Judging by their home page it looks to be a beginner machine. Thermobloc heating can be quite effective/efficient when applied properly. Not sure how they accomplish the "automatic purge" feature as it implies there is no wait time to go from steaming to brewing. Pay no attention to the 40 second warm up time as NO machine will truly be ready that fast. I'm sure the thermobloc heats up rapidly, but the rest of the machine will take some time or it will consume most of the initial brew heat. Same goes for the 15 bar pump pressure... not relative.
This Dualit is comparable to the machines offered by Capresso, DeLonghi, Cuisinart, etc. Some people will suggest a different brewing method instead of "settling" for a beginner machine OR waiting/saving for a higher grade espresso machine. We all start somewhere. My first espresso machine was a used Capresso BAR351. Made for a good foundation and allowed me to tweak every single variable to maximize potential from it until I felt ready to move on. I've seen time and time again somebody shells out thousands of $ for very good equipment only to become disgusted in a short period of time. Many think having top tier equipment will guarantee great espresso, but that is far from the truth. Some people never acquire a taste for espresso regardless of the quality/consistency.
Of course some will disagree with my suggestion(s), but I really could care less as we all have opinions. There really is no right/wrong, just what YOU like.
