Saeco Royal Professional SUP016

I bought one of these a second time – Over the last 16 years I have had 2 of these machines and apart from occasional servicing, they have been trouble free. I have problems with it now (About 28,000cups) and it needs servicing again but there is no service available in Wellington NZ where I live. (I'd rate it a 5 if service was available.) I use the present unit for personal use… Read more ·  1

only and guests and family have asked about one also. I'd buy another but they've been discontinued and I haven't heard anything good about the Aulika model replacement.

How much demand would it take to make the Royal Professional again?

IanC

Absolute workhorse – We've had our machine 5 years now and we experienced problems with it after moving into a new home. I thought it was the brew group jamming up,then the service man suggested I grease up the moving parts with plumbers grease. It acted up again and we thought it was the gears this time around as it would malfunction after attempting to brew a second… Read more ·  1

cup of coffee. He set it up on his workbench for two days and ran 20 cups with no issues! I came to the conclusion that I needed to move it from the serving table to the kitchen counter where the split receptacles are. The coffee machine now brews like a champ!! Make sure this brute is on its own power source. Use only dry coffee beans in these machines as well,not the oily ones.

$650 repairs as some beans destroy flimsy grind disc – I did not listen the first $250 when service tech warned glossy beans destroy the machine grinder. Bad idea. Now spend $320 for same repair. And why does Saeco make this essential part from plastic, rather than metal. On-Line coffee sellers offer no guidance on dangerous beans. Call or email seller. Otherwise convenient and good coffee. But design adds another 50 cents per cup.  Show details

Not worth the cost – I bought the Saeco Royal Professional, about 9 years ago, I've had to replace internal componets 3 times, each time it was the same issue. There is a plastic sprocket internally and for some reason on my machine it seems to lose it's teeth, so that the machine can't complete the coffee cycle. It's a personal use machine, and we aren't heavy… Read more

users of it, maybe an average of 2 coffees per day are made with it. Given the significant cost of the machine in the $2K range, I'm disappointed with it. I will not purchase the same brand.

These are great machines – I have had this machine for close to 14 years and have had it serviced a couple of times over that period, usually when something has gone wrong with it. The last time the agent tried to get me to trade it in for a new machine but I was loathe to do so as it is still a good machine and worth the $200 or so to get it serviced every now and then. I… Read more ·  1

have bought another model of this machine for my office at work [second hand] and everyone raves about the coffee, we hardly ever go and buy coffee at the local café [across the road] now because we don't need to. I have just managed to buy another second hand [online] for $300 and this will act as a spare and back up should I need to send either off to be repaired or serviced. As you can tell, I am a great fan of these machines and this comes from an ex café owner and barista who has experience with the big groupe machines. If you get a chance, buy one.

Key spare parts now unavailable – We have had our machine [ Royal Professional] for some time, great machine providing you service it regularly. Now I learn that if a boiler expires or the board needs replacing, these parts are now discontinued. For a machine that cost around $2K one would expect that major parts would be available as these top end machines age. The company does… Read more

not have seem to have the same consumer focused attitude towards its customers since Phillips bought the company. My next purchase will not be a Phillips owned brand!!

Absolute reliability – This is one purchase I have never regretted. After clocking over 17000 coffees its still going strong. Quality of our coffees are great and its so simple to use. It seems this machine will just keep going. If I could find another one I would buy it immediately as a backup as i'm sure other brands and newer models aren't made as well as this !  Show details ·  1

Good reliable machine – Had it for about 5 years at the office. Over 32,000 coffee. Serviced it once (new grinder, electrovalve, and clean-up, 350$). I do a wash for calcium build-up maybe 2X a year. But that's it! It works well and is easy to maintain. Only wished the "long expresso" where a little "longer".  Show reply

A great workhorse, but now experiencing ongoing problems that we are trying to fix – Our coffee machine has worked hard in our guest house for the last few years, but has been in and out of the workshop 6 times recently for various issues. Have just got it back with a new grinder and a message is coming up 'ventilate' and we can't get out of this mode. Can you help please?

Solid Performance – Our workplace has had one of these for about ten years. Absolutely rock solid performance. Sure, it has had to be cleaned out every so often. I think even a couple of times it was properly serviced. But overall, easy to use, easy to maintain, and an impressive workhorse of the coffee machine world. (Sufficiently so that I even bothered to write about it).  Show reply

Fantastic machine – Very happy with our machine 11 years old and 11000 coffees , never let us down serviced only a couple of times only we should be doing it more we know but never missed a beat .. Anybody know of a good service person in Melbourne ?? If possible in the north of Melbourne  Show 4 replies

This is a true work horse – Well this machine was in use in the company I worked for, for many years and had achieved 15000 cups of coffee. The machine then started to leak water so the company, in its wisdom decided that it should be thrown away and a new machine purchased. As they threw it away I caught it and remedied the water leaks which were easily fixed and decided… Read more ·  1

that a professional service would be in order, that was over 4 years and 5000 coffees ago. It had a new boiler fitted and it's still going strong making great coffee. Brilliant piece of equipment.

