Compatto (Stretta) 0820

Quick Mill 820. New around 350-400 euro. Secondhand 75-125 euro. Warms up quick, easy to maintain, easy to self-repair. https://preview.redd.it/5izuz7gnetog1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45f0185610befa8c3e4753e26ea55d41dc586ff2 That's what I used before I got a La Pavoni Professional lever machine.

Hobby new model yes. Before 2014 no, as it has the 57mm. New one is 58mm. Internals are very similar. I own a hobby and love it. Gooooooood internals. I preffer my hobby more than my new quickmill stretta 820.

For that budget I'd seriously consider looking for used machines, then buy something like a DF54 to go along with it. Marktplaats has tons of machines available at any given time, things like Gaggia Classics, Rancilio Silvias and Quick Mill 820 and 3000 are always quite available. You'll need to inform yourself what to watch out for for any given machine, but that's quite manageable. Accesories are also much cheaper second hand (sometimes people sell them with their machines), and it's not exactly like a knock box or tamper will deteriorate a lot over time

I used to have one. Really quite liked its simplicity, design and durability, and it really was able to produce some very nice coffee, but its pretty bad temperature instability and lack of upgrade options eventually led me to get rid of it. In terms of smaller old-school-looking Italian machines with plentiful color options, a Gaggia Classic E24? More available where you are, you still get a bunch of the same advantages (fast heatup, small footprint, repairability and simplicity), plethora of upgrade options should you ever feel the need

Chris Coffee for Quick Mill, they are great! Clive Coffee for Profitec. Clive also sells Lucca Tempo which is rebranded Pop Up.

I started out with a Quick Mill, but quickly found that machines using the E61 brew group are a class apart. I have been using a pre-owned Isomac Millennium together with a Bezzerra BZ05 coffeegrinder for at least 7 years now, love them both :-)