Black & Decker DCM2500B SmartBrew Coffeemaker

Because we''re serious about our coffee, we sold our old $100+ Cuisinart coffeemaker to be replaced with this much better designed and much easier to use coffee maker.

A motel room we stayed at had this model coffee maker. We used it twice a day for 10 days. The coffee was delicious and we found no minuses at all, so I bought one. We''ve been using it daily now for about three months.

The carafe is made of heavy duty glass and doesn''t drip at all. The hole to pour water into is large and easy to get to. There are convenient and accurate water level windows on both sides of the unit. The controls are convenient, easy to understand, and easy to use. The basket is easily removed for cleaning, easy to position, and uses standard flat bottomed filters. The time and function displays are large and bright. All of these are comparative problem areas in the Cuisinart.

Programming works perfectly and is so simple to use we didn''t need the manual. To set the time of day press the "Hours" button until it reaches the current hour and then the "Minutes" button. To set the "Auto on" time, press the "Program" button, and then set the start time the same way. Press the "Program" button again to go back to time of day. For auto start, press the "Auto on" button, which lights up. That''s it.

In addition, the water enters the drip chamber in a shower rather than a stream, resulting in consistently smooth and uniform tasting coffee. I can''t comment on the warming plate because we put what we don''t drink immediately into a Thermos for all day use. The warming plate shuts itself off after two hours if you forget.

The negative reviews are a puzzle to me. We found none of the problems mentioned.

This is an addendum in mid Nov, 2007. The coffeemaker still makes perfect coffee and everything works like new. The only negative I''d add is that the warming plate is quite rusty, probably because I put a pot of tap water on it at night to have chlorine free water in the morning. Often the pot is damp. When we need to replace this coffeemaker, I''ll paint the new warming plate with bar-b-cue paint before the first use, for rust protection.

This is an update, dated 11/20/07. The coffeemaker still works perfectly and still looks good. I sanded the rust off of the base plate, painted it with bar-b-cue paint, and as expected there is no more rust problem. I don''t think the rust would occur for most people. I caused it by putting a wet pot on the plate overnight seven days a week.

I drink lots of coffee in lots of places. I''ve had the terrible plasticky coffee from the $10 drippers and very fine pressed coffee from the shops.

This is my third Black & Decker (more on that later) and continues to benefit from design upgrades and improvements. I found this dripper to be the top of the line inexpensive coffeemaker. Mine came with the resusable filter, but I find that using the disposable filters (for me) makes a slightly stronger and better coffee.

The program feature was a little counter-intuitive for me, but only took 30 seconds once informed to master. Wake up to my coffeemaker''s aroma. Warning: The first time I tried to make coffee, the carafe didn''t push the sticking, new drip basket arm in and I had a little overflow. Apparently, it was because the machine was new and it now works flawlessly. But you might want to make sure it drips properly the first time or two you use it.

I mentioned earlier that this is my third machine from this family. It''s not Black & Decker''s fault that I live in an area with extremely hard, unprocessed well water. All water processing appliances (like my water heater) get clogged up with time, even with proper maintenance. These machines have lasted better than the old, bottom line machines I started out with, and longer than a more expensive one I bought.

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Since the trend seems to be the production and purchase of items that make phone calls, play mp3s, serve as calulators, take pictures, play movies and change the cat litter box, this coffeemaker may not impress some people. It just makes coffee. It uses normal coffee filters (the flat bottom type), brews the coffee and turns off the warming plate after two hours. It does not do anything else. I, personally LIKE that. After all, how many mp3 players does one need? What kind of tech-crazy person wants to make phone calls on their coffee maker? Who can talk before they have had their first cup of coffee in the first place?

If you are looking for a coffee maker that just makes coffee and does it rapidly and without any complicated instructions that must be followed (who can follow complicated instructions before their first cup of coffee, either?) then this would be a good choice. If you want to film a movie with your coffee maker, this is not the coffee maker for you.

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We have used this maker daily for about three years. The Good:

Timer, decent coffee (once you get the balance, keeps coffee hot, Pour and serve and reliable. The Bad: Steam leaks onto the burner which has rusted, takes more coffee than others on the market, overflows if you grind your coffee too fine or if basket is not aligned correctly. Overall we are happy with the coffee maker and it is still serving us well.

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I agree with the reviewers who have said "what is the fuss about?". This is a GREAT coffee maker. I have had no problems at all so far and having owned several different brands previously, I would say this one is the best I''ve owned for being so inexpensive.

The automatic setting is really fantastic as you can set the maker to make coffee whenever you need it to. You don''t have to use this feature and if you want to, you can make coffee in the pot even if you have it set on the automatic feature and the automatic settings won''t be disturbed.

The coffee stays hot in the pot for a long time and doesn''t get any of the overdone or burnt flavor that I''ve experienced with some other makers.

I haven''t had a single problem with drips from the pot and think that it does a really fine job when you pour. I don''t know what some people''s problem is with this feature. I think maybe it says more about the sloppiness of those pouring than the design of the coffeemaker!

I can''t say I''ve used the interrupt feature because this machine doesn''t take long at all to brew a pot and I have not needed to interrupt it in order to grab a quick cup.

I honestly don''t know what the negative reviewers were expecting. This is a fine machine that does the job and is a great value for all of its features. It also looks great in the black model and fits very nicely in my stainless kitchen.

I highly recommend this coffeemaker! I am so glad I ignored the negative reviews because this machine works great and was a bargain.