MT 500 Very Good, easy to use, VG coffee, $$$$

My wife and I had 10 year old Krups we liked a lot. It made a very good cup of coffee. We needed a new one and bought another Krups, but the new ones have a little plastic catch and spring lever that looks like trouble, will wear or break in time, and we were not that impressed. Reviews of the new Krups by others who liked their old makers were not good (I read later), so took it back and bought this one. Consumer Reports rated the MT 500 Excellent across the board. We've only had it 2 days, but here's my impressions after 2 pots. First, we're not fanatics about coffee but like a very good cup, so taste is important. This does a very good (excellent) job making coffee. So did our old Krups. I like the new thermal carafe very much. Didn't have one before, and the the "new Krups" I bought didn't have one either, but after reading more, decided it would be good feature for the 2nd cup , and it is. My wife gets up about an hour after me most mornings and now she enjoys a much better cup than before. I would never go back to the glass carafe with hot plate. A good change and upgrade. Highly recommended. Many makers have this now, however.

We wanted convenience and user friendly features. The MT500 is as good as our old Krups which was very easy to figure out how to reset, program, etc. This is easy, and easy to clean, too. We've had no problems with it being messy or difficult to operate. Like all the makers that allow you to "sneak" a cup during brewing, you have to be aware that you are engaging a mechanism that stops the water flowing thru. If you don't take care and place the carafe correctly you have a mess whether you "sneaked" a cup or not. That's true of all of them. This one is easy, nothing tricky. The vacuum carafe also has to be 'closed' during brewing (the coffee gets in anyway thru the top valve)... again with features come responsibility ... or something like that. I think if many different people were going to be making coffee with the MT 500 (eg an office, fire station) getting something simpler to use might be better, but at home once you get the process its no big deal.

The MT500 uses a charcoal filter. The filters cost $4.00 each and are sold 3 for $12 retail. The coffee maker will work if you skip the charcoal filter so you're not obliged. The filters are good for 60 brews or 6 weeks (1x/day) according to Capresso. This adds some cost, but is no deal breaker. The filters purify the water of chlorine and "taste" factors I believe, not minerals or deposits. We're using it now, I don't know what difference it would make if we took it out. Our water is good here, our last house the water was poor. We used bottled water. If you use bottled water you probably don't need the filter.

I like the fact that the heating element is stainless and not aluminum, but day-to-day it doesn't make any difference. Capresso says its much quieter than most other coffee makers. Whatever that refers to, IDK. How noisy is a coffee maker? Ours was never bad. This seems about the same to me. Pretty quiet. It makes 10 cups in about 7 minutes. Doesn't seem much faster, probably a little, but I'm usually taking a shower or reading the paper and not hunched over the maker (like my wife).

I like that there is no hot plate because of the thermal carafe. The unit is cool after a few minutes post-brew. And you can take the carafe in the bedroom for a leisurely morning.

Some consumers complained that you can get coffee grinds in the water reservoir because the lids to both are not separate - one lid for both. This is true, but it isn't that hard to fill the coffee without making a mess. The coffee basket is right in the front and easy to access. I guess it could be a problem but I don't think its as awful or difficult as some others. I take the basket and gold filter out and fill it on the counter anyway, then put it back in the unit. I wish the basket stood alone on the counter like our Krups basket. I fault Capresso for not getting this little detail in there, but I can work around it.

BOTTOM LINE: At $170. the MT 500 is an expensive coffee maker. You do get a gold filter included and a charcoal filter, thermal carafe, programmable timer, stainless innerds. Put those features in a Krups, for example, and you're at $129. retail without the stainless heater element. This is a better unit in my opinion. Well made. Cleanly engineered, no gimmicks that look cheap and easily worn out or broken. Consumer Reports rated it #2 of all but gave it A scores. Our old Krups make about as good a cup of coffee; it never looked old fashioned until I brought this one home. Nice addition. We already like this one a lot and I suspect it will give us many years of good service. (1 yr. warranty, BTW).