I've been through quite a few Espresso Machines. This one works great. It does need to warm up to produce consistent brews, but I don't find this to be a problem. It comes with a nice tamping spoon to make filling the filters trouble free and consistent. This machine is heavy and solid enough that you can load it without having to hold it down as you tighten the espresso filter in place. It is also very easy to keep clean. I found three drawbacks to this machine none of which effect the quality of the espresso/cappuccino. First the water tank is not held in place. When using the machine the pump produces enough vibration to allow the water tank to drift forward. When this happens the overflow tube is blocked from the water tray. The water then travels inside the machine to fill up the storage tray. This leaves whatever items you store in the tray, under water. You have to make sure the whole machine is perfectly level or leaning backwards. Secondly, the water tray has a little float to indicate that the tray is full of water and needs to be emptied. Unfortunately the way that this indicator is made it jambs in place. It does not come unjammed until the tray is just about overflowing. At that time it is way to late and your counter is flooded with water. Even if it didn't jamb it only indicates that the tray is full. There is no warning because the little indicator does not have a graduated scale to give you a progressive indication of how much water has collected in the tray. It just all of a sudden has a red flag saying "full". Lastly there is nothing to keep the filter in the holder when trying to empty your spent grinds. Yes, they have put a spring clip in there, but clearly they never tested it. The surface tension produced by the water with the grinds make it stay solidly in the filter. When you knock the holder on the side of you trash receptacle the whole filter goes it the trash not just the grinds.