Hi Everyone, Im new here and new to the coffee scene and looking for a new espresso machine and after a week of constant research (LOL) I have narrowed it down to two machines, the lelit Elizabeth and the profitec pro 300. I chose these two machines because of the short warm up times that they have, and I wanted to get the opinions of those more experienced in this forum, you guys! I would love to get any recommendation because I was also considering hx machines such as the appartamento but I wasn't sure If I wanted the wait and how much the waiting is a pain for you guys?

I also wanted a more user friendly machine since its my first, right now I like the aesthetics of the profitec more but in my country the Elizabeth is around $250 cheaper than the profitec. and it has pre infusion, not sure how much this would actually mean, or like how important it is.

The grinder I want to pair this with is the mignon specialista, but am open to recommendations (I chose it based on aesthetics, other ones i considered was the sette 270).

Thank you in advance!

Forgot this bit haha,

Will you be making espressos, cappuccinos, or both?
Mostly milk drinks not straight espresso.
How much per day?
Just for a family of 5, so maybe +- 4 cups a day.
What kind of beens do like and mainly intend to use? Dark, medium, light espresso roast?
not yet experimented but probably dark
Are you planning on making coffee for many friends, of family etc. in a row?
maybe in the morning, and weekends but not too much.
Are you open to hand grinders, or do you want electric grinder?
electric
How about lever machines vs. pump driven machines?
never really researched abt this
New or used?
new

Profitec Pro 300 is:
1. very well built and made to last.
2. simple and minimalistic design, it is not overloaded with bells and whistles.
3. heats up fast, it is ready in 15 minutes.
4. very good temperature consistency and PID rocks. Your shots won't exhibit variability in taste.
5. it does not take much time to make steam. The machine won't serve the party of drinkers, but otherwise it is always ready.
6. it does not have pre-infusion, which would be important for super light roasts, but this is not a problem for medium or dark roasted coffee. Basically this machine was designed for traditional Italian espresso and it excels at that.

But I feel that you may be better served by HX machine, such as Lelit Mara X, only because you mentioned that you are looking at 4 lattes every day. Profitec Pro 300 is better for someone who likes 50% plain espresso + 50% milk drinks. It has less steaming power than Mara for multiple back to back lattes, but it is more temperature stable for someone who wants repeatable plain espresso shots.

I was in the same boat as you, look at those along w/ BDB and Lucca A53. I'm coming from a Rocky/Silvia combo. Been using a new Vario with much success.

BDB had the features and frankly, best price but somehow it didn't speak to me.

I pinged Clive re: the Elizabeth and when I mentioned I might raise my budget, the A53 came into view. The guidance was both have pros/cons but the responder felt that A53 had slightly better build quality at the expense of a few features. I tried to add options to the A53 to make it feature equivalent and the budget blew up. One of the things I wanted was to connect my machine to a smart switch. I can w/ the Elizabeth but not with the A53, which requires a pricey add on timer to do so. The bigger issue was that the A53 was too wide for my counter, but it is WAY better looking for sure.

The Pro 300 was also on my list and it's pretty dead on with the Elizabeth. I've wanted a PID for a while and these have it, but also wanted an option for pre-infusion, so that's where the Elizabeth won. I just ordered it yesterday.

I had the Profitec Pro 300 for years and it is a solid, great machine both inside and out. Highly recommend it. The version I had was bit more powerful than what is now sold in the U.S. (I had a 2400W machine) but I never had any issues with doing back-to-back milk drinks. I really don't think it will be an issue with the current 1600W machine. The one thing that over time I really wanted that the machine didn't have was preinfusion. However, I was able to replicate a preinfusion by switching the brew switch on and off at 1 second intervals for 10 seconds which gave me around a 5 ml/s preinfusion. Crude, but it works. I noticed that the Lelit has quiet vibration pumps. If you're sensitive to that, perhaps it's quieter... hard to really know without trying it. I don't have any experience with the Lelit, but I would recommend the Profitec Pro 300 without reservation.

EDIT:
Michael, I was curious about how quiet the Lelit is and found this video comparing the older Lelit Elizabeth to the MaraX. From what I understand the v3 Elizabeth has been upgraded to the same pump system that they use on the MaraX so this video is a rough comparison to what the Profitec Pro 300 will sound like (mine was a bit noisy) compared to the quieter v3 Elizabeth. Before 30 seconds is likely what the Profitec Pro 300 will sound like compared to after 30 seconds which is the pump system now used on the v3 Elizabeth. A very big difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZO20aL7EbI

For medium and darker roasts, including "comfort" or "classic" espresso roasts, a typical soft-start is usually sufficient. If you think that you'd be exploring coffees that are lighter roasted, then variable preinfusion helps significantly in being able to appropriately grind and more evenly extract these more challenging coffees as espresso.

Thanks everybody for you replies, you guys are amazing!
Im almost set on the lelit Elizabeth now, due to the quieter pump as well as the fast heat up time, it should be similar to the profitec no? Also its cheaper where i am almost by $300. although maybe i don't like the look as much but from what Ive seen the steamer is really strong and is more user friendly maybe?

I wanted to ask if my choice of grinder with the eureka mignon specialista would be good or should I change to smth else? Thank you again everybody!

@scottnyc- thanks for that, yea I realize the profitec is really good for durability, but do you think its worth much more than the Elizabeth? like where i mentioned the $300 difference? I like the looks of it more though so I'm still on fence. Does it heat up in more or less 10 mins?

@oldskoolboarder - oo that's great but the a53 where I'm at is so much more expensive and not readily available, maybe once i get deeper into this rabithole ill consider it haha. Thats great, I have to preorder both machines if I wanted so really keen to hear how yours is.

@makspyat - oo that's great to hear, Ive heard a lot of great things about the profitec 300 but no direct comparison to the Elizabeth and that's why Im still on fence, it looks great and Im sure I would be happy with it as well, maybe Ill slowly start learning to appreciate plain espresso slowly haha!

@coki2 the finish and look of the Profitec is beautiful in my opinion. I loved it on my counter and people would regularly comment on it. I sold it to a friend and he still comments on the shine of the stainless. I really think you'll be happy with either machine. If you want to change in a few years you can always sell the machine and upgrade/change then.

I was deciding between these two machines this week, but after a recent chat with a vendor I ended up going with the Pro 300. The vendor sold both and while both are good machines, I was looking for a more straightforward, solidly built machine and between these two the Pro 300 fits the bill.

That said, I paid $50 more for the Pro 300 but if the Lelit were $250 cheaper I think I would've happily purchased one. This line is repeated here often, but you'd be better taking that extra $250 and putting it into a better grinder.