Espresso machines · Ascaso
Owners keep it for quick warm-up and steam strong enough for silky milk, which makes a daily flat white or doppio routine easy without a dedicated boiler.
Steam power is praised: all four owners who raised it were positive. One owner calls the v2 steam solid and fully capable of silky milk, though not as strong as a dedicated boiler. Another says it is well ahead of the Bambino they upgraded from.
No recurring complaint shows up in the tallies: nobody who raised steam power was negative. The drawbacks come from single accounts. One unit arrived with steam not working, and one owner says back-to-back shots get faster as the group head heats up.
Pick up to three. You get a page with just those, side by side, on the subjects owners raised.
The fast heat-up is what owners keep coming back to. One owner, who came from a Bambino, switches the machine on while dosing beans, and it is ready by the time the puck is prepped. Another describes looking forward to the morning routine, mostly making flat whites and straight doppios. One owner also rates it as using noticeably less energy than the boiler machines they compared it with.
The adjustment is around back-to-back shots. A v2 PID owner in a household of three, pulling two drinks a day and sometimes five, has no issues when drinks are spread out. Consecutive shots are where it struggles: the group head gets hotter and the shots run faster each time. Someone who makes a lot of drinks in one sitting should know that going in.
The accounts we have are positive but few. One owner has a 110v Steel Duo PID at almost 2 years with no issues. Another has a v2 PID at over 2 years with no problems apart from the steam wand o-ring, which drips a little about once a week and looks due for replacement after daily use. A third, two weeks in, has had no issues yet, which is too early to say much.
The one failure in the comments is a unit that arrived with no working steam. The owner's local dealer helped troubleshoot and prime it, and when that failed, they paid a bit extra to exchange it for a Duo Plus, which has worked well for 2 months. That owner advises buying from a local dealer. Only three accounts speak to reliability, and only two cover long-term use, so this is not enough to judge how the machine holds up over years.
Nothing has a clear majority against it yet. Counted from the owners who raised each subject, not from everyone. A subject is judged once at least 4 owners raise it.
5 more subjects came up from fewer than 4 owners each, which is not enough for a fair reading. To see how it stacks up, compare it with another machine.
The same owner, asked again at each point. Fills in as owners answer.
Two questions: how long you have had it, and anything you would like to say about it. Then we ask again as it ages. This helps our mission.
More in espresso machines: Flair 58, Nespresso Vertuo, Gaggia Classic.
Among the 3 owner accounts here that gave a duration, 1 described a failure. Parts named most: steam wand electronics / water tank.
Before you buy one used, ask the seller: how old it is, whether it was ever repaired and by whom, and whether any of the parts above have been replaced. Ask to see it run. A receipt tells you the warranty start date; most makers honour the term only for the first owner.
Public discussions we read and summarised in our own words. Nothing here was submitted to Still Kicks.
Counted from public accounts by people who said they own it, and summarised by Still Kicks in its own words. Not a manufacturer claim, a lab test or an estimate.
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