I enjoy the shots I get from it. Workflow, build and feel is inferior in my opinion. Less physical effort below 6 bar but weirdly more demanding with higher pressures, especially if the flow is low.

Even though I'm mostly seeing downsides with Flair 58 it still makes sense for someone who mostly drinks 1:2-1:3 light roast, low pressure espresso. A bottom paper filter and full pre-heat will get me close with the Robot, but I believe the chamfered basket is the limiting factor. It makes pulling shots forgiving, also with light roasts, but pushing for really high extractions without resorting to allongé is difficult.

It's a trend with both the Flair Classic and Flair 58: easier to reach high extractions but somewhat annoying to use. For medium to dark roasts I much prefer the Robot.. But the Flair is greedy for counter space and it's already in position.. while my Robot never needed a permanent place. Unless I can get a different basket for it I'm afraid it might sit on a shelf more and more

So.. I don't really like it, but it might still end up my daily driver. It's good enough I guess but you'll have to factor in that I'm cheap. If I lived in the US and was looking to buy something new I'd probably join the Argos preorder instead.

Ambiguous comments aside, Flair is in my mind the main competition to the Robot. It's not the first time they're compared in this thread and likely not the last. This'll also get buried soon, and that's fine by me. It's still somehow part of my user experience with the Robot.

I thought I'd share more background. I was recently served espresso made with a Decent DE1. It was an excellent shot, but I was taken aback by how hot it was. I've been using the same double walled glass cups with the Robot, but the espresso won't burn my mouth as I take the first sip.. I don't have a precise way to measure temperature..

Anyway, intrigued by this and the lure of having access to the (now slightly more affordable) new wave of high extraction baskets made me pick up the same second hand Flair 58 I'd passed on previously when it turned up for sale. By the same imprecise metric, using the F58 shots can definitely be hot enough to be uncomfortable to sip but my guess is that it too brews slightly cooler than what can be done with the DE1 (and plenty of other machines).

Either way, even on the lowest setting (Flair claims 85C, I'd like to see an actual graph) there's already been a noticeable difference. I realised I've missed my old VST baskets. I remember having issues pulling very light roasts with the Robot in the beginning, years ago. I thought I had resolved it either by using a bottom paper filter, upgrading to a more suitable grinder (bigger difference) and when everything else fails pulling allongé. It's only been 3 weeks, but I've overall been getting more edgy shots with F58 and baskets without chamfer. I wrote a proper review about the Robot vs. Flair Classic a few years back in my native language. It was a wash tastewise, but the Robot won due to build quality, workflow and feel. It still excels in those categories, but my initial impression is that F58 can do one specific style of shot better or more enjoyable to me. The capacity is lower so I haven't been able to try anything above 1:3.5

Couldn't keep it brief. Perhaps this warrants a separate thread after all.