"PhotoMan" wrote:
> Any opinions on this machine?
>
> http://cuisinart.com/cgi-bin/index.c...em_id=DCC-1200

Yes. My brother has had one of these for a couple of years now, and I'm
quite familiar with it.

Bottom line, it's a coffee maker. It looks like a mid-twentieth century
radio, which spawned many many jokes about its appearance but doesn't
qualify it as anything significantly new and different in coffee making. Its
center-mounted toggle switch is a goofy reminder of a pre-solid state age,
but still, its just a coffee maker. The toggle switch is tiny, too -- digs
into the thumb.

The brew cycle end signal and decalcify-me-now warning light are charming
examples of planned obsolescence, because it's simply not hard to tell when
an automatic drip coffee maker is finished brewing or needs cleaning (the
needs cleaning light flashes constantly on his machine, BTW, no matter how
often or how aggressively they clean it).

It makes coffee. There's nothing magical or even exceptional about the
coffee it makes. It leaks, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot.

In two years, it's been sent for repair or replacement twice (for leaking,
for a broken toggle switch, and for a shorted element). So actually, in two
years he's owned two of these machines.

All in all, its manufacturer and retailers should be ashamed of this
machine's >$100.00 price. Buy the Braun or the Mr. Coffee or even the
Proctor Silex on the shelf next to it and save yourself money, time and
annoyance.