Philips - 5400 Series Fully Automatic Espresso Machine with LatteGo (EP5447/94, EP5447/90)

I think there is a pretty notable difference. I went from a Philips 5400 (same machine as the 3200/3300 just fancier features) to a using my brother in laws Delonghi Dinamica Plus pretty regularly, to the KitcheAid KF8 we have now and I would say every one of them was a noticeable jump in quality even though we drink milk drinks 90%+ of the time. The real question I think is if the KF8 is 50% better than the Philips since that is about the price difference and personally I think so, but I’d wager that most people would find it to fall in the diminishing returns category.

So you prefer the Kf8? I currently have a Philips Lattego Go 5400, but it has been having some issues lately. However, I also mainly drink black coffee.

I have a Phillips 5400 and now looking so the jet. Can you tell me the main benefits in your experience

I bought my wife a Philips lattego 5400, we've had it since 2020 and it's still going strong. Total drinks made is 5000ish. Good beans, good milk, good coffee!

I can second this. We had a Phillips 5400 series and it was fine. It recently broke (which happens, no big deal, still under warranty) and replaced it with a DeLonghi Dinamica and they’re not comparable. The Dinamica is a more capable machine but the coffee is much smoother in the Dinamica. I agree that the Phillips was quite watery.

If it's your first machine, you may never notice the difference. If you're asking for a recommendation based on 20 years of experience with superautomatics, including 2 years with a 5400, I can not recommend it. It creates subpar espresso, and it is a nightmare to maintain. Go with a Delonghi, much better machine within the same price range.

Good point about the beans. One thing I noticed is that the Philips is very forgiving in terms of the types of beans, basically, due the fact that it's not capable of grinding fine enough and the brew unit self adjusting to avoid it from jamming, resulting in a weak under extracted shot. That was my biggest gripe, as no matter what I did, I was never able to make a strong, full-bodied shot with thick crema. Something that the Delonghi can do very easily and very well.

If you just like Americano, a simple espresso machine can be enough if you already have a grinder (as long as it can grind fine enough for espresso) as you suggest. Trouble with a lot of bean to cup machines is you can't get a good dose. You'd want 15-18g of coffee for a 250-300ml americano and a lot of machines top out at 8-10g. So whatever you buy keep an eye on that. My wife likes Americano and I just boil the kettle, fire an espresso (18g coffee making 40g espresso) out from my espresso machine then top up from the kettle. It's super nice. I had a Philips 5400 bean-to-cup for a long time and while good, the coffee it could make was super weak compared to the basic method I mention above. Those bean-to-cups often don't grind very fine, nor have a sufficient dose like I said. So you can't get espresso and you don't get great extraction. But....one button & zero faff so I get you. Just throwing out other ideas :)

Forgive my 1-handed toilet typing. I really love my Philips 4300 lattego. The lattego carafe is by far the easiest milk frother to clean. I got it for $550 USD refurbished with a 90 day guarantee by Amazon prime/Seattle coffee gear. I also purchased a gaggia cadorna prestige, and a Philips 5400 to test side by side. Ultimately, the 4300 made the best shots and was the easiest to maintain:) I just took it to a house party and everyone loved their drinks. I even dialed in some decaf with my Rancilio rocky and used the bypass. Still going strong and cleaning is a breeze.

I’ve had the Phillips latte go 5400 and it is indeed extremely easy and perhaps the best out there in terms of maintenance for the milk system, but the espresso it produces and in particular, the milk quality it produces, is not good at all. Like you, I considered the Jura, but having to use tablets after cleaning the milk system every day will be rather tiresome as there are many days when I think I’m done and won’t have another coffee drink with milk, but then I end up having one more. The next option is the DeLonghi and the one that I got is the Eletta explore. The espresso is very good on this machine and the milk quality is also very good and very easy to clean. You simply turn a knob and it rinses it out and then you need to clean the milk container every couple of days with a simple rinse. The last one is the KitchenAid KF8, which I also have and I find I like this one the best. The espresso it produces is also very good and while you cannot manually adjust the milk frothing it does change, depending upon the drink that you have selected. As for cleaning, it’s not quite a simple as the DeLonghi because you do have to move the hose from the milk container into the base of the machine, but after that, all you have to do is press one button and walk away.

I had mine (5400) for about 3.5 years. Absolutely zero quality issues and cleaned pretty regularly (not as often as suggested, but every two weeks). I loved the precise controls for volume in oz or ml (vs Delonghi small / medium / large sizing) and the quick double shot button. However, if you know good espresso, this is pretty weak. But my major complaint had to do with the frother. No control so every milk drink was like a cappuccino, even for a latte. Yes, easy to clean, but rather poor quality milk texture b

The milk system is easy to clean. Press a button and it cleans the milk system. Then clean the milk carafe every few days

Do you want to make mostly milky drinks? I have a breville pro. Had a ascaso dual steel. Also have a philips lattego 5400. The philips gets you 85 percent of the taste of a e61 group head. It's ridiculous easy. If you don't want a Hassle the lattego is a no-brainer.