Steel DUO PID V2

Ascaso steel duo PID v2 here and for the most part I really enjoy it. Household of 3 and 2 drinks a day for sure sometimes 5 throughout the day and no issues when scattered. Consecutive shots are the problem. From what I have gathered consecutive shots cause the group head to get hotter and hotter causing shots to pull faster and faster. They become sour and thinner. This isn't a frequent occurrence but 2 weekends out of the month we pull 3 shots consecutively or would. Because of this volumetrics are not used. I prefer to manually control the shot any how. Steaming is fine, no issues. The reported noise in my opinion is minute. For the most part it's pretty solid but I am considering the Lelit Elizabeth. I just prefer to know that each shot will be very similar to the previous. I don't want to think about it and how to adjust . For the use you described it should be great. Good luck.

Ascaso steel duo PID. You will be surprised with some of the best floating around in Facebook marketplace. It goes quick though.

I’ve had a duo pid v2 for 3 years and I’ve never had any problems with it. I really love the machine. In my opinion the only reason to go e61 is vanity. Buy you like what you like. I would look into the Mara a little more because I was considering it years ago too and if I remember right it would be hard to do back to back milk drinks because of the settings you need to select brew priority vs steam priority.

And on the other hand, I've had my Steel Duo PID v2 for 2+ years at this point: no issues except that the steam wand oring seems to need replacement (I get a drop here and there once a week) which isn't suprising for multiple usages per day.

Agreed, even as a very happy owner of an Ascaso Duo PID v2. The Bambino Plus is at a killer price point especially in NA (it's around 500 euros in EU, so a tad less interesting), doesn't get much better for an entry machine.

I've been using the Steel Duo PID for about 6 months now. It is volumetric, which doesn't *quite* work but once you get your beans dialed in, you can expect roughly the same results every time. It's dual boiler, heats up super fast and has treated me well thus far! Good looking machine, too.

Ascaso Steel Uno for fast heat up (or the Duo if you can stretch the budget a bit)  The Specialita should be good 👍🏻  Also Mahlkonig grinders are known for their build quality, so maybe check out the X54. 

having used both, the duo is easily twice as good as the bambino.

I really would say away from the Smeg for the sole reason that they've had such bad QA over the years, have a high repair rate, high failure rate, and you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on something that doesn't last. For <$1,000 I've found myself consistently recommending my clients look at the following 3: \-Gaggia Classic Pro E24 \-Breville Bambino Plus \-Ascaso Steel Duo PID (A bit over your budget but take a look) The Breville Barista Pro is what I personally use and it's convenient for me, I'm not an espresso pro by any stretch of the imagination but I find that I wish it was a little more basic. If that makes sense? The LED screen is nice and all but I don't need it and it's just 1 more thing that could potentially fail. It works for me, it gets the job done, I found it at one of the TJX stores for $499 so I happily purchased it at that price, but I find myself now wishing I had went with one of the legit dedicated machines like the Gaggia or Ascaso. One day... Happy to answer any more questions.