Shift_Six wrote:Well we just received our machine. (Took 10 weeks after ordering because they were testing and updating them prior to shipping.) Maybe that's a good thing?
After a bunch of research, questions asked about this and the LMLM, we were stoked to have finally pulled the trigger on it.
Now after reading up on this thread, maybe a bit hesitant to really be happy. Hoping they worked out the early teething issues by now.

Wife's looking to use it to do a little coffee trailer weekend business and finding something small, efficient, commercially certified with some of its features, it seemed like the only one on the list that checked those boxes while barely staying in our budget. Probably too late now but if you were in our shoes would you have picked the E1 Prima or something else? Doesn't really seem like the majority of the early issues have been huge. A fuse, some app stuff that's constantly getting tweaked, etc etc probably still hugely frustrating to go through.

Anyways we got her unboxed and plugged in, and flushed. She's pretty. Fingers crossed this isn't an expensive mistake.

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I hope you have a great experience with the machine and that enough time has passed to rectify all outstanding issues. The commercial side of VA is solid, but I don't personally think their consumer market is on par with La Marzocco, where they had focused on providing trustworthy service.

Keep us posted on your experience.

@BeanyBaz just realised no one answered your question:

Where does one obtain the latest and greatest firmware from please?

You can generally get them on the Eagle One Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/victori ... leoneprima
Just keep an eye on which version is for Europe or US.

I only have one single solitary issue with mine: My scheduler (auto power on/power off) doesn't work on Sunday!!!

That's fixed in the latest version (currently v204 for EU)

What's going wrong with your machine?
It was the thermal fuse?

Did you repair it by yourself and it is easy?

Hello All!

I have now had my E1 Prima for three months, so I thought I'd chip in with my-somewhat underwhelming-experience so far. As to my journey and background, I have, over the last 20 years, worked my way up from a Rancilio Silvia to an Isomac Rituale, and then a Rocket R58 v2, which I now replaced with the E1 Prima. I am brewing about a dozen (mostly non-milk) drinks a day.

Up until the R58, which I got for around $2500 8 years ago, I felt that every upgrade was a big step up and it left me quite happy. Now doubling the budget to over $5000, I was, of course, having big expectations, also based on some of the reviews here and elsewhere. So here is a summary of my experience:

The good:
- Coffee tastes really good. Indistinguishable from top-tier coffee shops. It seems to me the single most important difference in that respect to my R58 is the slower ramp-up of the pressure curve that allows you to have a coarser grind without accelerating the extraction time too much. (I also upgraded my grinder from an Mazzer Mini to a Mahlkoenig E65S GBW and may not have done enough cross-testing to be sure, how much of the improvement is due to the grinder.)
- The app and related control features are very reliable and well thought-through. The app connects within seconds every time and it updates settings flawlessly equally fast. (Which I cannot say from most of my iOS-connectable home electronics, even my $30K hifi system... ;o)
- The multitude of adjustment options, including brew temperature, steaming pressure, and even hot water temp.
- Cool design, including the shape, light strip on the back, light under the group head, and absence of "always-on" display.
- The built-in brew timer that is only visible when needed, so not interfering with the "purity" of the design.
- High steaming pressure and well-through-through steaming wand design/attachment.
- Built-in tank easily accessible.
- The auto-flush function is pretty convenient.

The bad:
- I also wanted this machine, because it was advertised as particularly environmentally friendly in terms of lower power consumption. Folks typically point out the small brew boiler that takes only a short time to heat up. However, the machines misses the most important feature for me, which is an option to switch off the service boiler. This was easily doable with the R58 and for someone like myself, who only produces a few milk-based drinks at the start of the day, is a huge waste of energy. I really don't get why this was not through through. Given the many features, including the possibility to set steaming pressure via the app, this should have been very easy to add!
- Built quality is the worst of any machine I owned. To name a few things:
- The machine leaks water from the inside after every brew. I will soon open it to check where it is coming from and possibly report back here.
- The housing/panels are put on in a very "crooked" way and even, when you try to adjust them, you realise the shapes do not even fit together to produce at least roughly consistent gaps all around.
- The mechanism that holds the portafilter is flawed. It is the hardest one to operate across all my machines and, thus, feels really low-quality. There is a lot of friction and "grinding" when you attach the portafilter. You also have to pull it so tight that every time you move the entire machine around despite its heavy weight. And then, despite all this, in about 50% of the shots, the whole setup leaks such that you get clear water running into your drink.
- The automatic volume dosing feature is pretty much useless. While the volume that comes out is consistent and quite precise to a few ml, when you test it without a portafilter attached, as soon as you pull a real shot, the weight out various widely. For example, when I set the machine up to get 30g out, all the following shots randomly produce anything between less than 25g and more than 40g. I think for such a feature to be useful, it should be precise within +/- 5g at least when brewing. (Note that I am excluding the shots with leakage here!)
- The machine does not have an indicator-not even a safety switch-when it runs out of water. So it often happens to me that I run the pump for a minute completely dry. I do not believe this is healthy for the pump in the long run. Maybe VA thinks that nobody will use the built-in tank, but I have no choice to plumb the machine.
- The built-in tank is tiny, so you need to fill it up several times a day.
- Drip-tray is too small and too hard to remove due to the extra sealing strip on top.

