Beautiful looking machine.  Very easy to use and fast.  Fully programmable.  Fantastic instructions both written and on the DVD.  Great looking espresso with lots of rich crema if fresh beans are used.  Makes great cappucino and lattes or just plain coffee.  If you are an espresso connisour then you know this is not the machine you want.  Filters can get a little pricy but if your spending this much for the Cadillac of fully autos then what's a new filter now and then.  Besides, you don't have to mess with decalcification.

Pre-infusion is not optional.  I don't get as much micro froth as I would have hoped.  I guess I could try skim milk to see if that will work better.  Even after a couple hundred tries I can't get as much micro froth as I would like with 1% milk.   I have not tried the automatic frother yet so I can't offer an opinion there.  The machine will do a rinse when it is turned on and off.  I find myself doing extra rinses which isn't difficult but it would be nice to be able to adjust the rinse cycle.

First off if I hadn't found such a great deal on E-bay I would not have spent full price for this machine.  My main objective buying this machine was to make lattes and cappuccinos for myself and my family and the machine does a fantastic job with that.  I wanted to be able to make them quickly and one after the other without hesitation and the S9A has no difficulty keeping up.  

    I have had no problem with the beans sticking in the hopper but I don't use oily beans and can't figure out why anyone would.  Yes there is alot of plastic but JC has done a beautiful job crafting the machine and it is put together very well.  I have seen the Saeco Royal line and they look very cheap compared to the S9A.

    It would be fun to have a nice semi-auto and try for the perfect espresso but I generally wouldn't have time for all that.  Maybe next time.

Bought off Ebay with some hesitation but the transaction was great.