Mr. Coffee FTX251 12-Cup Coffee Maker Review

     I bought this unit for my new home in August of 2008, and have now been in my home for about 7 months. How times have changed with this sucker ! At first I was in heaven with my freshly brewed cup of Joe, no mess, a nice little period of keeping the pot hot while I did and work and caffinated, but times they changed fast. within 5 months I had leakage, I had coffee grounds in my coffee, I had that little knob that stops the coffee from dripping when you remove the pot decide to pull a Norma Rae and go on strike....so it all went south fast.

The FTX25 is the old model, there is a newer one out.
What is out now is the FTX33GTF, and most of the flaws in the old design have been addressed. For the price, this coffee maker brews a great pot of coffee, looks good doing it and has some nice features as well.

The FTX33GTF is a 12 cup brewer, a must in my household. Most of the time we only brew about 8 cups though and it takes about 5-10 minutes. It has a beep alarm that can be turned on or off to let you know when the brewing is done and the adjustable warmer is a nice touch. I always keep the setting on "strong" so don't know how a "normal" cup of coffee from this brewer would be any different. I like having a timer, but normally end up cleaing the coffee maker before using it each mornign so I don't use that feature much. It is easy to clean and the carbon disc that filters the chlorine out of tap water is nice to have. If you use bottled or filtered water, you won't need them though.

Though not enough to keep me from recommending this appliance, there are a few niggles. The clock light is very bright and cannot be adjusted. The "coffee done" beep is loud and some find it annoying. You need to pour the water in fairly slowly so that it doesn't splatter and a lot of moisture is retained in the top layers of the machine. The decanter that comes with the coffee maker seems rather cheap and flimsy, though mine has held up so far. The lid comes off a little too easily and water gets trapped between the glass and plastic part...leading to drips when pouring. It also leaks a little bit of water from the reservoir when it is filled, but not that much.

All in all, I am quite happy with this coffee maker. It is low maintenance, fairly easy to use and brews a good cup 'o joe. And in the end, that is the most important thing.