Quality throughout. Easier to use than most with faster warm-up and recovery times. Quality results. Ergonomics are very good - I remove the portafilter with my left hand and my thumb lies perfectly on the left edge of the stainless steel body providing "leverage" when removing the portafilter.... a small detail with lots of goodness. 3-way solonoid is very nice. Easy to fill from the top or front.
Negative Product Points
I'd like a stainless steel drip pan and drip pan grate. I'd like them to texture the steam knob; hard to use with wet hands.
Detailed Commentary
Our choice was between the Classic and the Silvia (like many other buyers) and they're both great machines for the price point but we liked the quicker warm-up and recovery offered by the Classic. To a lesser degree, the top-fill AND front-fill were attractive as well as the pod-capable design, were seen as positives over the Silvia. Here, we gave up quicker frothing offered by the Silvia over quicker warm-up offered by the Classic.
Our typical useage is for Cafe Americanos - several a day - and a couple of lattes at night.
