The piston issue has now been sorted. The first design broke all the time. I know this because I'm now on my 4th. But since they redesigned the piston with a much thicker base, it hasn't been an issue. I use mine twice a day, every day, and since getting the new designed piston everything has been fine.
The creaking sound isn't coming from the frame. It's coming from the friction inside the piston. I changed from black bands on the piston to red ones, and not one creak since.
Coffee is an expensive hobby. People here buy hand grinders for beans that are more than your machine budget. If i had 15k i would just get a 5k manual grinder like timemore c3 or izpresso q air and 10k on flair neo flex. If i was tilted more towards black filter style coffee i would just get a hario v60, gooseneck kettle and a manual grinder
Flair neo is just 13k. 26k is I believe is the standard or pro.
One thing about flairs is, they offer the best espresso in their respective price range but comes with the cost of preheating and slow process in case pulling back to back shots.
If you only do espresso consider looking at flair espresso machine or cafelat robot. They are manual press espresso machines. They make incredible espresso. Better than thousands of dollar machines. It just takes a bit of time to figure out the nuances of how to use them. But there is something super satisfying to the manual approach.
AndyGait
