Video Overview | Victoria Arduino E1 Prima Espresso Machine

[@rohanlg790]

At three minutes and 40 seconds, when dispensing the hot water, the pump sounds broken, and the hot water doesn’t flow out smoothly, not to mention I’ve heard endless complaints about the app not working. ! It’s such a beautiful machine but for the price it needs to work flawlessly !

[@inevahdie]

so....basically the moment VA stops rolling out updated app for newer ios, you can't adjust the pressure?

[@sohailhines]

Well put. App support is a nice feature but critical machine features should never *require* an app or connectivity to the internet, etc.

[@OMGz1122]

Is the E1 Prima an updated version of the Prima one?

[@sohailhines]

Excellent and thorough review! However no coverage on taste or results?

[@primacoffeeequipment]

We don't usually include tasting in our espresso machine overviews. This is because the results shouldn't really be distinghuishable from most other espresso machines.

[@sohailhines]

@@primacoffeeequipment Thanks for the reply! In reality is this always the case that all espresso tastes the same? I've seen KZbin reviews where in blind tests, tasters consistently found one machine to deliver sweeter (or the other machine more bitter) espresso even at over $5K price point. I can share the link if you'd like. I'm not an expert in this area by the way so I'm very much open to your ideas and opinion.

[@primacoffeeequipment]

@@sohailhines You can certainly find inherent characteristics between major classifications of machines, like levers vs needle valves vs straight 9 bar, but if you compare 10 machines of the same classification side by side, they should be mostly the same. If they’re not, the flavor can easily be manipulated through variables of extraction like yield, grind size or temperature to get what you want. Ultimately, these variables have a far greater impact on the final cup than any slight differences between the machines.

[@sohailhines]

@@primacoffeeequipment thanks again for the thoughtful reply. Yes it does seem like there is a lot of flexibility and adjustability of parameters at the $2K - $5K manual price point (which is where I'm looking). But what about features like pre-infusion which some machines don't offer. Do you think that it's possible to still obtain equivalent results from machines that lack that?

[@primacoffeeequipment]

Pre-infusion can certainly offer some different flavors and more forgiving extractions, depending on how it's used.@@sohailhines

[@krasendrivinglessons]

6k against timewaste 😢... 1 million settings show me espresso simple😢

[@sdsupple]

Looks are great, too many electronics and technology in an espresso machine though

[@sohailhines]

Looks this this where specialty coffee is headed with the release of Sanremo You, Synesso and Decent among others.

[@willruss]

any update on the frequent catastrophic issues?

[@primacoffeeequipment]

VA has made some recent updates to the software. I'm not sure what you mean by catasrophic issues, though.

[@willruss]

@@primacoffeeequipment you should try searching the machine on KZbin with “ problems “. Hard to believe someone who sells this would be ignorant to the issues

[@primacoffeeequipment]

We're certainly aware of past issues. In terms of our own experience with machines that we've sold to customers (about 30 machines in the wild now), most problems have come down to the software with some isolated mechanical issues, though so far nothing i'd call catastrophic. But again, I can only draw from our own experience.

[@willruss]

@@primacoffeeequipment you and I must have different versions of the internet. I cannot seem to find a single owner that has had no leaking or completely broken electronics, several times. This machine was a well intended hyper luxury flop masquerading as a commercially viable unit

[@sohailhines]

Almost bought this machine but luckily found reports of all the issues. The main theme I noticed is that issues have seemed to continue for some users over multiple machines. Especially in this price category, you simply don't release a premium consumer machine like this unless it's just about perfect in terms of reliability. It's bad for the brand and everyone associated with the product.

[@nedalelawam2840]

Very nice Espresso machine with great features but too expensive 😊🖤☕

[@sohailhines]

Too expensive for you or compared with the competition? I've found that it's priced pretty competitively if you look for machines that have a saturated group head and volumetric capability plus a double boiler. The LM GS3, Rocket R91 straddle this price point for example.

[@FourIntoOne]

No chance, not until you can deliver a reliable machine

[@rosyap2431]

sleek BUT way too ex! Tank is too small for continuous pulling.

[@Maybaby1959]

Why the tank so small? Force you to plumb. You think for the money it would have an indent for plumb. The boilers are tiny. 6000 bucks not worth it.

[@jeffklein9423]

It would be a great machine if it worked properly 😢😂

[@sohailhines]

Yes, exactly!