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| |  | Espresso Machine | Home » » Gaggia 90951 Platinum Vision Automatic Espresso Machine with Milk Island, Platinum | | | | | | | Description: | | With the Platinum Vision you can dose, and brew your espresso, all at the touch of a button. One of the most fun features of the machine is the programming function. Here is a quick preview into the personalization Gaggia offers: Touch Screen Features: Show text or use icons; Individual Beverage Settings for Espresso, Coffee, Long Coffee (Prebrew--set to off, med, strong. Aroma--mild, medium, strong, preground [decaf or flavored are most popular for preground]. Temperature settings--low, medium, high. Volume--adjust by plus (+) or minus (-) depending on how tall or short you want your drink to be.); Time/Date settings (Set the machine to turn on up to 3 times a day, 7 days a week. For example, Monday--6am, 12pm, 6pm, Friday--6am, 1pm, 9pm and Saturday--9am, 6pm, 10pm. Stand by mode has 4 different settings. Adjust the clock by hour, minute and AM/PM. Adjust the date format-- For instance, it would be set differently in Europe than it would in the United States.); Machine Settings (Program your display to read the way you’d like it--choose from 13 languages, and adjust the contrast of the display to be lighter or darker. Sound settings-- turn the sound on/off. If on, it will beep when it is ready for use. Cup warmer--3 options: always on, always off, off while in stand by mode. Water settings include--Rinse on/off, water filter on/off, water hardness 1-4 [machine comes with a test strip and instructions]); Maintenance Settings (Counts your shots. Cleaning cycle--In this setting, the machine asks if you’ve added the cleaning tablet before you run it. Descale cycle--Before running, the machine asks if you’d like to run the cycle in case you’ve selected it in error.Lock display--an option given to allow the owner to clean the menu screen without accidentally selecting a beverage.); Special Settings (Factory Settings--allows you to reset to all the original manufacturer settings.) | | | Features: | |
• Automatic espresso machine with simple touch-screen controls
• 15-bar pump pressure; stainless-steel-lined boiler; built-in ceramic burr grinder
• Bypass doser for preground coffee; cup warmer; removable brew group
• 57-ounce removable water tank; Pannarello steam wand and Milk Island included
• Measures 12-3/5 by 16-1/3 by 14-4/7 inches
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 20.0 inches | | Product Width:
| 24.0 inches | | Product Height:
| 26.0 inches | | Product Weight:
| 36.0 pounds | | Package Length:
| 24.8 inches | | Package Width:
| 23.9 inches | | Package Height:
| 17.6 inches | | Package Weight:
| 35.2 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 24 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 24 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 found the following review helpful:
 It's almost too easyDec 31, 2009
By protoguy
I've had this machine for a few days now and I absolutely love it. It by far trumps the quality of local shops and Starbucks (not that they make quality). The options on the machine allow you to create your own drink in your own flavor. The worst thing about this machine is how easy it is and how much you'll end up drinking. It's just too easy to press a button and boom, delicious espresso.
From off to espresso in no time flat!
If you want your drink fast, look no further than this machine. Going from completely off to drink ready takes about 1 minute. You can brew in no time so this machine was made for speed.
Touchscreen
I can't say it's greatly responsive. Obviously it's expensive and new so you want to be nice with it but that screen takes some hard pressure. Maybe they built it tough to last but you can't just tap it. You have to jab it sometimes. Not a complaint really. It seems like a strong screen.
Drinks
There are three drink options: espresso, coffee, and long coffee. You can control the amount of water, temperature, aroma, flavor, and strength. It's crazy. Once you get down you're favorite flavor though, it's just a simple button press. I like a caffe corretto once in a while so I like that you can throw in pre-ground decaf for a one time cup and then just go back to your regular settings.
Steaming
The wand is very articulated and easy to clean. The steam comes quick and stays consistently hot. You can steam milk fast enough to make yourself a cappuccino in under 2 minutes. I haven't tried the hot water option but I'm sure that works fine.
Drip Tray
It moves! The tray moves up and down via a touch sensitive button on the machine. It will move from the counter to nearly touching the spouts. The cover on the tray appears to be magnetic so it just attaches easily to the tray top. It slides on and off very easily but will not come off accidentally.
Warming tray
It warms decently fast. It doesn't get too hot or anything. Not much to say about it except it feels a bit small for how big the machine is.
Pure water
This machine has a water purifier included. I'm not sure if it is required to run the machine yet.
Maintenance
It has a lot of maintenance features including keeping track of your descaling schedule. It has you test your water hardness and program it in so it can remind you when you should descale. I haven't had to run any maintenance on it yet but it seems like everything is basically fully automated for it.
Auto Standby
I can't say if this goes into a real low power mode or what but it has a standby feature. After 1 or 4 hours it will standby. I think it just turns the heating off. Turning the warming tray off is optional.
Scheduling
It has a scheduling feature to set wake up and power off times for separate days.
Be aware!
The first few shots might suck. My first shot was 90% water with a dirty color to it. It took a few shots before the machine put out good shots. Not sure if this was a fluke or just my machine or just the machine calibrating but after about 3 failed shots they were all good.
