I am in the market for a new espresso machine and have decided on one of these.

Concerns: Micra
1) Linea MICRA is so new that problems are inevitable.
2) My research has identified issues with burning smell, cheap plastic turn knobs that get hot, rattling cups on heating tray, excessive plastic, and overall quality control from La Marzocco Home, California.
3) Cost is always an issue for a toy of this nature, however, for the money, you do expect a high quality product.
4) Steam wand is really short, I use a 20oz milk pitcher and could not imagine using an 8oz. Many of my drinks usually use a 10oz mug.

Concerns: Rocket Mozzafiato
1) Tight fit with cups, if at all under cabinet, ie., no heated cups.
2) Found a great deal on new machine direct from a Rocket supported supplier in Italy. Once it lands in US, you are on your own. Then again, I bought my Appartamento from a dealer in the US who would rather you figure out fixing the machine as opposed to shipping it back to them. They still provided insight on what to do however.

Pros: Micra
1) I really like this machine and am about to drop some coin on it.

Pros: Mozzafiato R
1) I love the look of the Rocket. It is really a centerpiece for the kitchen.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Thanks folks.

Mochajoe wrote:... cheap plastic turn knobs that get hot.... excessive plastic, and overall quality control....

What's the source of those complaints? Have you asked the reviewers here on HB?

I'd be surprised if the wand length were an issue. The wand is only .25" shorter than on my Breville and that does a 16oz jug just fine with only 6oz of milk in it.

And the smell appears to be a non issue.

Maybe it is too early in production to purchase the Micra?

drH wrote: What's the source of those complaints? Have you asked the reviewers here on HB?

No I have not. That is why I posted this discussion. I figured the members here would have more accurate and unbiased information since a few have actually purchased the machine. Most of the information I received so far was from Youtube and various news articles. I believe many of the articles were actually generated by LaMarzocco to market it.

Mochajoe wrote:Concerns: Micra
1) Linea MICRA is so new that problems are inevitable.
2) My research has identified issues with burning smell, cheap plastic turn knobs that get hot, rattling cups on heating tray, excessive plastic, and overall quality control from La Marzocco Home, California.
3) Cost is always an issue for a toy of this nature, however, for the money, you do expect a high quality product.
4) Steam wand is really short, I use a 20oz milk pitcher and could not imagine using an 8oz. Many of my drinks usually use a 10oz mug.

Only one person afaik has rattling cups (I certainly don't). The knobs don't get hot at all, and of course you will be able to buy wooden knobs soon, but the plastic is good plastic. My 20 oz pitcher fits just fine. There aren't a lot of compact dual-boiler machines that can brew in 5 minutes and can steam in 8 minutes.

I agree with all of your points. I only noticed cup rattling when I loaded the tray with shot glasses. My Decent 600 ml (approx 20 oz) milk jug works fine.

PaulTheRoaster wrote:Only one person afaik has rattling cups (I certainly don't). The knobs don't get hot at all, and of course you will be able to buy wooden knobs soon, but the plastic is good plastic. My 20 oz pitcher fits just fine. There aren't a lot of compact dual-boiler machines that can brew in 5 minutes and can steam in 8 minutes.

Thanks - another question - does the cup warmer work well? I normally place my cups face down.

Mochajoe wrote:Concerns: Micra
1) Linea MICRA is so new that problems are inevitable.
2) My research has identified issues with burning smell, cheap plastic turn knobs that get hot, rattling cups on heating tray, excessive plastic, and overall quality control from La Marzocco Home, California.

Just a couple of things to consider:

Linea Mini was also new in 2015, with zero issues from day 1. You can expect the first machine that leaves the factory to be as reliable as the last.

Nobody has reported burning smell. It was literally said that it's:

Pieter1 wrote:not a burn smell but more like warm plastic

which dissipates after a while, as it does with many electronic products.

These "cheap" plastic knobs (30€ per knob) are the same cheap plastic knobs that reliably lasted on Lineas for over 30 years and are iconic to La Marzocco Linea machines. You can hardly say "excessive plastic" with La Marzocco in one sentence. The quality control should be listed as an absolute pro, along with saturated grouphead and aftersales support (and so much more).

The steam wand length was discussed by owners and HB reviewers, and nobody has said the wand is too short. If anything, everyone who owns the machine seems to be pretty happy with the wand.

I'm sorry, I'm not trying to challenge your initial post, but I won't let you make a decision based on this literally overbloated gossip cons list put up against some HX Rocket with E61 (which is an issue in its own).

The Micra beats this Rocket in every aspect, I'll let you finish reading HB reviews to understand why.