Buy one cheap (if you travel) or line up at the buffet.
Positive Product Points
Highly cute and highly portable. Output straight up is OK - (I like it best mixed with milk). Rare traces of crema may appear; makes a decent cup with fresh ground beans, not bitter.
Negative Product Points
Probably not worth the new price of $70 - $120 to anyone except a serious gadget lover or Velox shareholder.
Detailed Commentary
The red Velox (Bertone/"CoffeeBreak") pictured is a small, sturdy portable moka-pot coffee maker. The engineering is quite good for seals, materials, fit and finish. For the speed and size of the device, the extractions are fine according to the freshness of the beans used. The output (3 oz. in 4.5 minutes) is modest; loading 7g of medium-fine ground coffee is a little finicky; cleaning up when done takes about 30 seconds (after the metal innards are cool enough to touch). My unit was produced in 1993, has been used a lot and still operates well.
I like the machine for my purposes. I travel a lot and find most hotel coffee undrinkable. The Velox brew, straight or mixed with milk, is pretty good compared to most hotel/motel buffet offerings served up in styrofoam cups. I certainly prefer it to road-house alternatives for all except convenience. I also keep a small boat with galley. The Velox is a speedy alternative (when there's only one aboard) to a french press when there's 110AC shore power available.
For the road warrior, it is not a bad deal, if less convenient than taking what comes on the interstate highway system.
Buying Experience
Purchased on eBay for $25, I can't complain. It has $10 worth of "cute" value, and at least another $15 for the output quality and convenience.
Three Month Followup
I just spent two weeks on the road with a baggie full of ground coffee and the Velox Bertone. I used it every day and again conclude that it makes much better coffee than I can find on America's highways. It is also true that cough medicine is better than American highway coffee, but that is fodder for another review. (I must consider coffee with codiene.)
