Hello all,

I am new here.
For the past 7 years I have had a Rancilio Silvia which has served me remarkably well without any issue. I did start to lose a little steam pressure recently but after a descale/de-calc it is running perfectly again! fantastic bit of kit.

Anyway, after 7 years it kind of feels time for an upgrade. In terms of upgrade I would like to steam and pull shots at the same time and something that looks cool and stylish in the kitchen but not too big.

I have done a fair amount of research and arrived at the Mechanika IV Profi WT-WC.
Can I expect the same kind of reliability as I have had with my Rancilio with the ECM?
If anyone has used the Silvia and the Mechankia I would be interested to hear on how the two compare. I'm curious about the warmup/preparation time required on the ECM by comparison.

I am almost ready to buy but fancied making a quick post to see if I could get any last minute feedback before shelling out 2k EUR.

Cheers, Andy

Is this a good upgrade option? Is there an alternative I should seriously consider in this price range or is the ECM Mechanika the best choice?

I too had a Rancilio Silvia in my past. The Mechanika is pretty close to the same machine as mine. The ECM has been a great machine, and I plan on running it until it dies. I loved it too much in the beginning and over-descaled the machine. I've figured out that with my water, I might need to once a year. Cleaning the group head and portafilter is a far different story.

I do a quick flush of about 3-4 seconds before the first shot and go. When that's done, Eric's thermometer sits at 208.5F like clockwork. When I'm done, I do a clearing flush to clear the group head.

Once you get to a machine of this level I find that the grinder and grind settings determine the cup. I've upgraded grinders five times and am done now - loving what I get out of the Major.

In this price range there are a lot of machines. I don't personally know of a bad one. Based on what folks have posted they all seem to be very good, with a few reliability issues about machines other than those made by ECM. I feel Dan's review of my model ECM here ECM Technika IV Profi Review is extremely accurate after over two years of use. And, as I said previously, the Mechanika is very similar to mine.