De'Longhi EC710 15-Bar Espresso/Cappuccino Maker, Stainless Steel

(See comments below - 3 star rating would be upgraded to 4 if I could change it.) (Which I later discovered you could)

I'm not sure if it's the machine that's slow by design or if I'm expecting too much, but it is REALLY slow to dispense coffee using ground coffee. This is my 3rd Delonghi and it is by far the slowest one I've used - in fact, I threw my last one out as the pump appeared to have lost pressure and was also dispensing very slowly. I'm using shop-bought, ready ground coffee (Illy Espresso, cafe Macinato). I've made sure that I'm not over-tamping it and still it's very slow. By the time that the pump has got to full pressure the amount of coffee coming out of the machine is down to a slow dribble and it takes far too long to finish the dispense.

Apart from that, the machine looks good and doesn't make too much noise - unlike some other Delonghi machines I've tried. I think I'm going to have to send this one back to Amazon (what a pain in the butt that whole procedure is) and get a replacement. Looks like I'll be drinking plunger coffee for a while, again. If I get a replacement and it works better, then I'll let you know.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else thinks it's slow and what is your dispense time for a double espresso?

Edit - decided to send it back to Amazon. Used the online returns and it was impressive. Monday at 5pm, went through online returns procedure and printed out barcode labels and packed machine away in original box, wrapped in black bag and affixed labels. DHL was automatically arranged to collect machine next day. DHL arrived 10am next morning (Tuesday) and took box away. Wednesday morning, 9.45am new machine arrives. WOW!

New Machine works much better and pump seems fine. Coffee dispenses perfectly and as quickly as I expected.

Thanks to Amazon for great service and customer support. This is the first time I've had to return anything to them and it was painless.

If you want one...buy it now...it's just dropped £22 since last week!!

The coffee maker is a nice looking piece of kit with a good pack of accessories and some Lille ESE coffee pods included also. I have found the machine very easy to use and easy to keep clean with nice touches such as a thumb clip to stop the filter dropping out when you tap out the coffee grounds after use.

There is a quick guide to making espresso and cappuccino and the initial results were good. With some fine ground Lavazza coffee I got a lovely crema on the espresso and the milk frother does a fine job too. Both the boilers get up to heat very quickly and the warming plate on the top works very well.

My only "complaint" is the milk frother steam arm that is too far over to allow a cup to sit underneath it and catch the drips once the milk has been heated but can't swing back over the drip tray...so it drips milk down the side of the drip tray and it makes a bit of a mess. You just need to be careful and wipe up afterwards. Keep it on a tray if you'll be using it on a porous surface.

Other than that...for the price I think it is a great little machine and is producing really lovely cups of coffee!

I have had more basic espresso machines before, and thought them great... but never up to Costa or Nero. Finally my old machine erupted spurts of hot water though the kitchen and gave its last puff of smoke, so I decided to spend some decent money on a machine.... people may rate this as a 'good value' machine but anything over £100 in my book is not a cheap machine, its a thing of quality!
Anyway, I was not disappointed, my first espresso from it had a lovely crema, my second was watery... not enough coffee.... each one from then on gets better and better. Its true that the milk frother is left to drip milk on your work surface but thats minor compared to ease of use, the ability to put in cold water and have hot coffee in seconds, making coffee again and again for however many people want it, just like in a coffee shop!