For the past couple of years I've been struggling with consistently getting good micro-foam on the Duetto II. Tried a number of things including going up to 1.5 bars of pressure & moving to a 4 hole steam wand tip. I started looking at upgrading to a GS/3 as a friend of mine has it and it gives him good consistent micro-foam (and of course the GS/3 is a great machine).

Just before I made the final purchase decision, I yet again, like so many times before, read about different wand tips I could use to improve things. This time though, I stumbled on an article that talked about removing the teflon insulator tube from the steam wand. It took me about 20 seconds to remove the teflon insulator tube with a pair of thin pliers (just unscrew the steam wand tip and pull out the tube - it's that simple).

Voila! The machine makes great micro-foam now. It's pretty incredible how much of a difference it made for me. Instead of spending a few thousands bucks I'll be spending about $15 to get myself a rubber steam wand protector sleeve so I don't burn myself.

First time I'm contributing to this forum but wanted to share the wealth I absolutely recommend doing the same. It completely changed my experience and I have good micro-foam every single time now. You'll just have to be a bit more careful without the no-burn wand.

Removing the teflon tube made a huge difference for me as well. Still, the Duetto does not steam as well as some other machines I've used including my first machine the Silvia with a single hole tip.

Another adjustment that made a significant difference was switching the Duetto II to 20-amp mode. Depending on how you make you drinks, it can keep full power on the steam boiler while steaming instead of directing power to the brew boiler.

As for a steam wand sleeve, I made a pretty neat one using Sugru:

http://sugru.com

Thanks for the Sugru tip. I had never heard of it before. Looks like pretty cool and useful stuff.

I've been wanting to move to 20-amps but don't have a 20-amp socket. In any case, I am not sure it'll make a huge difference for me as I steam a relatively small pitcher each time and recovery for the next batch doesn't seem to be a major problem for me. But agree it'd be desirable.

Thanks for the tips!