Gaggia Classic Pro E24 Espresso Machine

Lovely Machine

BBE to Gaggia, mostly happy so far

My review is from the perspective of someone who just owned a Breville Barista Express for 5 years. Most things about the Gaggia are as good or a bit better and overall I am happy and could recommend the machine. I appreciate the more compact size, the simplicity, and the repair-ability (I had to take apart my BBE 3 times and it was always a half day or more affair). The steam is powerful, and although isn't ready as fast as the BBE I don't mind the extra 30 seconds or so. Plenty of aftermarket tools and mods. I only have a few minor concerns so far: the steam wand feels like a regression compared to the BBE, mostly because it only rotates in a circle and is not on a ball joint. I got really used to positioning it however I wanted and without that it feels limiting. Less important but strange is how tight the portafilter is in the grouphead. Again I am used to simply turning the portafilter until you hit a hard stop. In this machine, perhaps because of thermal expansion, I would have to torque the portafilter so hard to do that I feel like I'm breaking the machine, and there's nothing really to grab onto to get leverage, so I've resorted to going on feel and assuming it is tight enough without "locking it in place" all the way. Lastly, my pucks are not coming out of the basket cleanly or dry, whereas they always came out cleanly with my BBE. Could be user error but I've never had this issue before across many varieties of beans and grind size experiments. It's only be a couple weeks so maybe I can dial that in somehow. Right now I have to whack the portafilter so hard the basket comes out.

Very familiar, yet clearly improved

This replaced the same machine, purchased 11yrs ago, which I had nursed over the last year as various failures developed. We use the machine 3x per day to make a pain of espresso after each meal. The newer version is clearly better, mostly in small ways (the drip tray is much better, the steam wand ditto -- I had replaced the wand in the old machine with a Rancilio Silvia wand, but no need here), and of course the boiler is the major change. The new machine took all of 10mins to set up and after 2-3 espresso started producing nearly perfect shots. Very satisfied and looking forward to another dozen years of great espresso.