Greetings fellow HB.

This is my first post, even though I have been a long time silent reader in HB.
Currently I'm on the edge of upgrading my current machine, Gaggia espresso color (has served me for 4 years). I have been saving up some money and I think it's enough to purchase either one (oscar or BZ10). My current grinder is Wega 5.8 which is rebrand of Compak K3 and have no plan to upgrade for this time.

I have been reading old post for these two machine but still confused to pick one. In my place,both machine are similar in pricing (with the bz10 slightly above oscar).
My gut kept telling me to go for the bz10 but I am still confused.

I read some saying that the bz10 has more clarity but less body vs e61. Can someone please explain if this is an advantage or disadvantages? How about against the oscar?

Thanks all

In that price category I would sway closer to the BZ10. I owned one and really enjoyed using it. Very good build quality too. The insides are neat as a pin and well organized. The heated brew group is nicely designed too and works very well to help stabilize temps.

I don't think you'll be disappointed with the Bezzera line of espresso machines. With that said I have no experience with the Oscars, but they do have their loyal followers.

HTH

Thanks tegee. I am inclining to get the bz10.
I read some post saying that it is recommended to adjust the opv to 9 bar (as from what I read, the factory default is 11-12 bar).
Did you lower the opv? Any differences in the cup?

Mine came factory set at 11-bar with a blank PF and brewed at 9-10 bar. I never played with the OPV. So if you do buy the BZ10 just make sure it's set to 11-bar with BPF and don't over analyze it imho. With a vibe pump machine, from my experience, it hard to get a consistent 9-bar anyways. Just get your grind and dose down and pull a shot.

Noted captain. Any tips for the brewing using bz10? Flushing ritual maybe?

In addition, I notice you also owned a dual boiler. As mentioned by Jim, bezzera tend to have less body but more clarity. What do you think about this, compare to your other machine?

From what I read "may barista pallet is not perfect" you simply do a 6-7 sec dragon flush and wait another 2-3 sec. Typical routine was a 10-sec flush into my cup and used it to warm up my cup. Then put the prepped PF in right away to pull shot.

So anywhere from a 7-10 sec flush if machine was idle. A bit shorter if you're pulling back to back shots. You have to remember one of the benefits of the Bezzera heated brew group is greater temp stability, or that's at least what they market it?

Great machine for the money imho. I bought mine at refurb for $1,050 usd which it a lot of bang for your buck at that price point.

Anyway, don't over think an HX flush on this machine. Just a few seconds after the dragon hiss and you're good to go.

I would get the BZ10 over the oscar because it looks ridiculously better, has lever knobs, and has a hot water spout. The oscar you have to get water through the brewhead. The oscar does have a heavy duty pressure stat though, so should require less maintenance in the long run.

There is a new oscar 2 supposedly coming out soon which solves the looks problem, but not sure if it has the same build quality or when it will be available. Worth waiting to find out? http://www.nuovasimonelli.it/en/prodott ... i-eng.html

Thanks everyone, just pulled the trigger to purchase the bz10. Excited for the upcoming adventure, hopefully it can serve me well.