I decided to upgrade from my Sage Barista Touch, which had served me well but I’d reached a certain level with the coffee I was making, and needed to raise the bar. I considered various machines but the Synchronika II was my preferred choice, which also received excellent reviews by many reputable coffee experts. The ECM Synchronika II is a manually operated E61 group, but it is very easy to change the brew temperature and pre-infusion values. All of the controls are a pleasure to use, everything has a high quality feel and the whole machine is extremely well built. It’s consistently stable and has provided me with the best coffees I’ve ever had. It heats up very quickly and has almost commercial ability with its boiler capacities. I have no regrets about buying this machine and as I’m making multiple coffees on a daily basis I’m already getting into a faster rhythm with it. If you buy one make sure that you properly read the owners manual, as there are some great features and some useful shortcut functions built into the machine.