I currently own a Baratza Vario and LeLit PL041 and have been looking to upgrade. I was initially looking at the La Pavoni Europiccola / Professional but started hearing mixed reviews about it being difficult to manage consistent shots. I also see that many of these used machines are coming from the 70's or 80's and need restoration from rust and broken parts.

I'm basically looking for something to step UP from my current single boiler semi-auto. I only plan to make 1-2 drinks per a day. Steaming is important to me since I like cappas and so does my fiance. I don't mind extra effort required to acquire a good shot so long as I can get consistent shots and the machine is capable of above average shots. Ideally I'm trying to spend <$700 if possible new or used. Machines like the NS Oscar caught my attention in the semi-auto department, but then found reliability issues. Here I am at levers since it seems to be the best bang for your buck in the taste department.

I'd appreciate your input

There are new La Pavoni Europiccolas available, which obviously wouldn't require any restoration. But I don't think it or any other machine under $700 (at least new) would really be much of an upgrade over your current machine which is already very close to the top of your "upgrade" budget.

A step up from your current machine would be a heat exchanger...I believe the NS Oscar is the least expensive machine in that category. Or if you wanted to go for a lever I think the Ponte Vecchio Lusso which is around the same price as an Oscar has good temperature stability.

Having been a former La Pavoni Europiccola owner, it will serve you well if you are doing 1 or two drinks per day. Hopefully, you will also enjoy the traditional "hands on" approach needed with this type of lever machine.

The thing with the Pavoni is really its temperature stability. For myself, by the second shot, the espresso was already getting too hot to drink/enjoy. It was sold to a friend who enjoys his espresso far hotter than I do.

Are there any advantages, if someone is wanting to move to a new La Pavoni lever machine, in buying the Stradivari over the Europiccola?

I see in the specs that the Stradivari has a 20-oz nickel-plated brass boiler while the Europiccola comes with a 20-ounce solid-brass boiler with gold plating and lacquer coating. This might be a big deal but I do not know enough about these machines to understand the advantage. The Stradivari looks more shiny cosmetically too which might explain the higher price if the boilers for these two machines are of equal or similar quality.

The only reason to chose the Stradivari is for the bling.

Mark08859 wrote:Having been a former La Pavoni Europiccola owner, it will serve you well if you are doing 1 or two drinks per day. Hopefully, you will also enjoy the traditional "hands on" approach needed with this type of lever machine.

The thing with the Pavoni is really its temperature stability. For myself, by the second shot, the espresso was already getting too hot to drink/enjoy. It was sold to a friend who enjoys his espresso far hotter than I do.

How is the reliability/durability? I keep hearing so many people saying that they're poorly built. Also, would you recommend buying new or used?

Seattlecoffeegear sellings a brand new Europiccola for $680 shipped whereas many people are selling their used/damaged units from the 70's for $400+. I would think it makes more sense at that price to just buy brand new. However, I'm not sure if the new units have improved or declined in quality.

The reliability and durability of the La Pavoni is very good....mine is from 1977 and it looked a bit neglected when I bought it this year with lots of scale in the boiler and superficial corrosion on the outside. I just cleaned it up a bit and it's working perfectly for me.

The new models haven't changed very much but apparently they do have better temperature stability than the older ones.

If you want to know about temperature stability of the new Pavonis, I thoroughly tested mine in this thread. It's stable. See: La Pavoni Millennium Owners, Are Temperature Problems Solved?

If you stumble across a newer Pavoni with rust in the drip tray, it's easy to fix. Scour off the rust and coat it with heat-resistant Rustoleum. If the screw on the bottom is frozen in the rust, you can pry off the black plastic base, which breaks it but allows you to get at that screw. A replacement base is $16. BTW preventing the rusting issue is easy. Dry the drip tray bottom and the base underneath after use. That's all it takes.

My Millennium EP is one of my favorite machines. I find it easy to use, and it produces consistent, delicious shots using different espresso blends.

@itch808,

may I just ask you where you will operate the Pavoni?

I have one Pavoni EP in Europe, which stands in winter quite cold (16c-19c), and one in HNL these days about 28c in the room.

Both were bought new few years ago and pair with Baratza Vario, the one in Europe needs definitely much longer warm up time.

With fresh beans, I have no complain to do my daily 2-3 shots, both steams wonderful with single hole tip (mods from Brooklynshot). Also with the liquid crystal thermometer strip from OE, you can monitor the grouphead heat pretty precisely.

Hope this input could help a little.
Aloha.

itch808 wrote:How is the reliability/durability? I keep hearing so many people saying that they're poorly built. Also, would you recommend buying new or used?

Seattlecoffeegear sellings a brand new Europiccola for $680 shipped whereas many people are selling their used/damaged units from the 70's for $400+. I would think it makes more sense at that price to just buy brand new. However, I'm not sure if the new units have improved or declined in quality.

I had mine for ~11 years w/o any problem or issue. Never had rust in the drip tray; but I did use a small pan for that purpose. I found it to be a good steamer and the espresso was very nice.

My model was pre-Millennium. It is my understanding that the Millennium model uses more plastic than the older version.

Personally, I usually prefer new over used. But if you could find a good used pre-Millennium model, why not.