Saeco SM8785/00 Xelsis Deluxe Fully Automatic Coffee Machine, 22 Coffee Varieties, Touch Screen, 8 User Profiles, WiFi Connectivity, Piano-Black, Stainless Steel Front

I have two of these units. So first off you should know 1) This is a single boiler unit, I was under the impression it had two at time of purchase. 2) There is no cup warmer. 3) The GranAroma seems to be basically the exact same unit but with a smaller water tank, coffee hopper and puck bin. There was one software item not available not available in the GranAroma Deluxe, but I can't recall which one. 4) if you go on vacation make sure you turn the unit off if you use the auto on, so the cleaning cycles at power up don't overfill your drip pan. This hasn't happened yet, but just be aware. This unit was purchased for use in the U.S. with a set up converter, and it works great with the stepup converter.My goals are to be able to make a good cup of coffee, reliability, with little maintenance and fuss. This unit accomplishes my goals. I looked at the Jura's too and liked the ability to have a removable brew group and easy access to it. I looked at the Delonghi's are are priced very well here in Germany vs the US, but they looked lessor quality, and I liked the anti-scale filter Philips uses as it does make it easier to maintain. The Delonghi Dinamica I tried produced a good, strong cup of coffee, but not strong, flavorful espresso. Apparently this is known with the brand. The Jura does not have the ease of customability as the Saeco. The screens on the Jura are already dated, the software is slow and cumbersome. The giga 6 made good, very strong esspresso, as it should with a 16g coffee dose. Jura doesn't give software updates either. Saeco is the opposite of all this. The Saeco is fun to use. I liked the ceramic grinders too on the Saeco models as they are more quite than the Delonghi, Jura also uses ceramic grinders.So this is a very well designed and made unit within its price point. Details like the baffles in the drip tray are great. it is a pass/fail for me and it comes down to the layout of the machine and the bins which I find very easy to use. The screen is also very nice, it's big and all settings are more or less right there. YOu don't have to click in and out of 5 different menus to make a drink. The way the bins slide forward is very easy to keep the machine under a cabinet. I can usually empty the bin and refill the water at the same time. I was going to run a water line to it, but the water tank is easy to use and holds a good amount of water, I am not sure if I will or not. Since the Xelsis are considered top of the line in Saeco, I do wish easily adding a water line and drain line were options.I am not a big milk drinker, so I like having the milk tube I can stick in a small cup to pull milk and run cleaning in, vs dealing with milk carafe. If you leave the milk tube on, it can obstruct water tank removal unless the coffee nozzle is all the way up (Jura's are the same way). There is no hose storage, so I leave mine disconnected, with the stick in the little holder and the tube pointing toward the rear. Cleaning the milk system is a very very easy and effective. The milk foam is also very good quality.Philips does a terrible job at the manual and the meanings of all the adjustments. Basically all the machines have the same adjustments but the names will change and the levels of adjustability may differ. When you switch beans it takes a couple of cups to either adjust the grind, or dial in the brew. I usually do this on the coffee drinks. We have had some delicious drinks, but I would find beans you like, and stick with them for a while, dial in all the drinks and this will give you a change to enjoy the machine vs dealing with new beans and watery drinks to get it dialed in.You need to be careful sliding the machine back and forth, the sides are not strong, and it is easy to grab the drip tray but the drip tray is not strong enough to with stand the weight of the machine, it may bend. Some furniture felt on the feet make this easy.Wifi/Software BugsThe wifi works fine after initial set up. My router is 20ft away and I had to pull it out from under the counter to get it to connect. After that it was fine. IDK why. I am in the US and there is a clock issue with the wifi, the wifi will change the clock, and throw off the auto-on timing. I just disconnect the wifi and there is no issue. All the software bugs reported earlier, prior to spring of 2023 have all been resolved (other than the clock and using the unit in the US). The screen is better than the higher end Gaggia Accademica 2022 version, so unless you need a steam wand, I would get the Xelsis and they have the same internals.Sound, it is not that loud and it is not that quite. I thought about putting some dense black vinyl panels or rubber on the outside or inside of the side panels which would make the unit very quite. The sound absolutely comes from the sides, and Saeco could have put insulation in the help it. Low hanging fruit.Cleaning is very easy, just rinse the brew once a week. After a month, the unit started to make a high pitch squeaking sound, it was the brew unit under pressure. I lubed it (plenty of videos online) and the sound went away.Philips is a big company who can't get out of their own way. There are many international websites between Saeco, Philips, and Gaggia and it is hard to get questions answered as their tier one help is useless. They got rid of Saeco support and not yo have to deal with teir1 support who will email the superautomatic group. That takes a week to get a half assed answer back. Gaggia support has the same issues. Philips took a older Saeco unit, updated it and made it the new Gaggia Academia which has cup warmers and a milk frothing wand, cosmetics asid, the only other difference is you can adjust the settings during the brew cycle, which you can't now on the current Xelsis but could with older ones. The old Xelsis had a cup warmer too. The Gaggia line has far better documentations, and the wand makes it so you can really have a hot milk drink if you like that.Value - The 2020 model of the Xelsis sells in the US for $1700usd, it has a 3" screen and the price is ridiculous. So buying this newer version for 1k euro (on sale) is value. If I look at the 1k euro price over other machines, If you can get these on sale, there is value. There is value in the wifi too, as getting software updates and drink recipes is a lot of fun. It gives you a feeling of investment, vs with Jura, you buy a machine, and that is it, it is already dated.The Xelsis should have a cup warmer, they cheaped out by not having a cup warmer and I hate them for that, missed opportunity and it creates a problem of preheating cups now. I don't want to have USB cup warmers on the counter. i don't want to have to microwave water or anything like that. I keep the house cold in the winter time, so this is a frustrating point for me. Even if they offered a cup warmer as a aftermarket part. If the Supreme had a cup holder, I would have gone with the Supreme easily. It just seems that Saeco isn't thinking and subsequently cannibalizing their own Saeco product line and the design of the Xelsis, again for guys like me who don't want a carafe. Without actually using the GranAroma Deluxe, I would consider that for 800euro (onsale), especially if you are handy an can install water filler to off set a smaller water tank. For the 200euro difference between the Xelsis Deluxe and the GranAroma Deluxe you are basically just getting a larger foot print machine and thats about it. The extra space goes to water tank, bin, and not having a cup warmer. the 400 euro difference between the Grand Aroma Deluxe and the Xelsis Supreme goes to the larger foot print, larger bins, 7" vs 5" screen (basically the same software), and the metal sides. I personally don't get it and think people should get more for their money. Saeco could easly take customers away from Jura. Since the software is basically the same across the three Saeco models, the build quality is the same, drink quality the same, and since these don't last forever I'd get the one you can get at the best price. Or get two, one for decaf! If only there way a way to swap in a different hopper for decaf coffee. I did not try the ground coffee bipass chute.This unit accomplishes my goals. Does it make me think things could be better or I left money on the table? It does. Do I think spending another 700 euro for the Giggia Academia would make me feel better, probably not especially since I have to deal with a Carafe. If I was making a machine, i would want to try to make the best machine I could in a price range. Seems like Saeco missed some opportunity within it's product line buy not making the Suprema version with a cup warmer.

