Announced: Argos lever espresso machine by Odyssey Espresso - Page 35

#341: Post by **equedadoii** » November 7th, 2022, 1:34 pm

Really rooting for this lever to do well. Wish I had the dough to shell out for it in retrospect. It seems like it could fit a niche for so many people and in a way that doesn't seem to make too many/if any compromises, though I'm sure a lot of others here could speak to this in much more detail. I know the delays to production must be disheartening for people, but I've got some real high hopes that we'll get to see a second batch for the rest of us

#342: Post by **Frenchman** » November 7th, 2022, 3:08 pm

I'm sure there will be more batches. This is way too much work and planning for just one batch unless the market isn't there. But the market sure seems to be there!

November 7th, 2022, 3:47 pm

The machine seems radically underpriced in the first batch; since it looks like it may perform as well as a commercial lever, and in an attractive, small package to boot. If that turns out to be the experience of early users; expect the next batches to go up to 2K or more.

#344: Post by **Frenchman** » November 7th, 2022, 4:56 pm

I certainly hope that my experience will be great. I am very excited about it. If it's underpriced, I do hope that Ross will price it for more. It may not be $2,000 (though I am totally unqualified to say, maybe unlike you), but it should certainly allow him to reap the rewards of his hard work, and build a business that is there long term to support his creations. That certainly costs money.

#345: Post by **randyh** » November 7th, 2022, 5:41 pm

IMHO there's a lot to like with the Argos, but also some uncertainties on how the Argos will perform regarding the very fundamental elements of espresso brewing, the temperature and pressure. With the PID changing the boiler pressure in response to the group temperature, you get variable pre-infusion pressure, but also the temperature curve will be different with each shot. so there's no consistency when pulling back to back shots. and if the group is relatively cold, then the temperature drop will be quite dramatic. How will that effect the taste? Then there's the pressure as it pertains to the spring lever setup. Will the sourced spring provide the proper pressure curve to produce good espresso? I'm a fan of what's being developed here, and wholeheartedly rooting for the Argos to be successful, but it's far from certain that this device will perform like a commercial lever machine.

#346: Post by **Todd+** » November 7th, 2022, 9:25 pm

Frenchman wrote:I certainly hope that my experience will be great. I am very excited about it. If it's underpriced, I do hope that Ross will price it for more. It may not be $2,000 (though I am totally unqualified to say, maybe unlike you), but it should certainly allow him to reap the rewards of his hard work, and build a business that is there long term to support his creations. That certainly costs money.

If they can pull it off at $850, they might end up doing far better on volume. It could draw in a giant market... not just people looking for a lever machine, but also many people looking at 1K - 4K prosumer machines who hadn't considered levers, as well as people shopping for an appliance-grade espresso machine who poke around and find out they can get a next-level machine for $850.

$ARG or bust!!!!

#347: Post by **GregoryJ** » November 8th, 2022, 12:10 am

another_jim wrote:The machine seems radically underpriced in the first batch; since it looks like it may perform as well as a commercial lever, and in an attractive, small package to boot. If that turns out to be the experience of early users; expect the next batches to go up to 2K or more.

They've stated it's their mission to make an affordable machine, so I don't think we should expect to pay $2k any time soon. (At least until they change their mission statement)

#348: Post by **malling** » November 8th, 2022, 7:21 am

Making it 2k will make it very identical in price as entry point for prosumer machines with full seized spring leaver brew groups in Europe and those are with VAT, for European it will be around €2700 almost the same price as a Profitec pro 800, basically making it not particularly value for money.

Now it's about €1200 imported, I don't see this sell outside US if it gets noticeable higher in price.

#349: Post by **bgn** » November 8th, 2022, 10:00 am

Setting my sights on Easter now for getting this machine in my hands based on the last update.

November 8th, 2022, 10:06 am

randyh wrote:IMHO there's a lot to like with the Argos, but also some uncertainties on how the Argos will perform regarding the very fundamental elements of espresso brewing, the temperature and pressure. With the PID changing the boiler pressure in response to the group temperature, you get variable pre-infusion pressure, but also the temperature curve will be different with each shot. so there's no consistency when pulling back to back shots. and if the group is relatively cold, then the temperature drop will be quite dramatic. How will that effect the taste? Then there's the pressure as it pertains to the spring lever setup. Will the sourced spring provide the proper pressure curve to produce good espresso?

Those are good points, I've wondered the same thing about the boiler pressure/group temp feedback loop, if it will result in significantly inconsistent pre-infusion pressures. Time will tell. I have an Argos on pre-order, excited to try it out. I like that it is not simply a copy of a lot of inexpensive single boiler dipper machines. There's a lot of innovation there, including the ability to switch between manual or spring lever configurations.

GregoryJ wrote:They've stated it's their mission to make an affordable machine, so I don't think we should expect to pay $2k any time soon. (At least until they change their mission statement)

I seem to recall Ross at Odyssey saying that his intention was to keep the base price the same on subsequent production runs. Can't remember where I saw that, maybe Discord.