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Permalink Reply by georgemvg on January 20, 2012 at 11:51am

The pided Linea is not a GB5.

Dustin DeMers said:

Sorry to veer off course. Why does the Linea with a pid concern you george? Im pretty sure its going to have the same fluctuations as the GB5.

I read the whole post, as I did a couple of months ago, but came to no conclusion. I will be in the cafe for one shift at least, and I have no problem using a manual machine. Though I can not say the same for the others. If I had the funds, I would go for the GB5 AV, but know I have to choose and sacrifice something. I am still on the search...

Jacob Casella said:

My two cents, having worked on a lot of Marzocco variants:

• If you go Linea, try to get PID.  I believe that come standard on the new ones.
• GB5 steam wand valves FTW, IMHO.
• GB5's definitely prettier, for what that's worth.
• AV controls are an area of contention; really depends what kind of shop you're planning on running.  They can definitely be an asset depending on how busy you are, and depending on your level of barista training/passion.  Worth thinking about. (Extended volumetric discussion thread here:http://www.baristaexchange.com/forum/topics/programmed-buttons-to-u...).  I always feel like I'm the reluctant champion of AV...if your business/staffing model works with MP, awesome.
• Lineas have a reputation for being tanks, but I don't see massive differences between the newer Lineas & GB5s outside of the shape of the box.

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Permalink Reply by Jay Caragay on January 21, 2012 at 11:20am

Quite simply, there's a lot of noise in this thread and it's no wonder you're having a difficult time making a choice.

Quite simply: buy the La Marzocco GB5 EE 3 group.

Temperature stable, high performance, great steam pressure and a complete workhorse.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Schaefer on February 19, 2012 at 6:59pm

I don't know if the newest Linea or GB5 models have fixed this issue, but old Linea AV models had hot water leave the boiler to pass through a (much cooler) flowmeter before returning to the brew group.  This meant the first shots on any group that hadn't been used moments earlier were cooler than subsequent shots on that group.  We converted our AV Lineas to EE at the same time we installed PIDs on them, and I'd never go back.

Also, manually pulling shots has two advantages: 

1) It allows you to stop the shots a few seconds earlier or later based on extraction (premature blonding, etc) instead of being stuck with a set volume.  You can get the best possible shots out of each pull...

2) and since you're having to watch the shots so closely, you're more likely to see right away when it's time to adjust the grind.  People on automatic machines tend to multi-task just a little TOO much in my personal opinion and often take much longer to realize when their shot times and shot quality are drifting into the abyss.  On a manual machine you know right away when your shots aren't pulling just right.

On a final note, I can't say which design is more reliable, but I can tell you that the Linea is loads easier to work on than the newer models with pre-heated everything, simply because it's so much easier to get to any one internal component on the Linea without taking everything else apart.  I've worked on almost every major make of espresso machine out there, and the Linea is a service tech's dream machine!  So I don't know how soon you'll need to see a tech on either machine, but I can tell you that the tech will probably spend less time inside your machine if it's a Linea.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Shipley on February 22, 2012 at 8:38am

This is kind of an old thread did the OP purchase yet? Shop up and running?

 

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Permalink Reply by georgemvg on February 23, 2012 at 5:49am

Not yet, but the decision has been made. I am waiting for a 2group Linea AV.

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