Decent vs La Marzocco Linea Micra (or Mini) - Page 8

Recommendations for buyers and upgraders from the site's members.
Plinyyounger
Posts: 379
Joined: 4 years ago

#71: Post by Plinyyounger »

I used to tease the Decent guys, now I'm one of them, haha. I never was rude to them but would tease a bit, they are a devoted group. Knowledgeable too.

So now that I use one, I often think of upgrading. I do the same thing with my grinder sometimes But I never do. I imagine changing my machine for esthetic and/or performance reasons. That lever, or the slayer, or a GS3 manual, but I don't. Maybe going with something that looks more traditional But I don't. I love LM's, but I don't switch. A SanRemo love them, don't switch.Basco, amazing, don't switch, Londinium almost bought one once, don't switch. Maybe someday a machine will come out that will call for me, but for now, I won't switch. My machine and I are one, we can make anything we want anytime we want. I'm not changing that anytime soon, and if you see I'm about to, talk some sense into me!
Family, coffee and fun.

ReignDrops
Posts: 23
Joined: 1 year ago

#72: Post by ReignDrops »

My experience with the Decent: I had received 2 faulty units

1st unit: temperature sensor failure out of the box. Steam wand would not work.

They quickly sent me a replacement (total turnaround of about 5 days), but the 2nd unit will read normal button taps as double taps that locks out the head unit. To resolve this, you have to completely restart the machine.

I'm not going to lie, this made me very frustrated.

[Update]

John from Decent was very helpful and personally reached out to me via call and text. After rapidly diagnosing the issue, I was able to return the machine and get a replacement in again, in less than 5 business days. Technical problems can happen with any machine and what gives me confidence in Decent machine is that they stand by their product and are dedicated to making things right.

What you're getting with the Decent is cutting-edge technology, portability, serviceability, and most importantly John's passion for his products.

Even after going through some initial issues, I would not hesitate to recommend Decent over any other option on the market.

HH
Posts: 478
Joined: 7 years ago

#73: Post by HH »

ReignDrops wrote:The worst part is that customer service will no longer help me and I've requested a refund.
This seems very weird. They have always been incredibly helpful whenever I have had a problem, and I can't imagine them not working with you to resolve the issue. If you have requested a refund that's all good, but I'd consider reviewing this with John if you're getting stuck accessing help, he's easily contactable on Diaspora and bends over backwards to help his customers.

Chura
Posts: 57
Joined: 10 years ago

#74: Post by Chura »

I have the LSs1v2, and I just love it, I was thinking to upgrade and I've loaned a DE1 from friend (easy travel machine)
I was impressed by the technology, but I did not bound to the process. and I'm super techy guy.

What most interest me, is the fact that you cannot get decent espresso shot from the s1v2. Anyone question the machine ability to deliver ?

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Spitz.me
Posts: 1960
Joined: 14 years ago

#75: Post by Spitz.me »

HH wrote:This seems very weird. They have always been incredibly helpful whenever I have had a problem, and I can't imagine them not working with you to resolve the issue. If you have requested a refund that's all good, but I'd consider reviewing this with John if you're getting stuck accessing help, he's easily contactable on Diaspora and bends over backwards to help his customers.
Yes, while I won't say that this kind of thing can't happen even when customer service is crazy good, I will say that this is the exception rather than the rule and clearly a one-sided story where we don't actually know what has transpired.

I owned the Decent v1.42 for several months and sold it only because I got it to try to see if it is the machine I actually wanted because everything about it seemed to be nearly perfect for me. It was. I can't afford it just yet, but I couldn't possibly spend 2-3x more on another machine just because they might make less noise or the tablet might be fiddly. I largely set the Decent and forgot it. I'm lazy and while I want all the capability in the world, I tend to use a daily driver and don't care to experiment much. This is also largely why I sold it after trying it. All of these machines at this price point and higher are really hard for me to justify having sit on the bench. I also had a Flair 58 and it was bonkers good - fiddly since it's a manual machine, but 100% better to use than the Robot.

I personally couldn't fathom spending 2-3x more because of looks, that's for sure. The Micra, GS3, Slayer and Mini are not objectively better - full stop. Each machine has a set of quirks people aren't happy to live with, but they do.

At this point, you're playing with bleeding edge functionality and looks. It's not about which will deliver the best espresso, it's about HOW it delivers the best espresso and to each their own at this point. We need to stop making these conversations about which make better coffee - to me, it is absolutely absurd to think that at this level of machinery that we're still curious about how one "outperforms" the other objectively.

I think the Micra is way too small. The form factor doesn't fit the design. When you look at a Mini and Micra side-by-side, it's striking to me how much better the Mini looks in general with the same design.
LMWDP #670

ReignDrops
Posts: 23
Joined: 1 year ago

#76: Post by ReignDrops »

Deleted

Quester
Posts: 586
Joined: 8 years ago

#77: Post by Quester »

ira wrote:I would disagree with the loudest sound being the coffee dripping in the cup, the pumps are clearly the loudest thing on my Decent, but I don't usually find them annoying and you can listen to them and tell how the shot's doing. It's certainly a different sound than anything else out there and I guess the apparent randomness of the sound might be found annoying by some, but it comes with pretty significant benefits and most users get used to it soon enough.
Ira, what version do you have? My 1.1 is louder than my 1.4. It's not a small difference.

ira
Team HB
Posts: 5497
Joined: 16 years ago

#78: Post by ira »

1.43, it's not yet a year old. I currently have a Micra in the house too. not sure it's a lot quieter, but quite a different sound. John claims there will be a new pump design in the future that will be almost silent and give better flow control, guess time will tell.

Jazzcat
Posts: 31
Joined: 1 year ago

#79: Post by Jazzcat »

I own a micra so would be able to provide some input from my perspective and the reasons why I went for it:

1. I did consider other options, but I may be biased towards la Marzocco as I used to own a cafe and we used linea pb, so I had a confidence in the brand and the quality of the product
2. I wanted to have stable pressure, temperature and to remove such variables, so that I can focus more on the type of coffee, dose, grind. I feel I am more drawn into discovering different type of coffee and it would take me long time to "dial in" if I am tempted to adjust many variables. Therefore, I adjust the grind settings and switch different beans and not think of pressures etc.
3. I like the fact that it warms up in 5min. This feature is very important to me - some other machines I considered buying have warm up time of 20+ minutes. It makes a difference especially in the mornings, or for a quick espresso in the afternoon. By the time I take the coffee out and dose and grind machine is ready to go, so it feels espresso is ready on demand, rather than waiting half hour to make a coffee from the time you say you want to have one.
4. I like the look and size of it
5. I live in the uk and took advantage of 12 interest free instalments

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old442
Posts: 120
Joined: 17 years ago

#80: Post by old442 »

I'm looking at multiple options for an upgrade and have basically ruled out the Micra for one reason, changing the temperature. From everything I've read you have to log into the LM cloud to make changes to the machine sitting in front of you. I take my equipment in my trailer and don't always have cell service.
Kurt
LMWDP 114