If you go and get yourself an Oscar and it has not already been modified, there are mod kits available: http://elektros.it/it/en/Oscar_modification_Kit/

I would pick OPV, anti-vacuum valve, giglers and a Sirai pressurestat. They would make the machine much easier and more convenient to operate (and the Sirai more adjustable).

I wouldn't know, but I bet you can get these kits outside Europe as well...

CoffeeBar wrote:Hi Samuel, I have heard that the Breville espresso BES900 series machines are not so reliable even in new machine( many warranty issues in Australia ) ???

Hi brother Wong,

Obviously I don't have the actual hard statistic data. But from what I see (reading on forum), there are certainly many happy users, but there are also a few that had minor problems with the machines (o-ring or something) with the early model(the A model). With BES920, there seems to be much less of these kinks. But these are just my impression and I'm not the best person to ask.

I got the 900/b on eBay for $750 IIRC. I've had nothing but a smooth experience in the 4 months I've owned it. Could the Oscar have been more reliable? I don't know, both machines, at least in my mind, seem like starter machines someone would be upgrading from anyways. Both of this have their pros and cons. The Breville IMO, definitely takes the lead in the looks and temperature control. The Oscar might take the lead in the longevity department, but even with giglers and an OPV I'm skeptical that it could ever reach the level of preciseness the BDB has.

Keep in mind with the BDB, you also have a pretty awesome feature to control pre-infusion time and pressure. The Oscar has no pre-infusion.

I got good shots on my oscar, but it took work. On my BDB I get cafe quality shots 95% of the time without putting in too much work. And when they aren't cafe quality it's always my fault.

So it seems that the consensus is that BDB will give me better shots? I do enjoy straight up espresso, so would the difference be very big? Thing is I am having trouble with buying a used machine that I can't service myself, I'm located in Mexico so I can't really ship it off to Breville very easily.

Yes, the BDB can produce shot quality that matches or beats machines at over twice the price. While there have been some issues with machines, I think they have been slightly overblown on sites like these. Everyone always worries about the longevity, but the majority of people on here will likely upgrade machines after 5 years anyway when the latest and greatest comes out.

For relatively easy to achieve results in the cup, the BDB is almost impossible to beat. Just make sure you have a quality grinder to match!

+1 Anything lower than a Vario will just limit the machine's capabilities. To be perfectly honest, the only machine I would buy over a BDB is the Linea Mini (Though I doubt the LMLM would produce superior shots due to the similar thermal design) or something like a GS/3.

Wow, I didn't realize the difference between these machines would be that big. Kind of sucks as I was excited about upgrading my machine but bases on all the replies I think I may wait to save up for a new bes920xl thanks for all the replies and if anyone has any other thoughts or comments please share them

LukeFlynn wrote: The Oscar has no pre-infusion.

Oscar has preinfusion - programming instructions are on page 51 of the 2009 manual. I don't know anything about the brand new Oscar 2, but it's worth investigating.

That's only for the pod version.. I tried to use that with my Oscar and it didn't work, you could half press the brew button, and the built up steam pressure would push out some water from the HX without engaging the pump.. but I always thought that would be too hot.