If given a choice which would you buy and why?

[milowebailey]

because Larry is obviously torn over the decision thus the goal is to make it as agonizing
as possible...

 

thanks!!

[mp]

Those Ponte Vecchio's seem to be demanding  a relatively high resale value and seem to be getting it.

If you can get the Conte for a decent price and it requires no work you could probably flip it pretty quick and not lose or possibly make some money on it.

 

[Ringo]

You are Milo, get both!

[milowebailey]

You are Milo, get both!

No way.... the divorce would be both costly and painful

[grinderz]

M|wheelerdealer

 

[Warrior372]

You know your palate better than we do. Do you prefer the shots you can make on a small diameter pf lever machine like an Export or what you can make on a larger 58mm commercial setup? If you like what you make with your export I would get the Lusso knowing it will produce the same thing in the cup, but you will be able to pull more shots prior to refilling it and it's steam capacity will be superior. That would allow you to sell the export too. If you really do not like the shots you get from the Export then I would probably not buy the Lusso .

[milowebailey]

You know your palate better than we do. Do you prefer the shots you can make on a small diameter pf lever machine like an Export or what you can make on a larger 58mm commercial setup? If you like what you make with your export I would get the Lusso knowing it will produce the same thing in the cup, but you will be able to pull more shots prior to refilling it and it's steam capacity will be superior. That would allow you to sell the export too. If you really do not like the shots you get from the Export then I would probably not buy the Lusso .

Good points... hopefully those parts will hit here tomorrow so I can find out.  I do like the shots on the Achille and I like the idea of a spring lever.... hmmmmm what to do, what to do.

[Warrior372]

If you are trying to fix machine to sell in order to buy either the Synesso or Speedster, then by the one you think will get you closer to your goal!

[John F]

The Ponte is quite basic and I love dialing in by temp using a pid type control. I like lever machines but would want something that exudes a bit more of the Italian style.

One day you might read what you wrote there and wonder what you were thinking. 

But it leads straight into my thought and it's pretty much the same thing Warrior said. Do you want 58mm pump driven shots or smaller lever pulls?

Those machines are wildly different and should be a lot easier to choose between than two machines closer together on the shot spectrum. 

Edit to add a vote- PVL all the way, no blinks.

[ScareYourPassenger]

Might be a while but there is enough in my espresso ritual already.

[milowebailey]

But it leads straight into my thought and it's pretty much the same thing Warrior said. Do you want 58mm pump driven shots or smaller lever pulls?

hmmm. I guess I don't know.  With the state my two small levers came in, I don't think I've had a great shot off of either of them but I have had some pretty killer shots out of my Achille and my past 2 groups....  I'm hoping Ms. Postwoman brings me a little package today (Sama and La Pavoni parts).

[John F]

I can only tell my experience.

I was a 58mm pump driven shot junkie. When I got the PVL I kept my beloved Tinfoil Bamboo around for a while because I knew like I knew like I knew...that I would enjoy the PVL but there would be times when I would need to get those shots I was used to. My mind was in the understanding of the 58mm shot world and at that time I could not think to anything else. I read a lot about lever shots and to be honest I was pretty worried I would not like them. 

The part a few posts up about the PVL being basic as compared to PID control on 58mm shots is a classic example of thinking from the pump side of the fence. Now I see it as apples and oranges or maybe even  apples and headphones.

And I don't think it's an exclusive arrangement either.. If you handed me a nice thick chocolate bomb ~2oz pump driven comfort food shot I'd be pretty freaking happy. It's not like I have grown to prefer the lever pulls exclusively it's more like I've come to understand there is another town over the hill and while things are very different in that town you can still live over there and find all the things you would need to fill a life they are just different from the exact stores and parks in the old town. The climate is very different... If I'd never come over the hill I'd have been happy in the 58mm town and if I went back I could still be happy, but in lever town there are a lot of new things to explore and while I thought I'd have to travel back and forth on weekends to get a fix in my old restaurants and so forth I realized at some point I could get everything I wanted and needed in lever town by just exploring around.

You can read all about clarity of shots and what not on HB but the short answer for me (too late right)    is that the PVL turned out to be a very good fit for me because it has an interesting way of delivering shots within parameters that are "right" and still allows you space to explore in a way that gives you years and years of experimentation. It does not leave me with a hole in my game that I previously thought I would need to always have two machines for.

And again if you get the large two group I'm sure that drinking thousands of great shots off it will not suck. 

[grinderz]

So are you saying the "nice thick chocolate bomb ~2oz pump driven comfort food shot" isn't what you'll normally be able to get from a PVL? But what the PVL gives is so good you don't miss it? Or am I totally miss reading that?

[John F]

Something like that.

They are different shots and can't be directly compared...or maybe I'll say judged against each other head to head point by point.

What you give up on the comfort food range you pick up in uhm.. detail on the other side. Mash potatoes and gravy is really damn good but so is crawfish etoufee. Pizza is awesome and so is a nice Chardonnay.

I'm just trying to put it into terms easier to see than bell clarity vs body because when I was reading that stuff I thought I'd be losing body and would have thin shots. It;s not exactly like that they are just different shots.

[mp]

Oh boy ... you and Shaun have become masters of double speak.

I couldn't get this from him ... and you sound like his twin double-speaker.

We are aware that the shots are different ... can you please articulate how and which is better? If not which is better ... which is your preference?