Legato Espresso Machine

No one has said it yet so I’ll post what you’ll most likely find in your search: -Espresso: Turin legato v2 has all the benefits of a dual boiler, OPV and PED temp control at ~$500. Makes great espresso and quick milk drinks. I’m very happy with my v1 + OPV. Cons; it’s kind of ugly/simple compared to a profitec Go -Grinder: Timemore 064S for when you ultimately get into pour overs as well. Both Lance and James have YouTube reviews of this grinder. you’ll still have $500 leftover for accessories and beans.

$1560 seems well above entry level when the bambino plus, Turin legato, Lelit Ana and Gaggia Classic can all be had for $600 or less. A nice entry level grinder doesn’t cost $1k. I guess it kinda depends on your definition of “entry level” but I think you should be saving money in the first 10 or so months, even adding in the cost of beans and some fun accesories.

Turin Legato - $479 Turin D54 - $215 That's a bit over your budget, but that's been my setup for the past year and I've been really happy with it. If you swap the Breville Bambino ($299) for the Legato, you'd come in pretty close to $500. One of the downsides to the Breville is that it uses a different size for all its tools: 54mm. So that's your portafilter and tamper at a minimum. But if you want a puck screen or a grounds distributor tool, those will have to be 54mm as well. Oh, and the D54 dosing cup won't fit into that size portafilter. But if you get a machine that uses the commercial standard size ("E61" which is 58mm) then you can keep all your tools if/when you upgrade your machine. The Turin Legato, the Gaggia Classic and the Rancilio Silvia are the entry-level machines that have E61-size groupheads.

I started on the Turin Legato and do recommend that. Wish I kept it as I have problems with 2 bought since.

I like the Turin Legato