I'm new to the hobby/home setup and bdb, Sette combo is great

I stumbled here while looking for some info about the bellman steamer but I can honesty say that an espresso Forge and a manual Kinu M47 are great. I use them every morning and I don't find it cumbersome at all ; I love the manual feel of it all. One of the decisive factors for me was the durability of both products : they really are built like tanks and I'm pretty certain that will last for a very very long time

spressomon wrote:For day-to-day steaming when 120v is available I recommend the Bellman CXE-25 and just use it for steaming. It heats faster than the stove top CX-25 steamer and you won't need to baby sit stove-top version (I have and use both...stove top obviously gets the nod for camp cappa duty). Fill it 1/2 full (or less) with distilled, plug it in, switch it on and it will be ready in about 5-minutes.

If it doesn't come with the newer 2-hole steam arm/tip you can source it from Prima (https://prima-coffee.com/parts/bellman/a-08). It is easily capable of producing excellent micro-foam.

Here's a CXE-25 on eBay right now...very affordable: https://www.ebay.com/p/Bellman-CXE25-St ... 1410332034

Thanks for the recommendation on this. I got the Bellman CXE-27 (has a 700watt heating element instead of 500watt) and it is great. Heats up quickly and steams quickly as well with the element helping to drive the steam. It actually came with a 3-hole tip but will consider ordering the 2-hole tip/wand assembly from Prima Coffee since I think the 3-hole may be a bit much and steam power seems to wane a bit.

BTW, just to close the loop on this thread, I decided that I will be getting the Robot and Pharos to go with the Bellman. Too much awesome feedback on the Robot and Pharos is the best big conical for the money. Wont be getting them right away due to various factors but plan to get them sometime by the end of the year. Should make some great espresso and capps I expect. Whole setup including accessories should be around $900. Not sure you can beat it for the money.

Thanks for everyone's input.