Sunbeam Cafe Series Programmable Espresso EM5800

FANTASTIC – I bought this machine 15years ago in Australia, I use it every day and never had any problems with it, even though it has been transported to the UK. Makes a brilliant cup of coffee. Unfortunately they do not make this brand in the UK or I'd be queuing up for another one.  Show details

Had 2 of these .... awsome – Won't say any more than "Awsome" ... Sunbeam make the best "budget" coffee machine on the market ...those people who had a bad experiance with them must have maybe got a "Monday" morning machine ... just got an EM5600 as well ....love it .... onya Sunbeam!

Nice Coffee..Bad build qualtiy – I "purchased" my machine though a employee rewards scheme just less than year ago and now is making horrible noises (It appears to be due to the inability to vent the excess pressure to the drip tray instead trying to vent through the head) Being slightly OCD I followed the manual to the letter, still even after cleaning immediately after use the… Read more

anodizing on the drip tray blistered and fell off after a month. The "Stainless" cups ended up with little black stains about a month after that. All in all I think was still good value but next reward point purchase will be store vouchers so I can have and actual receipt for warranty. Simple to use (12 year old Grand-daughter made great coffees with ease) Design and build quality

Terrible – The warranty is not long enough and and when you find out these problems the customer service does not want to know you even going to consumer affairs can't do any thing for you !!!!! buyer beware Ld Belmont The only pros that it looks good sitting on the bench when visitors come turn it on it take a long time to heat up,the over flow tray is corroding and after you make any coffee there is always water leaking out on the bench

Excellent – I've had two of these mahines, both bought second hand. The first worked solidly for 7 years, making 4-5 double shot espressos a day without any servicing other than an occaisional clean of the head filter. It was until it was left in storage for 3 months that it got blocked up and in my attempts to clear the blockage I overheated it (I can hardly… Read more

blame the machine for that - should have paid attention to the flashing lights and extremely hot body). So I'm now on my second machine which is being used in a small office making 10 perfect coffees a day without skipping a beat. I highly recommend the EM5800, it has a more powerful pump than cheaper units and the hot water feature makes it easy to preheat cups. Easy to use and makes great coffee none, no problems at all

Bad – It's unlikely I would buy another Sunbeam product after reading the opinions listed here. I had a Seaco that cost around 1400aud new, and it lasted for a decade. My sunbeam is not a year old. Easy to use, good size and makes an excellent brew for the first few months. I make two cups p/day only; one a single cup, the other using the commercial… Read more

cup. Our machine began to be unable to make sufficient pressure on the commercial cup, and is now struggling to reach pressure on the single cup. I've cleaned the group head and de-scaled with little improvement. Very disappointing given all the hype from Harvey Norman. Warranty is back to base so we have to go without coffee until they repair. I expected better quality.

OK – Although I do not own a Sunbeam coffee machine (I have a 3 year old SAECO which has not missed a beat). However I can contribute to the forum by letting you all know that I purchased 2 Sunbeam products (blender PB9500, mixmaster MX8900) 6 months ago and have had nothing but problems with them and support from Sunbeam has been appauling, if not… Read more

for Harvey Norman I would be in a pickle. Sunbeam used to make affordable quality products however I suspect the competitive nature of this segment to keep costs down has resulted in all quality and support being compromised.

I have 6 months warranty left on these units so know that Harvey Norman will provide replacements however I suspect that once my warranty is gone these will go in the bin and I will never purchase a Sunbeam item again. Sunbeam have no pro's Its a Sunbeam

Terrible – I used this machine for about 6 months and when I came back from overseas the machines programing didnt work properly. I took it to the service provider that Sunbeam instructed me to for repair and they changed parts on the machine and charged me for them. About 2 months later it was not working again and I took it back to SPEAR for repair again… Read more

and they changed another part without telling me it was going to cost $170 When I complained the Boss told me that I should have Bout a Delongi instead of which they sold.

I am so unhappy with this machine and they outcome. It only lasted me a year.

Dont buy this model what ever you do. The machine was relativley cheap to buy and worked well for a while. It make a great cup of coffee. It made too much noise and leaked sometimes. Sunbeams service was very bad on this item.

