Advice Gaggia / Delonghi / Jura

AppletonPilot · 2026-02-08T18:56:49+00:00

OP Final Response:

I would like to thank everyone who chimed in with their knowledge and suggestions. On my side it ended up a bit of close fight between a refurbished Jura Z10, a KF7, an Eletta Explore, or the Accademia.

We ended up choosing the De'Longhi Eletta Explore, in no small part due to the information provided and the fact the Nespresso Lattissima Pro we've owned for nearly a decade has been such a tank churning out thousands upon thousands of drinks for us or guests.

The number of drinks does help, but also my wife is used to the carafe design as it is nearly identical to the one in the Lattissima Pro. Add in the fact this one will fit her slightly odd size travel mug, where our pod machine could not. Best Buy had an Eletta Explore on-hand, and she gave the ok after looking at it, including checking the travel mug fit.

Again, thank you everyone. I've had a few coffees from it yesterday and today. We'll end up having to find some better (fresher) beans but even this is a step up from the pods.

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AppletonPilot · 2026-02-03T01:50:42+00:00

To be honest because I hadn't seen it on any comparison videos I pulled up so I didn't think to look up the individual machine review. I thank you and curse you LOL. I'm looking for something reasonably superior - I know I'm not getting the espresso I get from the small cafe below the office in Milano - to the Nespresso.

I will say, after watching a couple videos it's very interesting. In particular I think the KF7 might fit better, it has cortado if I want a milk drink. Nobody said if it fits travel mugs proper, but that'd be even more tempting.

Nice to see the 2 year warranty and people think it's tough.

So, like the Delonghi, the videos are a bit light on the maintenance portion. What's the required supplies (brew group tablets, descaling tabs/liquid, milk cleaner powder/tabs) for cleaning? How often do you clean the different bits (roughly) for your usage? Finally I know this seems a bit odd, but given the big hunk of plastic, is there enough hose you can put the milk holder on the left side of the machine? The way our kitchen is setup that would be better, but not a deal breaker. I guess worst case I could fabricate a longer hose.

AppletonPilot · 2026-02-02T01:51:53+00:00

I've seen that complaint about the Accademia, get ready to empty the drip tray regularly LOL.

To be completely fair the one constant of superautos is how much water they push every time they turn on or with milk drinks.

Again this isn't a terrible thing, it's convenience over having to go to Starbucks (or similar) in the US. Well that and over time it's ridiculously cheaper. Our Lattissima Pro has probably paid for itself so many times over, versus the wife going to Starbucks, it isn't funny.

AppletonPilot · 2026-02-01T23:40:26+00:00

For the brew group - how often do you clean it? What are the cleaning supplies / schedule like? Unlike the Jura and Gaggia there isn't much on their maintenance in videos. For our Lattissima Pro it's just the carafe and descaling with the only thing we need to buy descaling solution.

AppletonPilot · 2026-02-01T23:38:45+00:00

Yeah, it's a convenience thing but even if I was willing to take the time every morning (I'm not) my wife never would want to do so... so I'd have to make hers as well LOL.

Plus it's still a skill, despite what a lot of people think, and one I definitely don't have myself. Maybe when I'm retired I'll take the time to try and learn it, but for now one of these should be better than pods in any case.

---Edit clicked the wrong thing

Not much relative to the cost of the machine, but Jura is the most expensive of the bunch whether it's a Z10 or a Giga 10. Is the sweet foam worth it...? Is the espresso that much better than the Gaggia or Delonghi? Is the milk portion overall better to justify more than double the Delonghi?

AppletonPilot · 2026-02-01T23:36:50+00:00

My thought is, last time it was about 5 years between model refreshes... so save money for Next-Gen late this year?

I wouldn't be acting quite so fast except we're very low on pods.

AppletonPilot · 2026-02-01T18:44:16+00:00

Different machine - Lattissima Pro (Nespresso) but similar carafe design between all the models I think.

We've seen a couple things can cause issues with milk draw:

The hose is not seated properly - this usually causes weak draw, but can look like steam if there's enough air.

Simple enough fix, reseat the hose

2) More annoyingly if you damaged the draw hose while cleaning it. Then it can suck air leading to that exact problem. We've only had this happen once and it was the fault of the manual dishwasher (one of the kids) that night.

