Isomac Venus

Great steaming = fast, good micro-foam, no burned milk, just a good experience etc ; Water reservoir capacity is superb ; Pressure gauge is very helpful ; Love the switches and lighting system ; Nice, large drip tray ; Cup warming tray is a nice...

Steep learning curve ; Steaming wand hard to clean ; After steaming, water comes out so hot that it can be out of control

Very good steam ; Consistently good coffee ; large drip tray

you have to purge the steam wand for 10-20 seconds to get rid of moisture before steaming milk

Looks, quality

A bit querky -- poorly transalated instruction manual is a GAS to read -- "counter clockwise" translated as "against the watch sense". After three years, the dripper spout broke off the espresso basket -- I now brew without it -- just fine thank you...

Aesthetics: It looks great on the kitchen counter ; Large boiler equals lots of steam ; Consistent shots when matched with a good grinder ; Excellent craftsmanship

Steep learning curve ; Requires a good grinder

Knockout looks, not sassy mind you, more like that red-headed German chick you used to date. you know..."Industrial ; Steamy and lots of it ; Solid feel, quality grouphead ; Large catch basin ; Able to pull 3-5 shots in rapid order, nice when serving...

Operation Manual is hopeless, even if you CAN read Italian ; Spent 3 months doing things wrong and getting inconsistent results due to lack of operating instructions (see my first point) ; Grouphead gasket has failed several times until I got a...

Venus is an extremely beautiful and weighty machine! Sturdy and rugged parts in a beautiful polished stainless steal case. Big resevoir for fresh water, and a large drip tray are part of what makes this a formidable presence on my coffee counter. The...

The pressure is at 12 bars and one of these days I'll have to get around to adjusting it down to between 8 and 10 (nice that it has a pressure gauge, so that I know what I'm dealing with...), so far I've compensated nicely with the grind setting. The...

The Venus produces consistently good espresso and foam. It is so very good to the point of making me wonder what the more expensive machines do compared to the Venus

For best results, I have found turning the machine on about 7-10 minutes prior to drawing and foaming raises the water tempature to the level necessary for brewing

Very nice to look at. Large drip tray. Large clearance between portafilter spouts and drip tray. Toggle switches are solid and feel good in the hand. Pressure gauge is handy. Large water tank. Included water softener. Braided metal hoses. 3 way...

Sharp edges in some areas. Rattles. Drippy steam wand. Pressure way too high out of box. Poor packing materials. Steel used for cup warmer/lid of a much lower quality than rest of the machine

Beautiful Machine ; Nice heavy duty portafilter ; Quick warmup ; Decent steam capacity

(Lack of automatic filling of boiler) - Removed 05.04.05 ; Acorn nut on steam valve gets really hot ; Rattles a ton when pulling a shot ; Lots of water needs to be bled from the steam wand before getting dry steam - Added 05.04.05

Unbeatable aesthetics. A conversation starter. Blends perfectly with my steel, glass, and wire Scandinavian style office environment ; Pulls amazingly consistent shots once you properly dial in your grinder ; Solid portafilter

The double spout spreads the pour wider than my cup can accomodate. Luckily the single spout from Chris Coffee was a good fix