Flair 58 - Page 62

#611: Post by **boren** » October 1st, 2022, 7:54 am

What could impact the working angle of the lever? I haven't used my Flair 58 much in the last couple of months (mostly because I bought a Lelit Bianca and was busy with it), but now that I'm using the Flair again it seems that the shot is pulled mostly when the lever is already past half of it's travel, where I remember that before it used to work at a higher angle, already reaching maximum pressure when it was pointing at around 30 degree upwards tilt. Is it my memory betraying me, or could there be a reason for such a change?

December 12th, 2022, 6:33 pm

I just bought a $4 mirror on Amazon and it serendipitously fits under the Flair 58 at exactly the right angle and position to serve as a shot mirror. Here's a picture and here's a link to the page on Amazon.

December 21st, 2022, 6:10 am

Oh great - just ordered one from Amazon UK to arrive tomorrow. Look forward to seeing how well it works, thanks.

#614: Post by **MCal2003** » December 23rd, 2022, 2:03 pm

Flair has their mirror on sale for I think $9.50. LED lighted and 3x magnification. Not sure if the features are needed.
Personally, I just bend over and take a look. I could see needing a mirror if the combination of body height and counter height makes things awkward. Or if you have some physical limitations. Or both.....

Happy Holidays to all you Flair users.

#615: Post by **deepdisco** » April 9th, 2023, 2:00 pm

Hi! Can any flair 58 owners comment on the stability of the unit when pulling shots? My only experience with manual espresso was trying a friends europiccola and I didnt like how the whole unit would start to tilt forward when I was pulling shots. Does the 58 do this?

#616: Post by **LObin** » April 9th, 2023, 10:24 pm

At all. The base is stable and doesn't tilt or flex. Even when you grind too fine, you can put both hands on the lever and add some body weight to it, without fear. It's a wonderful design.

Smaller levers like La Pavoni's (even more so the Millennium Europiccola) or Cremina (not as much) often require the 2nd hand to be placed on the boiler cap when pulling 8-9 bars.

#617: Post by **boren** » April 10th, 2023, 12:54 am

It does flex a tiny bit, but this is only evident in the stream not being perfectly centered but slightly to the front.

#618: Post by **BiBi WET** » April 10th, 2023, 10:51 pm

Hello, I'm a new owner of a Flair 58 LE since less than 5 days and I'm very happy with it!

I initially wanted to buy the "standard" Flair 58 that is cheaper (and also in promotion!) but It's quite impossible to find one available in Europe: So I guess a new model will be released soon?
Anyone have any info on this?

#619: Post by **boren** » April 11th, 2023, 10:49 am

It would be very nice if they release a new version. The Flair 58 is great, but there are many areas where it can be improved. This is the wishlist I posted on their forums:

Drain valve. Instead of pumping the remaining water after extraction, just press a button on the cylinder and have all the water drained straight into the drip tray.
Anti-rotation plunger. Maybe have a groove along the cylinder and a tooth on the plunger to keep both aligned at all times?
Taller cylinder. Just fill it up in one go. No need to top off. The Flair 58 does come with a silicone ring that's supposed to provide this functionality, but I think it's kludgy to use.
Drip tray similar to that of the Flair Classic, where it sits on the base of the machine and not on the counter. The top of the drip tray should also be flat, to allow more scales to fit.
Floating ball at the top of the valve plunger to clearly mark the point where raising the lever any more would let air in. I currently lift it right below the water surface, but it requires looking very closely to not miss this point.
Improved control box with two buttons. One to turn the machine on or off, and another button to select heat mode (which should be remembered across sessions). Both should use short presses.
Additional heat mode for light roasts ("Max"), where the machine only beeps when the entire grouphead is expected to reach the highest temperature (rather than just the heating element area).
Optional temperature probe located close to the coffee bed, to track actual brewing temperature.

I'd also like to see a Flair 51 model, with an electronically heated grouphead similar to the current Flair 58, but compatible with La Pavoni 51mm portafilters and baskets. As anyone who used the smaller Flair models, channeling is easier to avoid with smaller diameters.

#620: Post by **BiBi WET** » April 11th, 2023, 12:15 pm

@Boren same feeling concerning this Flair 58!

I will just add a ON/OFF and temp control button located directly on the machine body.

But if Flair add all this, the price will probably became too high... For my part if I had to spend more than 800 USD, I will have a look at the Odyssey machine.
And today If I decide to change this will be for something like the Strietman CT2...