-Truly a Coffee Aficionado's Dream Come True -Makes a great cup of Coffee Almost Every Time -Is a Great Center Piece for Conversation (Great For Entertaining Guests) -Very Easy to Install (Chris Coffee Provides both Easy-to-Install Plumbing Kit and Wonderful Customer Service - Kudos to Mary @ Chris Coffee) -Becoming Ubiquitous and Highly Adopted Semi-Pro Machine (Lot's of Owners and Lots of Informational Resources) -Simple and "Easy-to-Use" Design and Highly Functional Features (Easy to Clean and Maintain) -For the Money, The Best Value for What you Get!
Negative Product Points
-Could come with some Taller Feet to make Cleaning Grinds and Detritus Underneath the Machine Easier -Drain Kit Should Come Standard -Longer Steam Arm Should've Been Included (You can buy the Longer Steam Arm from Chris Coffee) -Standard 4 Hole Steamer ok but 4 Hole Steamer with smaller diameter holes yields much better micro-foam (Um..you can buy at Chris Coffee). -Separate Timer ($200) not all that easy to install - and not all that necessary -Too Many Different Fonts on this machine! Ok with me but big pet peave for my wife who asked me why the buttons are labeled in Comic Sans, the steam knob labled in Helvetica, and the number gauges in Arial - Oh and that Big S1 label on the front...guess it's just an Italian thing ;o)
These are VERY mild gripes - I LOVE MY MACHINE!
Detailed Commentary
Let's just say that I look forward to waking up and pulling shots on my Vivaldi II. This machine has become the envy of all my friends and family members - I am truly happy with the performance and reliability of this machine (it's been around 3 months already). I haven't had a single problem with the LaSpaz (knock on wood) but have full confidence that Chris Coffee would be very responsive to any issues that may arise. I was quite daunted about the installation - with the equipment purchased from Chris Coffee, it was a snap! Just determine if your electrical circuits can support a 220V machine - it's worth your while having a machine that can both froth and pull shot simultaneously.
This machine is so easy that my wife is pulling shots and even making attempts to maintain it.
(By the way, I was one of those people looking into buying the La Marzocco GS/3 - I'm so glad that I didn't. I would've paid at least 4x the price that I paid for the La Spaziale Viv II. Had I gone with the GS/3 I'm pretty sure I would've suffered from all the initial teething problems that comes with a newly designed machine. Some advice, spare yourself the extra 4 grand and buy yourself a nice watch and perhaps a high-end grinder)
Cheers, CruelBeanz
Buying Experience
I bought this machine at Chris Coffee and I was INCREDIBLY pleased with the level of responsiveness and service that I recieved. Chris has been remarkable in returning emails and phone calls - he is an incredibly knowledgeable guy (having been directly responsible in adding the improvements to the Vivaldi II) I'd be hard pressed to buy from anyone else. In addition, his staff has also been great. Mary at Chris Coffee has gone out of her way to make sure that even a non-commercial customer like myself has been fully satisified in getting exactly what I need. I would buy my second machine from them.