Terrible – Worked well for two year but then started playing up - Ok we will get it repaired BUT no spares available despite it being just over 2 years old ...SHAMEFUL. E mailed Sunbeam but no response - e mailed again ..no response. Phoned up & explained the problem ...answer was sorry out of warranty & yes no apares available- too bad. I have heard from… Read more

others that this is a common problem with Sunbeam products - not made to last & spares a problem. Won't be buying another Sunbeam product again but that won't worry a company like Sunbeam ! Easy to use ...made good coffee BUT... Lasted just over two year before it broke down. Drip tray did not collect waste water properly.Pump tempermental.

Bad – I will never buy sunbeam again, especially coffee machines. It was an expensive lesson, $500.00 for a machine that was broken and getting replaced or fixed more often than I actually used it. It still looks brand new sitting in it's box and I keep thinking I need to send it back to sunbeam and let them know how disapointing it is as I loooooove… Read more

coffee It makes a great coffee I have had it replaced 4 times each time something new breaks on it and now it has run out of warrenty. It is loud and vibrates alot

Bad – Having used a De Longhi and three Krups sub-$400 class espresso machines, this was a step up. The machine is very heavy due to the stainless steel chassis; however, the design is somewhat let down by the entirely plastic (and flimsy in constrast) water tank that covers the entire back of the machine. I found it easy to use with the one-touch… Read more

operation, although the volume of espresso that ends up in the cup varies due to poorly controlled retention of liquid in the double-wall crema system, which is liable to be released some time after the coffee cup has been removed, and if one is unlucky enough, when one's hand is under the filter holder. This, in addition to a very active mechanism to cool down the thermalblock after steam generation, causes the drip tray to fill up very rapidly, and unfortunately the liquid level indicator in the tray is sometimes unreliable. The chrome surface of the drip tray is prone to blistering, and in my machine on average a new blister developed every month, which allowed the metal underneath to become corroded.

The pump in my machine is generally quiet by once every ten times or so (with no discernible pattern) it becomes alarmingly noisy when generating steam. Also, this is the first machine I had in which the filter holder is prone to coming loose and falling away from the brew head, especially when there is great pressure (eg. making two shots of espresso using a fine grind); the resulting explosion of wet coffee grounds can make a hell of a mess, even if the filter handle does not crack or smash the coffee cups sitting underneath.

I rang Sunbeam customer service about the problems I had with the machine, and the guy was quick to offer sending me a replacement drip tray (which made me think the corrosion is a commonly encountered issue), and suggested the filter handle would only come loose because there was coffee grounds caught between the filter and brew head and that I should clean it thoroughly; as for the noisy pump, I needed to perform descaling. He also confirmed that I could get a replacement machine under the 12-month replacement guarantee, but he would like me to try out his suggestions first, and if they solved the problems, only then would he dispatch the replacement drip tray. Fair enough, I thought. I descaled the machine, and took extra care to clean the brew head between uses, in addition to making sure as I always did that there was no ground coffee on the rim of the filter. The filter handle still came loose about three times in four weeks, and the pump remained sporadically noisy as frequently as before.

I rang Sunbeam again, and this time a lady informed me that no, descaling would not have fixed the noisy pump issue. However, as Sunbeam has discontinued the EM5800 model, she could not replace my machine, but suggested I could upgrade to the EM5900 model for the difference in the RRP of the models, which is $50; I could try and get this done at the retailer (which would more convenient for me), and failing that, she could arrange it through a Service Centre.

The retailer did not carry the EM5900, and could only offer me a full refund. I rang Sunbeam a third time, and this time a different lady advised that the EM5900 was on back order, and there would be at least a two-month wait to get my replacement from the Service Centre, but I needed to return the machine in August before the 12-month guarantee period runs out; furthermore, I would have to pay them the upgrade fee in advance. OK, whatever. Then, upon 'discovering' that I bought the machine on special, she effectively rescinded the offer, by declaring that the upgrade fee would instead be the difference between the RRP of the EM5900 and the purchase price I paid for my machine. In essence, I was to get a refund and then purchase a new machine; they 'could not' and therefore will not honour the replacement guarantee, and by law they could absolve themselves by 'offering' a full refund (through the retailer).

My experience does not inspire confidence in or customer loyalty to Sunbeam; in fact, I don't want to deal with them again in a hurry. I returned the machine today and bought a Breville 800ES instead. § Solid construction.

§ Easy-to-use one-touch operation.

§ Temperature regulation mechanism stops machine from brewing when the thermalblock is too hot.

§ Ample clearance between brew head and drip tray allows for taller coffee cups.

