boren wrote:Any conclusion about the subject of La Pavoni vs the Flair?

I just pulled 12 double shots for six Americanos and experienced no overheating

I really like the Pavoni, but if I'm not steaming milk, I'll use the Flair.

Christopher396 wrote:<image>

Wow! There has to be something amiss with your Flair to have that happen. You really should send an email to Sergio so he can replace your pistons and possible the base as well. Send him an email at info@flairespresso.com

he's really good about taking care of warranty issues, i had one with my base and he shipped a replacement within a day. just reach out to him, you shouldn't have to be trying to fashion your own pistons and I'm not sure you want to be using that base as is until you get to the bottom of the issue.

boren wrote:Any conclusion about the subject of La Pavoni vs the Flair?

Not yet. I'm following this thread and it looks like the Flair is capable of producing excellent results but I'm usually not for buying the first iteration of any machine/product so I may end up waiting to see how the Flair 2.0 will look like then make a decision.

Tonefish wrote:Oh Yeah, that's sweet!!

Have you worked out the thermal management differences? To me that's the only potential drawback compared to the metal cap on plastic cylinder.

16.5g in and about 195 F to start. I read 160 F in the cup is on target, and that is what I got. Any suggestions for when I run this with plastic piston alongside steel?

Randy G. wrote:Andrew states in the video, "Wow! Look at all that crema! You'd be hard pressed to find any machine that would give you any more crema than that..."
Huh...

<image>
MINE (at the 2 ounce level)

Still, an intriguing device.

So Randy, intrigued a little more? Enough to get one yourself and see what it can do?

SunSurfH2o wrote: Any suggestions for when I run this with plastic piston alongside steel?

Looks great Andrew! I never measured temperature in the cup with the plastic piston so I don't know how the 160 compares. Seems cool but if the cup wasn't preheated it sounds about right.

As for the comparison, I could only suggest doing them identically so that the only variable is the piston material. Nice job!

Come to think of it though, if you did them identically to compare and then did one with the steel piston preheated, that would be interesting too ... they may be closer with the steel piston preheated (maybe you already have this one with the 171F preheat).

So when is the metal piston coming out? I don't need a manual and portable machine... I really do not need it...

wachuko wrote:I don't need a manual and portable machine... I really do not need it...

Yes you do. Come to the dark side!

instantkamera wrote:I have taken advantage of the 15% off deal on the flair and ordered one to try side by side.

What is this 15% discount that you speak of??

SunSurfH2o wrote:So Randy, intrigued a little more? Enough to get one yourself and see what it can do?

I have already contacted them and will be working out getting one soon.

Awesome! Can't wait to see how you find it stacks up against your daily driver, and your technical thoughts on its performance and shortcomings. I could only wish for a drier puck after extraction but i don't know if that's even possible with this type of machine. In the meantime, I've been experimenting with how to achieve this with the current design. I've had success but it's fleeing, just need to do more trials and find a repeatable procedure.

keep us posted!