# Has the L1 always been at current price?



## superdudeo (Sep 12, 2013)

I'm looking at a new purchase but damn, £2,000 for my habit?? I'm sure it's worth every penny and from everything I've read about it, it's perfect for me.

I'm just a little concerned that the hard water here in bristol will shorten the lifespan of it.


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## superdudeo (Sep 12, 2013)

To expand on my post heading. I read that they were aiming for a price of £1,500 (inc vat) on release to make it somewhat more affordable for home users.


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

You can minimise the effect of hard water quite easily by either "feeding" the machine bottled or filtered water. I'm not sure if they can be plumbed in (I'm sure someone will be along to advise) but if they can you could add an plumbed in filter. Add to that a regular descale routine and I'm sure the L1 will outlive you. Great choice of machine - built to last.


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

When the machines first came out, there were variants, the cheapest one came in at just under £1500 but there was always vat on top of that. The current price of £1625 is remarkable really. The glass panel side machines have been dropped but they were several hundred pounds dearer, but, you are getting all the tweaks that have happened over the past 12 months, plus upgraded water/steam arms, wooden handles, different style of attaching panel and the list goes on.

You are going to have exactly the same water problem with whatever machine you use. If you are in a hard water area, buy a tanked version and use Volvic which is the recommended water in that situation, or buy an a filter system of some sort and plumb it in. Unless you are an engineer, you will not be able to descale one of these as it is a boiler out job.


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## superdudeo (Sep 12, 2013)

dfk41 said:


> You are going to have exactly the same water problem with whatever machine you use.


Very true but other machines I'm considering are not £2,000! Could I buy a britvic filter jug and use filtered water from this? Could you run descale solution through an L1?

Thanks for the replies guys


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

Yep, run it oiff Volvic. All that money you don't want to ruin it!

You can plumb it in, but in that case you need more than just a water filter really, you would need to look into reverse osmosis systems.


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

superdudeo said:


> Very true but other machines I'm considering are not £2,000! Could I buy a britvic filter jug and use filtered water from this? Could you run descale solution through an L1?
> 
> Thanks for the replies guys


What other machines are you considering?

From what I have read the Brita filters are not enough on their own to prevent limescale buildup, and they also do not provide water at the most desirable pH lever for excellent espresso? I'm sure somebody who knows more can elaborate or correct me. Volvic is quite cheap if you buy it in 6x1.5l packs.

Edit: see coffeechap's post below


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

aaronb said:


> Yep, run it oiff Volvic. All that money you don't want to ruin it!
> 
> You can plumb it in, but in that case you need more than just a water filter really, you would need to look into reverse osmosis systems.


If you plumb in an l1 you don't need yo have an RO system I run a brita professional filter 70 ppm perfect water.


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Chap - what filter is giving you those results?


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

Brita professional series aquaquell 1200


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## superdudeo (Sep 12, 2013)

coffeechap said:


> Brita professional series aquaquell 1200


Coffeechap, I noticed you have in the past owned a IZZO VIVI.

Would you recommend?


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

They are not bad machines, hx quality with a little Italian chic. Depends how much it costs really as to whether I would recommend you buy one..


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

That one on eBay looks quite old, so don't get carried away!


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## superdudeo (Sep 12, 2013)

dfk41 said:


> That one on eBay looks quite old, so don't get carried away!


Looks like a MK2 though? I can't find any info on how much they are new either!


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## iroko (Nov 9, 2012)

Izzo Vivi were just under £1200, they don't seem to be on BB website any more, great little machine I used to own one.

I thought you could de-scale the LI like an hx machine, de-scaler in tank, run some water through water tap, then pull lever to run water through group,

wait 20mins and repeat several times and flush with clean water ?


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