§ Good value considering I got it on special, at roughly the ticket price of the entry-level 15-bar Krups machine. § When left switched on for any longer than ten minutes, the sides of the machine get heated to roughly the same temperature as the cup warming area up top, making it too hot to inadvertently touch.

§ The chrome surface of the drip tray is prone to blistering, and resulting in corrosion of the exposed metal underneath.

§ The drip tray fills up very rapidly after generating steam, more so than any other machine I have used.

§ The drip tray fullness indicator is not always helpful, and sometimes only shows red when the tray is on the brink of overflowing.

§ The entirely plastic water tank sitting at the back lets down the otherwise stainless steel exterior.

§ The steam control knob becomes stiffer than usual when generating steam, which makes it difficult to shut off the steam quickly.

§ Double-wall crema system tends to retain a fair amount of coffee which may get released in drips or drops with inopportune timing after coffee cups have been removed.

§ 12-month (only!) replacement guarantee turned out to be worthless.

§ Sunbeam's poor customer service.

Good – What I like about this machine is its very simple approach in making coffee. I've used a number of coffee machines in the past and this one seems thus far to be easy to use, easy to clean and provides me with the special taste in coffee that I expect. To me to art of the enjoyment of coffee stems from the pleasure of making it as well as… Read more

sipping it. Easy to use,

Easy to program for preferred coffee strength,

Enough room to use coffee mugs,

Very reasonably price for a semi-auto machine,

Easy to over ride the auto features and go to manual mode,

Very easy to clean had “Hot water feature” to clean steam spout

and Most important makes a great cup of coffee Wish it had a built=in coffee grinder

Good – I've replaced this coffee maker with the same model so I'm hoping it won't have a similar electrical problem. Once your've figured out how to use it and learnt the frothing technique and let the unit heat up enough its a great coffee maker I've just had to return mine still under the years warranty, because after it heated up and I pressed the cup option button the machine keeps turning itself off. An electrical fault.

Bad – I have had this machine now for 15 months. It has made great coffee in that 15 months, as long as I descale and and clean the filter every two months. We rinse out and air dry the drip tray after each use and it still looks new, however these machines are not designed and made well. The First machine was broken when we unpack it, and spurted… Read more

boiling hot water all over the bench. The rep said that this would not affect the coffee, however Myer replaced it for us. At 8 months then group head cracked, which sunbeam replaced after our insistence that we never dropped it. Now at 15 months the pump keeps turning it self on automatically even when the machine is turned off. The steam knob is also fidely and will not always stay on. We bought a extendeded warranty through Myer and they have promise to send a replacement machine next week. easy to use touch button semi automatic is not built to last, fidely to clean the filter.

Excellent – I recommend this unit, it is really easy to use and it makes coffee just as good or better in many instances than a coffee shop (as long as you use quality beans). I bought this machine 2 years ago, gets used 3 or 4 times a day and has been great and given no problems since. I like the ease of use, programmability (can program the amount of water… Read more

it pumps through the coffee) and it is very easy to clean. Steam takes a bit too long to begin to come though the nozzle.

Excellent – After using this machine for one week I have come across no problems. The more I use the machine and work on my milk frothing technique, the better the results. After watching the included DVD I have learnt a few little tips and tricks on making a good latte. I do recommend this machine but also recommend watching the DVD. Easy one touch (one cup… Read more

or two) buttons to dispense coffee. This machine is very easy to operate and comes with a clear and easy to understand DVD. Drip tray is easy to remove and clean with a float indicator letting you know when the tray is near full. After one week no I have no issues or dislikes with this machine.

OK – I wouldn't buy this time of machine where you have to measure into the handle at the front the coffee required for each cup. It is ok if you are only making one cup, but to make two or more cups at a time requires you to empty and refil the coffee into the handle which takes time. Spend more money and buy a machine that does it all at the push… Read more

of a button, including cleaning itself. This coffee machine looks smart on the kitchen bench and is very well made. It is very heavy and is made from stainless steel which doesn't appear to mark to easy which is great.

The machine is very easy to use one you figure it out but until then keep the instruction manual very close. This coffee machine was brought at the time when it was one of the best ones on the market. It was used a bit when we first got it but after finding out that it took ages to warm up and then to make the coffee was also a long drawn out process, not to mentin the clean up it ended up just sitting on the bench as a statue.