Sehr schade, ich hatte das Gefühl das der Saeco Gran Aroma ein Rückläufer war. Kartonlaschen waren schon leicht eingerissen und beim auspacken hatte ich plötzlich feuchte Hände weil im Gerät wohl irgendwo Wasser war. Das Netzkabel war wohl auch schon mal im Gebrauch. Wenn ich Neu bestelle möchte ich auch neu haben, aber damit hätte ich ja noch Leben können. Leider war nicht möglich ein Milch Getränk zu erstellen wie einen Latte Macchiato oder Cappuccino. Es war überhaupt nicht möglich etwas Milch schaumiges zu erstellen. Das ist sehr schade, weil der Saeco Gran Aroma mich in der Haptik sowohl auch in der Optik angesprochen hat.Aber das hier geht gar nicht .... das Gerät geht zurück... ich kaufe nun doch eine Jura E8, auch wenn das etwas mehr kostet.Auch Interessant - ich habe den Versicherungsschutz Assurant für 3 weitere Jahre abgeschlossen, welchen ich wenn ich das Gerät zurück gebe, ja nicht mehr brauche. Weil es eine extra Bestellung war musste ich diesen nun auch unter Bestellungen zurück geben, dafür habe ich nun von Amazon ein Rücksendeetikett bekommen, soll ich der Sendung beilegen. Aber nicht der Saeco ..... ist ja ein extra Artikel... wie macht man das jetzt???

Can only say wonderful about this coffee machine!I read the Amazon Reviews the good and the bad ones.When you read the bad, it can scare anyone, the reality is not always this and take into account the quantity of people that had no issues, and a small margin had issues that lead to returns.Do not only read the Amazon Reviews, search the web for movies/reading about reviews, its time consuming.To the people that had bad luck, machines with defects is a general that affects SAECO as Others, its a pure bad luck and it can happen on ANY BRAND or device, if you read the reviews on the other brands the same similar situations happened.Unbox:Clean the machine open the tanks and the side door and wash all with simple tap water, fill the water filter (proceder on the manual remove air from inside the filter by sinking it on water) and put it inside the water tank, fill the water tank. Remove the stickers, connect the power, Done! with manual tasks.Configuration:The machine on the first start will make noise, do not worry its the filling of the water, the pump will make a bit of noise when pulling the water and filling up the internal tubbing. After that its just fine, extremely quiet in comparation with many other i had along the years.Follow the manual, water harness test and so on.Configure WIFI, your account and so on on the machine, and last do the upgrade.If you have issues on detecting the WIFI, I did had for 5m a issue on detecting the wifi, i have b/g/n/ax it was not detecting, I simply notice that is the last channel 13 - (1/13 channels) i change it to 6 and immediately connected. The Name of the WIFI in terms of length or complexity is not a issue and the same applies to the password.Firmware UpgradeAfter you have your account register, the update will pop up, go ahead and start - expect 1-2 Hours just let it do the work, don't touch the screen.On the first reboot it will ask you to configure all again, but no worry, your preferences and account remain, just next next, on the "account config again" ignore it, don't try to configure it.When you enter on the normal operation all is fine, your account and preferences are all defined.To the ones doing the firmware upgrade, have patience it takes 1-2 hours, all is fine after reboot.The problem on the firmware upgrade is the time it takes, people/users "usually" lose patience and "Turn Off" the machine during the process thinking it hanged.It's a "Machine", simply beautiful, easy to use configure, highly intuitive system and State of the Art technology, the smaller screen of Xelsis Deluxe is a pleasure, the coffee options is like Wow - you will need to try the full menu of coffees and extra drinks. Ceramic grinder is State of the art in terms of durability and performance in comparation with stainless steel blades. The grinder is quieter and fast, don't forget to configure the coffee grain for optimal coffee.One note: The the better model Xelsis Suprema with bigger screen, does not bring any adicional functionality, its only a bigger screen. Does not justify the cost in my opinion, Xelsis Deluxe has the same interface and functionalities only on a smaller screen that is the right size.Advise going for SM8785/00, its Stainless Steal Natural, the rest is plastics.For the Price(Amazon 888€)/Quality/Features it will be extremely hard to get in 2022 a better deal, this is on a midle-high Range segment.