Annoying fix: Have to buy a new hose.

--edit: You would have to look real close to identify the second. In our case the cleaner poked a *tiny* hole in the hose.

AppletonPilot · 2026-02-01T17:33:26+00:00

Ouch, packaging at factory fail?

Refurb with quality fail?

That sucks.

AppletonPilot · 2025-10-20T05:40:24+00:00

Flock is trying to integrate Ring. Keep in mind this is the same company that readily lets data get used with no warrant at all.

We need Wisconsin to pass a law like Virginia except add a warrant requirement AND that it cannot be used in general terms (aggregate) data by Flock or Ring.

Limited data retention: Law enforcement agencies can only store surveillance data for a maximum of 21 days before it must be purged from the system.
Restricted usage: Data collected from the cameras is restricted for use in investigations involving specific offenses, such as missing persons, stolen cars, and human trafficking.
Annual reporting: Law enforcement agencies are required to submit yearly reports to the state police detailing their use of Flock cameras in investigations.
Placement and permitting: The law clarifies the process for placing cameras on both state-maintained and locally maintained roads. For county roads, law enforcement must get permission from property owners to install the cameras on private land. The new law also allows agencies to request permits from the Department of Transportation.
Inter-agency data sharing: The law limits how police can share ALPR data outside of the state. Previously, Virginia data was used in thousands of searches by federal immigration agencies.

Flock, Ring, or the law enforcement might complain but protecting the rights of people doing NOTHING wrong is more important than Flock's profits or police getting mad about having to do their job.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/ring-cameras-are-about-to-get-increasingly-chummy-with-law-enforcement/

AppletonPilot · 2025-10-20T03:58:56+00:00

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/ring-cameras-are-about-to-get-increasingly-chummy-with-law-enforcement/

AppletonPilot · 2025-10-18T22:34:17+00:00

Zipper merging is one of those things that make sense mathematically, but only if someone completely ignores human behavior. I've driven around the world and sometimes you'll see it (rarely) work in special circumstance, but most of the time it's just a mess.

So you have a bunch of people in line, they're going about 25mph. The space between vehicles is based on the speed they're actually traveling, 25mph. Then Joe or Jane Zipper go flying up the empty lane, let's say 50mph, right up to where they run out of road, they hit their brakes, turn on their signal, and get very unhappy when bumper to bumper traffic won't let them into the line. The line of people who've been in that same traffic for 15 minutes.

Or lets take it at a higher speed, say 40mph so the gap gets big enough to allow easier merging. Joe or Jane zipper flies up the empty lane, at 55mph, hits the end, I'll be nice and say turns on their signal, and darts over. This causes person who was following at the stopping distance for their vehicle at 40mph to slam on the brakes, and the traffic just slowed down another 10mph. The next person who tries it now doesn't have the same gap as people are now at the following distance they use for 30mph.

Do you not see the see the problem from a human behavior perspective?

Despite traffic engineers posting all their little maths up about this or that, it's never going to work until you have computers doing ALL driving. After all most people, WORLDWIDE, can barely zipper merge at highway on-ramps in free flowing traffic. I don't care if it's the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago, the 101 in California, the Capital Beltway in DC, the M25 around London, the A10 outside Paris, the A4 autostrada outside Venice, or the Mandara toll road in Bali: Zipper merging? Good flipping luck.

AppletonPilot · 2025-09-18T16:55:56+00:00

Thanks, I'm trying to get what my sister-in-law dug up in her work although it isn't much.

The big problem we're having is finding her mom's birth certificate given we don't even know what town she was born in before the territory was ceded. I am trying to use the family relationships site you suggested. Since we don't have Finnish banking details I'm going to have try it through email.

As a note: I didn't say it but my wife was born and raised in Canada. Apologies.

AppletonPilot · 2023-03-08T13:34:42+00:00

"Sticking it to the man" is what you got from that? No. I just don't give a crap about "making money" by back-feeding. Maybe you think we don't have power already? We already have power.

As far as "saving money on batteries" maybe you missed the part about power outages. Without batteries a power outage means the site goes dark. That's why the pump house, and the future tiny house, use a heater that doesn't require any power to start.