I did not buy this product on Amazon but I use amazon a lot and wanted to put a review up. I did not purchase it with the milk island. The milk island was quite unnecessary. I do not recommend buying the machine with the milk island if you can get it without the island for a better price.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Best Purchase We've MadeMay 07, 2010
By Cypher Media
We purchased this machine about a month ago. Granted, the first one we received was broken - we had two engineers, a couple of account managers and an IT guy trying to fix it, but they couldn't. We called Amazon and received the working one two business days later.
WOW. I can't tell you how much espresso we've gone through in the past month. The machine is easy to use, and it's actually kinda fun! With one push of a button, you have a professional quality espresso in less than a minute. The milk frothing takes longer, but if you haven't had your espresso yet, it's not too difficult to wait. :) There are three options - espresso (strong), coffee (espresso with a little more water) and long coffee (I looked it up - it's basically a weaker, more bitter espresso with twice the volume of water). I've learned how to make an Americano just like at Starbucks, and it's cheaper and more convenient. Yes, the machine itself is expensive - but I'll get into that later.
I've seen several reviews here that say the Milk Island is useless - all of us at the office think it's a VERY cool gadget. As long as you make sure the light is green and you don't overfill the carafe (the "MAX" line is there for a reason), it works perfectly. We haven't had a single issue. It froths the milk very well, and if you don't like as much foam, you can turn it off before it finishes its cycle. Also, I've seen that "oily" beans supposedly don't work well - we've been through two bags of "oily" espresso beans from Cost Plus and they didn't jam the machine or cause any problems. Yes, we also ordered a bag of the Lavazza Super Crema, but when it's gone we'll just run up the street and get more Cost Plus beans.
I worked it out - a Starbucks latte costs roughly $4. A homemade latte costs $0.40. Taking into account the high cost (and high quality) of this machine, and the number of espressos/lattes we make daily, I figure this machine will pay for itself in about three months. Of course, that isn't such a good thing for Starbucks...but it's great for us!
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
So far, so goodDec 14, 2010
By JAKL
"Jeff"
Wow! This machine is pretty slick.
1) The machine: definitely idiot proof and seems quite sturdy. The touch screen works well and is well set into the frame of the machine. Some touch screens seem to "give" a bit into the machine when you push them. The machine is pretty quiet. MUCH quieter than the Delonghi machines. The crema hasn't been as impressive as when I used to tamp and pull myself, but the flavor is excellent. Havn't had any problem with "oily" beans. Boot up is quite fast, and the machine has lots of prompts to let you know when to empty something, or add water, or attach the milk island. Out of the box, set up was easy. It states that there is a coffee grinder adjusting tool in the box, which I searched for extensively. I then discovered that the end of the coffee scoop has the wrench tool on it. Would have been nice of those Italians to let us americans in on this one.
2)The milk Island: I wasn't very clear on how this thing worked. Basically, you place your milk/soy milk/almond milk into the container between the min and max lines, and then turn the knob. I was used to using a thermometer, so I wasn't sure what to do here. It froths the milk nicely, and I usually just turn it off when it doesn't seem to be frothing any more, or if the sound changes pitch. Not very scientific, but I have been pleased with the results. Gaggia recommends that you take the thing apart after use, which is a bit more work than just cleaning out a metal frothing pitcher. The island has about 7 parts, and I would hate to lose one down the disposal. But, it is simple, and my daughters can now make a Latte for dad on a saturday morning. A great achievement for any parent!!
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Exceeded Expectations !Jul 15, 2010
By BJ
I must say that I was very skeptical about getting a superautomatic machine. All I read about them is how they make inferior coffee and are super expensive and unreliable. I decided to get this one because it got to be really tedious to make coffee for everyone in the family all the time. Despite my trying to teach my wife how to do it with a semi-automatic machine (a Gaggia Twin), she just refused to learn.
In any case, I decided to give this machine a try and I must say I have been extremely impressed. The machine is supereasy to setup and extremely easy to use--you basically just press a button. It can be customized in many ways, but I basically just used the standard settings.
As for the coffee, it is absolutely superb--extremely awesome coffee. We have had it for 6 months and have not had one single problem. I am extremely impressed by it's reliability. This machine is being used every single day and it has not had one malfunction.
I cannot recommend this enough. Excellent product !!
BJ
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Gaggia Platinum VisionJan 24, 2011
By Lotus Flower Fan
I waited for a long time before buying an automatic expresso machine. I read all the reviews and monitored prices. I finally took the leap and spent the money to purchase the Gaggia 90951 Platinum Vision Automatic Expresso machine with milk island. It does make good coffee, expresso and lattes however there are a few features that are not to my liking.
First - the machine does not give a low water warning before you start to make a cup of coffee. You find out the water is low right in the middle of brewing. When you add water you have to start the cycle over again. Secondly, When you empty the coffee grounds drawer and replace it - it doesn't always go back in easily. Thirdly, I like the idea of the milk island but you have to hold it in place to keep the green light on. If the red light comes on - you have to close the steam knob and adjust the milk island and start all over again. It's also very noisy when it steams the milk in the mild island. Finally, The machine is also very large and takes up quite a bit of space on the counter. Overall I enjoy having an automatic expresso machine but I would definitely make some enhancements if I were designing this machine.
See all 24 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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