baldheadracing wrote:The GS/3 AV is priced close to 20% higher ... I'm not saying that you get what you pay for, but the two aren't directly competing. List prices:
Linea Mini: $5400
Prima One: $5990
GS/3 AV: $7100
As for boiler size, I don't think that brew boiler is a big issue in these machines as they all feed the brew boiler through an HX in the steam boiler (IIRC). The GS/3 has a saturated group so the boiler has to be bigger (more or less).
Steam boiler - I'm not up on all this new technology; all I know is steam is not a concern at all once you get to a 5+ litre boiler (at 110v 15 amp) like a Nuova Simonelli Appia or an Elektra T1. However, that's a lot of water to get up to steam in a home application. Myself, I can't make milk drinks fast enough to outpace my 800 watt Elektra home machines (30sec steam, one minute recovery).
The higher pressure in the Prima means that you have more dry steam that can be applied, but there will be a quicker drop as the boiler is smaller. The question becomes how much milk drinks your steaming because the initial pressure will be high, with the drop off more disproportioned than a machine with a larger boiler.
The other variables are the steam tips that can slow the pressure release, improving steam recovery for the machine. I would like to see how the Prima compares to the GS3 in steam performance because the commercial eagle one unit has a significantly larger steam boiler than the single group on the commercial eagle one.
I agree the application differs, but they do market the unit for small restaurants, so some analysis had to go into how it performs multiple drinks.
bigkraig wrote:The one major drawback to me on the prima is the app requirement. Phones change fast and I'd like this thing to last. Worst case scenario I figure I can reverse engineer the Bluetooth protocol.
I was looking at this machine yesterday and the dealer told me the app was not required to program. He said they asked VA this directly and they said it wasn't necessary...so I wonder if it is or not.
The app allows you to access more details and features. Taking advantage of the machine's features's the app is a must because there is no screen to manually access the advanced features besides the basic programming on the group head.
I am considering the Prima One. I am wondering how easy it would be to use without the app, assuming in 5-10 years maybe the app is unsupported. Any idea?
p.s: sorry if the question is misguided, i am new here.
After owning the E1P for a month I think the machine is 100% usable without the app as long as you are ok without a few things
-steam pressure set at 2.2bar and app is needed to change
-pre wetting pre infusion is controlled in app but I usually leave it off
- led lights are controlled in app
- auto purge is controlled in app
-brew pressure is viewed in app
You can plug a USB into the machine with the correct text/config file to change setting also.
Brew pressure can be seen manually using a portafilter pressure gauge.
With the factory latte art steam tip i find changing steam pressure to not make a huge difference
Let me know if I can help further. Also check out my thread for more pros and cons
MTN Gert wrote:After owning the E1P for a month I think the machine is 100% usable without the app as long as you are ok without a few things
-steam pressure set at 2.2bar and app is needed to change
-pre wetting pre infusion is controlled in app but I usually leave it off
- led lights are controlled in app
- auto purge is controlled in app
-brew pressure is viewed in app
You can plug a USB into the machine with the correct text/config file to change setting also.
Brew pressure can be seen manually using a portafilter pressure gauge.
With the factory latte art steam tip i find changing steam pressure to not make a huge difference
Let me know if I can help further. Also check out my thread for more pros and cons
Thank you! After way more contemplation and reading through this thread as well as your hand-on experience I pulled the trigger on an E1P as well. Getting it tomorrow, so really excited.
Haha from what I read from your link they are complaining about the laser cutting protective film the machine is shipped with and how the splash guard isn't a solid wall all the way above the grouphead. Can you elaborate if there is something else major I am missing ? Saying "shocked" made me believe there was something seriously wrong
"Stop it....it's naughty and wrong" -James Hoffmann
MTN Gert wrote:
Haha from what I read from your link they are complaining about the laser cutting protective film the machine is shipped with and how the splash guard isn't a solid wall all the way above the grouphead. Can you elaborate if there is something else major I am missing ? Saying "shocked" made me believe there was something seriously wrong
I read through it and it didn't sound as bad. Most people said it produces really good espresso and they were overall happy with taste.
I think two issues in particularly were mentioned: (1) Apparently you can't do low-pressure pre-infusion (2) given a set amount of water in the app, the output varies too much. They claim output can vary up to 12ml.
