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Permalink Reply by Brady on June 3, 2011 at 7:47pm

Way, way too expensive... though your market may be a little different than the lower 48.

 

Around here, very few 11-year-old espresso machines are worth $3500. Most machines of that age are nearing the end of their design life spans. For reference, I believe you can currently get a nicely restored 10-year-old 4 group Linea for less than that.

 

Last fall, I sold a similar machine (Astoria) that I'd gone over and replaced a bunch of stuff on for $1500, installed. It required $600 worth of parts and hours worth of work before it was ready for sale.

 

Regardless of how much you trust the seller, this machine will require some work. When I get called in to install a used machine (even a 3 year old one), I plan on spending a couple of hours and doing at least $200-$300 worth of work. For example, the one I worked on Tuesday had been purchased "from a friend" and was "very well cared for"... his invoice topped $500, and we saved some stuff for next time. You might see if you can get it looked at by a tech before you buy it to give you an idea of what it will need.

 

For reference, this is a CMA machine... so similar to an Astoria or Wega. List on a brand new 2 group Astoria Pratic (which would be comparable) is about 6 grand... that's a fully warrantied machine.  I'd bet if you asked around, you could find one for under $5k, installed.

 

For mobile or catering, you might find that a 110V machine would be a good choice. People that do catering can speak more to that, but I imagine that finding 20A 110V is a heck of a lot easier than 208/240V.

 

In this application, I really like a Nuova Simonelli Appia Compact 110V... which also lists right around $6,000.

 

Hope that helps.

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Permalink Reply by Kylee on June 3, 2011 at 8:08pm

Brady- Thanks so much for your informative reply...a huge help!

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Permalink Reply by Dustin DeMers on June 5, 2011 at 12:42am

Im by no means a tech, but I am a professional craigslist troller, and that seems like an insane price. I would expect the asking price if that were listed in the bay area to be 800 - 1100, and im pretty sure it wouldn't sell.  I just saw a 4 year old GB5 sell for 1000 more than what they are asking from you. I say PASS and keep looking, have someone check out what ever machine your considering before you buy it. And get a machine thats more portable and easier to move. Good Luck!

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Permalink Reply by todd.mackey on June 5, 2011 at 9:21pm

Hi Kylee,

I would also advise against this purchase. This machine will be cumbersome for travel and tired at best in its performance. I actually recently designed a mobile espresso bar around a LaMarzocco GS/3 Mechanical Paddle. While definitely not cheap, this machine is worth every penny. You do not want to be serving 300 wedding guests and run out of steam, or lose your group temperature. Because the GS/3 brew boiler is is PID temperature controlled, it heats in short intermittent bursts, never allowing a significant dip in temp. Not to mention it is a 110 volt machine and can plug into any standard outlet! I was able to design this pop up cart with two flow jets to pressurize water reservoirs for machine and pitcher rinser, have two grinders on bar, and run the GS/3 with one plug from the wall!!! Talk about mobile. The other awesome thing to note about the GS/3 is its small size; very mobile.

 

Anyway, I would be glad to discuss the details of this mobile bar of mine with you. I feel like a few things were wonderfully successful and a few I would do another way. Feel free to be in touch if you would like to discuss, and I hope this goes well for you!

 

Best,

Todd

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