So, all-in-all, is the better tasting coffee worth spending more than twice the price of my R58 given this long list of flaws? I am still inclined to say "maybe." But the moment I figure out a way to reproduce the slower pressure ramp-up of the E1 on my R58 and/or I can confirm the new grinder is the main reason behind the better taste, I will definitely switch to "never ever." Also because most of the supposedly great features (more professional design/build, low power consumption, automatic dosing, ...) actually do not apply/work after all and because there are much cheaper machines that have an edge with respect to other features (e.g., service boiler switch, easy/smooth filter insertion).

Thanks and interested in your thoughts on the list of cons.

Lavamat,
Keep me posted on this one.
- The machine leaks water from the inside after every brew. I will soon open it to check where it is coming from and possibly report back here.

I've noticed ours does this, and also occasionally while pulling a shot. Though it comes out of a spout just behind the front wall and there is a cut out in the drip tray specifically for it so I figured it was normal.
Now the more I think about it, it doesn't exactly seem normal to make a product that is designed to leak lol (even if the espresso still tastes great)

Let me know what you guys think. If I need to get service involved or if its doing something that is perfectly normal.

I've noticed ours does this, and also occasionally while pulling a shot. Though it comes out of a spout just behind the front wall and there is a cut out in the drip tray specifically for it so I figured it was normal.

Not knowing anything about the E1 Prima, this seems like it could be an expansion valve doing what it is meant to do.

I'm Currently 30 pages into the 60 page thread and haven't found I'm looking for so far so I thought I'd ask the question. I love the look of LED bar and I'm wondering if it stays on all the time or only when you're actively in the process of making a drink (i.e. heating the water as well as brewing). I would only have the machine one once or perhaps twice a day - It would be a shame for the LED to be off for the remaining 23hrs a day. Thanks. Jed

It stays on all the time unless you deactivate to be off all the time. It does not sync with your espresso extraction. Its either or.

Hi all, I wonder are all issues related to the fireware or the hardware? If I am buying an earlier Eagle One Prima that the previous claimed there was no issue and come with the latest firmware, it should be pretty reliable? Thanks.

I'd say you should be fine. Most issues have been related to three things between hardware and software. Most hardware is fixable and covered under 2 year warranty. The main consistent issues we've experience have been resolved to my user experience. The constant complaints you see online are mostly the same issues repeated on the forums instead of reaching out to support, so it gives the impression that these things are lemons or not up to par. Such things like code errors on the group head, battery dying, pressure adjustment, app connectivity issues, etc. have all been drawn out in the Facebook group and other forums.

There is also a lot of upset individuals who didn't get the expected support and have trashed the machine because of it. They have a right to have high expectations for the price paid and equal support should have followed. But those who have had no major issues, seem to be happy and don't have the same need to post about it. I speak to a lot of vendors from time to time in the states and they all get very little complaints but it's not to say there havent been some bad experiences out there. If there was anything major, they would have already experienced it in my opinion. I have the first batch release and I can't say I've had a bad experience at all or have had such an issue that I deem the machine unreliable.

A few things to check though:
There is a third version of the thermal fuse, v.3 that was created to update the 2nd version after the recent update with power management feature. Make sure they have that and if not, have them order it first.

The original drip tray didn't have a pre drilled hole for plumbing in the machine. A second version was created to have the proper drain hole pre drilled after the initial release. Make sure you are getting that version.

Behind the front panel is the back flush manifold. Make sure the o-ring is intact and no leaks. I've heard a few issues where the gasket could go bad and just needs to be replaced. It's $1 or so, or can be obtained from Simonelli.

Parts are covered for 2 years, so if there is anything you experience in the next few months, you should be able to coordinate with the original buyer and it's an easy machine to work on.

Speaking to Simonelli support, there really isn't much of a maintenance routine to do on these machines like LM. So if visually inspected, just check around to make sure no other red flags and that the water used was filtered. Aside from that I can think of anything else off the top of my head to check.