Absolutely brilliant machine – We were given the machine in 2008, it was almost brand new. We have made over 6000 coffees in machine. It has had a new grinder and power board( around $600) in repairs. We service every year or so. It makes a wonderful coffee. We buy our coffee from Segafredo and therefore qualify for free services. I think the machine is worth the money but would advised de scaling and servicing the machine regularly.  Show reply

Wonderful machine as good as my commercial grade machine – At work, we have a wide variety of coffee machines from dripolaters through pod machines and on to barista coffee from the onsite cafe (at a cost). We lease one a Saeco Royal Professional and have done so for at least 7 years. At home I have a VBM Domobar Super (a stainless steel beast). Some weeks I get better coffee from the Saeco than my home… Read more ·  4

machine. The Saeco is great. It has 3 pre-programmed shot sizes labelled small, medium and long but these are fully customisable - I set the work machine to do the short shot to my preferred length and then tweak the other ones to suit other people.

THE WORST. Broke down twice in 4 years, had to chuck it – We bought this machine for $2000 in October 2010 and it broke down 2 years later - just outside the warranty period, of course. We had to replace the motor and grinders at a cost of $400. We figured it was worth it given the initial cost. Now, less than 2 years later it has died again. This time it's the electrical board, which we are told will… Read more

cost $500 plus labour to replace (so probably looking at $700+) and will take 6 weeks to order in. Basically we will have spent more than half the initial $2000 cost of this machine on repairs in less than 4 years (Oct 2010 to June 2014). Despite the machine having a brand new motor and grinders we have decided that cost is too much, and will have to ditch it. Utterly pathetic product, waste of money, waste of time. DO NOT BUY SAECO.

Expensive, broke down twice in 4 years, massive repair cost.

One of the Best – We have had our Saeco Royal for 6 years now - it is a seriously great machine! It does everything you could ask for! Lots of our friends have the Nespresso machines and I understand thats an easy machine with an OK result but if you are seriously about coffee and spend money every day buying cafe coffee this is the machine or you. We couldn't be happier.

Good alternative to cafe quality – Working from home, good coffee on hand is essential. I love my coffee so didn't wanted something more than nespresso quality. I only ever use the manual milk frother which works great and the coffee quality always comes out nice. I only ever use the small shot, and if i need more i do a double. The larger setting are too weak. Quick to use, quick… Read more

to clean The espresso's are not really espresso's but have too much water. This is no prob when mixed with milk

17,000 coffees / 7 years, no repairs – What could I add to that!! I service it myself but not as often as I should, I don't clean it out as often as I should, I never turn it off, I always use filtered water and it makes great coffee. What more could you expect from a machine.

Hope I never have to replace my machine. It is easy to use and has the best coffee – Had tried a few different ones in stores nad found this so easy to use and clean. Makes great crema. Have never had it serviced yet it makes at least 2 coffees a day every day. The only thing missing is the digital display is starting to fade.The heating shelf on top is great for warming cups up in winter. reliable, ease of use, easy to clean very heavy to shift.

Extremely happy: reliable, easy to use, good coffee – My wife bought me a Saeco Royal Digital (virtually identical to the Professional) for my birthday in 2003. Since then it has churned out over 6500 cups of coffee without any glitches. I have used several other brands of self-grinding coffee machines over the years (at work etc...), and I think the Saeco is the easiest to use and makes the nicest… Read more

coffee (definitely the best crema). Even if it broke down now, I would buy another happily.

The thing I don't like is that it drops lots of ground coffee into its internal spaces as it operates, and this is wasteful and can make a mess on your bench. I vacuum it out every now and then. Very reliable. Good crema. Easiest to use of any I have tried.

Cannot live with out a coffee machine – It is a good cheap machine been in to warranty repairs twice, makes good coffee in my opinion. But there are better machines out there It can make good coffee Warranty service is not the best

Good – 18 months old, done 2000 coffees and has not missed a beat, Wife thinks it is great because of ease of use. Full auto, easy to use, easy to clean, no mess To be able to steam at the same time as making coffee would be the only improvement i could ask for.