporates no air and must be done by you skimming the surface
Do keep in mind that you can cover the hole(s) to get things where you want if you have the patience to experiment with it.
ActionJ Senior Member Joined: 14 May 2012 Posts: 8 Location: Greenville, SC Expertise: Just starting
Posted Sun May 27, 2012, 12:48pm Subject: Re: Newbie question #767
Bought the LeLit combo. Seems to work well, but one question. The portafilter doesn't want to go to 6 o'clock stays around 8 to 9 without severally over tigtening it. Is this a problem? I still need to work on dialing it in a little more,but I think I am close. It is really quick to warm up and recover. The machine looks great and the Lelit grinder will grind much finer than I need and it has a nice small foot print. Thanks for the advice.
^ +1 handle position in and of itself isn't important. However, if you feel like there's resistance to you really getting it on the group well, then that may be a sign of overdosing your shot. Try the nickel test to see if there's any space for coffee expansion between the puck surface and the group shower screen, if not, you should adjust your dose.
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 