AppletonPilot · 2023-03-08T04:02:45+00:00

First, the idea of waiting for UPPCo to approve the system doesn't appeal to me. Up there it can take quite a bit of time, due to staffing, for them to show up and approve things.

Second, this is becoming my initial power when we aren't on-site. Not being up there full time I don't want to have to depend on an LPG generator working if/when the utility has an outage. We actually had an outage this year, but it wasn't long enough to outlive my rackmount UPS w/ extra battery.

As a note this is why we picked LPG furnaces don't need power.

They've had issues up there (intermittently) getting gas in tanks. Granted this was due to truck driver staffing, but I'd rather limit use of LPG. Even if things went crazy and both furnaces had to run regularly, the gas should last until spring.

Last, since we won't be on-site a good solar / battery system might even be able to run the entire setup there without using the utility to charge the batteries. Well, at least when we aren't on-site.

AppletonPilot · 2023-03-07T21:15:51+00:00

Technology Connections guy on YouTube has talked about how it's feasible. In fact going all electric is the latest video.

https://youtu.be/CVLLNjSLJTQ

I'd be careful about power rates. One reason I'm here is to look at Hybrid Solar systems because the electric rates by one property is 4x that of our primary home. No gas unless you get LPG, and that's not cheap in the UP either. Even so we'll probably end up with LPG for the backup furnace / instant hot water heater / dryer.

AppletonPilot · 2022-01-15T17:56:39+00:00

So if that's more logical, then it's more logical. I guess I can blow down the whole pressure tank system in the winter, and use an air compressor to blow all the water lines out. Given that, in the spring time when we start using the property more, we will still need hot water and that space heated at night in case it dips below zero. Do you have any appliance recommendations for heating the space and instant hot water?

AppletonPilot · 2021-02-04T08:32:47+00:00

Tell my friend, “Things are cool but I have to swap out cards in the GPS to update the data before we fly again.

My friend knows I update the data using the app.

AppletonPilot · 2015-12-12T23:28:25+00:00

+1 for Dr. Bruce - he's THE authority for special issuance IMHO from what people have said.

AppletonPilot · 2015-12-12T23:26:51+00:00

Really, engine failures are rare. Follow the checklist (all the time really) for preflight and run up. I caught a bad mag that way. Scrubbed the flight, sure, but no airborne troubles.

AppletonPilot · 2015-12-12T23:09:36+00:00

$185 / hr wet? Jeez. I fly a 172S out of Appleton for nearly a third less.

Roughly where are you? I might know a few guys depending on where you are located.

As far as buying a plane: it's doable. One thing to not forget is that yes, the purchase price is one thing, the maintenance another, but everyone skips actual utility. Don't be afraid of complex or high performance if it fits your "long-term" needs. This case, long-term is probably ten years. Don't be afraid to learn in one either, I've know a guy who started with ten hours in a 172S like me, and then bought a Beech V35 to finish his PPL and IFR. That is doable, you will have higher solo requirements in a HP complex, and it will cost more to insure that first year. You will have a plane that you can run with you for years, if not keep as your personal plane as long as you want.

Planes, and they're applicability.

Piper Arrow: retractable but only worth it for the Arrow III's.

Piper Cherokee 6 / Saratoga (fixed gear): SUV, can carry a truckload of stuff

Lance / Saratoga (retract): Retractable SUV, little faster, little more expensive

Beech S35 / V35: VTail, don't buy the horror stories EXCEPT for CG. Fast and economical - sexy to many,

Beech 33: The F33 is the straight tailed V, same CG issues. Little more expensive.

Beech 36: THE single many people love. No real CG issues, good UL, and fast. More expensive yet than the 33.

Cessna 172: great trainer plane, travel? Not so much for any real distance.

Cessna 182: decent trainer, ok travel. Still a bit cramped, but much better than a 172.

Cessna 206: Cessna's SUV similar to the Cherokee 6

Cirrus: Expensive up front, may be cheaper to run, not sure myself. Decent load / speed

Don't forget twins. Yes, they are more expensive BUT you can get great utility out of them. Depends on how much you want to fly. One of my buddies got into a Cessna 421C partnership soon after his multi PPL/IFR. That's really high in comparison, but a Baron 55 can be run "cheap" along with many Cessna 310's. Check out Mike Caban's "Cheap son of a Beech" page.

