Gaggia 90851 Platinum Swing Automatic Espresso Machine

My parents have had a Gaggia Titanium for several years. It has been going strong for 4+ years. I finally decided to make the switch from a Keurig to a superautomatic and so far I am glad I did.

The machine makes great espressos and the milk island is suprisingly useful. Setup didn''t take long. Just make sure to "activate" the water filter. There is a setting in the menu to activate the water filter. The machine will pump water through the steam wand and then you are good to go.

This machine is much quieter than the Titanium model and I like the design better. Small footprint for a superautomatic and nice modern display screen.

You have three drink programs espresso, coffee, and long coffee. You set how much water you want to brew in each cycle when you setup the machine and then choose one of the three when you want to brew. You can adjust the amount of coffee used in each cycle by using the bean button (mild, medium, and strong). You can also adjust how fast the water flows through the beans on the front of the dispenser.

I was surprised at how quickly the machine heats up. Within a minute of turning on it is ready to brew.

Things to know need to empty the drip tray often; need to use distilled water or a filter (filter comes with it); cup warmer is passive (swing up has an active); Gaggia and Saeco are owned by the same company and this model is really similar to some of the Saecos, but has, in my opinion, a better interface.

Downsides power button doesn''t feel to sturdy; have to buy more milk because my wife is drinking lots of lattes and cappacinos now.

Reliability remains to be seen.

I had a problem with the first machine I received. It didn''t work, and had to go back. The second machine worked but then gave me false error messages along the way. I sent that one back as well.

The machine looks better in the picture, but when you get it out of the box, it''s made almost entirely of plastic. Although there are settings to change the way it makes your coffee, I found all of them to do very little with the final cup. I came away thinking it was too much money for an automated machine that could break very easily. The coffee itself was fine, and the frothing was average (the Milk Island was a total waste of timeif you can''t hold up a pitcher to the steam nozzle, why bother having a cappuccino machine?)

Don''t buy an automatic espresso machine. Too much to go wrong for a very average cup of Joe. Do a little work with a semi-automatic and you''ll be much happier.

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I''ve had my Gaggia Platinum Swing for several years now. It''s been a minor nightmare.

The good: With some work and luck, you can get a very good shot of espresso.

The bad: This is one finicky machine. Sometimes it suffers a "Brew Failure" with no obvious reason and trying again succeeds but it''s just thrown out the coffee. Sometimes it fails completely because a water hose inside it is clogged (I''m guessing based on the pump noises) an air compressor can help with that, but this is a huge mess. REGULARLY the machine says it''s out of beans and needs more, even though the hopper is full and it''s not jammed at which point all you have to do is open the cover for 10 seconds and close it again so that it THINKS you refilled it but again it''s thrown out the beans it did grind by that point.

Service is useless. The best way to get maximum performance (which is still Italian-grade unreliable) is to clean it well beyond the manual, including inside the tube from the pre-ground input to the brewgroup.

And it''s now obsolete. You can''t get the Aqua Prima filters anymore. (Which are pricey anyhow.) So they''re selling a unit that they don''t even pretend to support. Which is a refreshing change from when they did pretend to support it.

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I am a degreed Mechanical Engineer and these machines are very poorly designed!

Mine broke...and I had had to pay shipping and insurance.

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