Steel DUO PID V2

I've had my Ascaso Steel Duo PID v2 for nearly 3 years. Loads of plus points - the 2 biggest for me being the small footprint/height being ideal for my kitchen top with overhead cupboards and being able to take the water tank out from the side means I don't have to move the machine. Biggest annoyance (and it is a minor one overall) is as someone else has mentioned is the short steam arm. I have adjusted my technique to accomodate. A small price to pay to get a beautiful and functional machine in such a small body. It has gone up significantly in price since I purchased mine new. I also think thermoblocks are the future, at least for home machines. So much more energy efficient and ready to use within 5 minutes of switching on.

I am a big fan of the Ascaso steel duo Plus it ist around 2K. Dual thermoblock ready and stable temperatur in 5 minutes. Does have a hot watertap to heat up your cjp when your a bit in a hurry. For me it is the perfect Espressomachine specialy because it fits my Workflow perfectly. The non plus variant is around 1800.-

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.