Best in class and stacks up well against top European prosumer models – Takes practice to get the perfect espresso, but no more than any other machine in its class. Very high sucess ratio. Bundle came with Breville Smart Grinder. A lot of excellent technologies that quietly contribute to the perfect espresso.

The portafilter looks and feels solid and of high quality, it does however contain a removeable plastic insert inside (presumably to reduce temperature fluctuation when pulling shots). Most advanced users will remove the insert from day oneas it adds no real value and just hinders cleaning.

My over pressure valve was calibrated incorrectly out of the box — pressure regularly shot up to (and sometimes passed) 11 bar. Promptly fixed by Breville NZ, now it works perfectly.

Pure pleasure to use. Would buy it again. Repeatability of perfect espresso. High value features such as heated group head, managed pressure control, and excellent steam wand. Solid yet gorgeous construction. I wish the shot clock would automatically appear when pouring a shot (instead of having to manually select it). Note however that virtually no other machine even has a shot clock.