bobkat wrote:By using the Pavlis water for 7 years, have you had to descale at all?

spressomon wrote:Slayer maintenance over 4+ years of using it every day: I had one of the defective gear pumps between year 2 and 3. Slayer provided the new pump at no charge (out of the original 2-year warranty period) and I installed it; 1 banana job. Other than that I've replaced the seals in the steam arm twice (1/1 banana job) along with group head seal/gasket and new shower screens about 1X per year.

My 1G has been the longest owned espresso machine of all I've owned; ditto the most # of espressos "pulled" through it. I've spent a fraction of the time/$ on maintenance issues compared to my former Londinium LI, PV Export, Pasquini, etc. I can and do steam while "pulling" espresso shots for morning cappas. Although I can't quickly change water temp and profiles ala infinity compared to a Decent...my Slayer delivers the goods nonetheless. If, on a given morning or brew session you like to pull more than one type of bean then the Decent is probably the better machine for you as you can adjust temp on the fly (if, for example, you want to pull a light roast then immediately after you want to pull a dark roast and/or decaf). Whereas I, generally, will get a particular bean dialed in and tweak a little here/there as the days wear on but go through several pounds of beans, or more, before moving on to another bean.

And, again IMHO, the Slayer wins hands down in the aesthetic design department. Its kinda of like comparing a hot rodded Subaru to a Porsche Carrera: Both are exhilarating but not much if any crossover in their respective fanboy camps. Pick your weapon.

Water: IMHO, any boiler fed machine should be using properly balanced water; I've been using Dr. Pavlis very simple and inexpensive distilled + potassium bicarbonate recipe in all my machines for the past 7-years; pick whatever method to arrive at the same destination.