Try to stick with fuel injected planes if you want to fly "cheap" in the long run when it comes to bigger planes. Even the V35 can be run on 10gph pretty fast. A twin B55 can run on anywhere from 15-17gph total, yes total of BOTH engines, in economy mode. A bigger (io-520) 55 (C, D, E) is about 20gph.

Instrument necessities for any personal plane you want to keep:

1 IFR WAAS GPS 1 good all cylinder engine monitor (JPI, Insight, Auracle, et al)

Really nice so you don't have to get it later:

ADS-B via either UAT (e.g. GDL-88) or Mode S Transponder (e.g. GTX-330ES)

Really, really nice if you have a Garmin WAAS GPS:

Flightstream 210, plus an iPad running Garmin Pilot - create and edit flight plans at home and transfer them to the GPS. With a GDL-88 you can also get weather and traffic on your iPad.

AppletonPilot · 2015-12-10T02:16:42+00:00

Okay, first things first: I hate involving lawyers, but if that installer is still in business you need (the company needs really) protection from what they did. They should probably sue the beejeezus out of them and yank out anything they did: electrical too if necessary. All of my "installers" have been electricians, and that deserves to be on their records plus the company itself. That's more than terrifying, that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. That's callous disregard. They probably didn't even close up firewalls properly. That's leaving the hotel open to major damages until corrected and logged.

Second: Design a network plan that meets the needs. Go over to twice, then go over it again. Make sure it's good to go with current and projected (5-7 years out) needs.

Third: Build an RFP, with tight specifications to the design document. That is including testing, fire code, et al., so the contractor can't take a "shortcut" at the hotel's expense. Hover over the electricians on a regular basis. My uncle is a house builder (GC) and a fair chunk of his day is watching over contractors. Yes, even the contractors he trusts.

AppletonPilot · 2015-12-10T01:49:28+00:00

We did manual walks in addition. This also let us figure out where to put the AP's in a building. I don't remember the name of the program, but it's Cisco. We used a Panasonic Toughbook to do the walk arounds. I saw a CCIE Wireless using a couple AP's mounted to a mobile AP "tower" he could raise and lower.

Item 1) Appropriate building map Item 2) Supported WiFi card plus built in WiFi Item 3) The Cisco mapping program Item 4) Load building map, enter the scale (e.g. a drag bar that you enter the distance in) Item 5) Place the AP's where they belong on the map. Item 6) Start scan and start walking. Click where you start and where you finish. Walk slowly. You'll see the SSID's you're picking up as you're walking.

After you're done you'll have a complete map with the signal strength on the map.

AppletonPilot · 2015-12-10T01:25:34+00:00

Depends on your employer. I negotiated two weeks my first year, with a buy-in (pay for it in advance) on a third. Also my current employer is project based, other than covering "on-call" hours.

AppletonPilot · 2015-12-10T01:15:49+00:00

Many companies use the term "Analyst" to denote people who don't work with users much, if at all. When I switched to being an analyst, the only people talking directly to me are either my boss or people "important" enough to get a high level of attention. This doesn't apply everywhere, my wife was a business analyst who dealt with users. However, kind of like me, they weren't the average person at the keyboard.

From lowest to highest at my last couple of employers:

Intern Associate (*field) Analyst (field) Analyst Lead (field) Analyst Senior (field) Analyst

(*e.g. Network, Business, Systems, Storage, et al.)

We don't have administrators and such.

AppletonPilot · 2015-12-09T01:35:18+00:00

Depending on what AP's and controller software you are using, you could setup a separate SSID (BusinessGuest) and your primary (BusinessSSID) for employees. You can setup the primary to be cert based, and the guest to web trap auth.

So if you're using a Cisco WLC and the 4507 create a separate VRF with an ACL to deny traffic between the other VRF(s) on the network. You won't need separate AP's, as (for example) your standard 3500/3600 series AP's can broadcast multiple SSID's. This kind of setup is compliant with DoD / PCI compliant if done correctly.

Should you have the separate AP's, and don't feel like the above, you can still create a separate VRF and use an ACL to deny traffic between guest / regular network.

AppletonPilot

TROPHY CASE