Reviews by AlexiusII

AlexiusII says "Tassimo is Unreliable" about Braun Tassimo Coffee Maker

AlexiusII — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:06:25 GMT

At first glance,the Tassimo system seems perfect for a coffee lover. The brew-only-what-what-you-need approach seems great(no more stale, reheated coffee). However, the unit is large enough that it's inconvenient to keep on the kitchen counter, expensive(mine was $169, on sale), and very, very unreliable. The coffee itself is good, but my first Tassimo leaked slightly from day one. In less than two months, the unit leaked so badly I couldn't use it. Since it was under warranty, I sent it back to Braun for replacement. The replacement unit had the same problem in even less time! At that point, I gave up, as the Tassimo is heavy enough that it cost me $15(un-reimbursed) to ship the first unit back to Braun; I wasn't willing to spend another $15 to do it again. The Tassimo is a great concept, but so poorly executed that it is useless. If Braun ever re-designs the Tassimo, it might be worthwhile, but their current quality problems make it impossible to recommend.

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AlexiusII says "Great coffee, fast & FRESH" about Keurig Mini

AlexiusII — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:37:12 GMT

The Keurig coffee systems are the most convenient single-cup brewers I have found. I received my Elite as a door prize at my company's Christmas party(a great gift: I was already familiar with them as the company installed a commercial-grade Keurig in our employee break room), but the approximately $100 retail is also among the most reasonably priced units available. The unit is almost completely foolproof, as you simply fill the water vessel, insert a K-cup(Keurig's coffee pod) and press the start button. Keurig units are also reliable, as the unit in our office has function flawlessly for nearly three years.This is a marked contrast to most of the brewers on the market, as I purchased a Braun Tassimo unit for home use(at $169) shortly before my company installed the Keurig. The Tassimo broke after two months of home use, and was replaced by Braun. The replacement broke a month after I received it, and I wrote the Tassimo off as a failed experiment. The Keurig keeps brewing flawlessly....

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AlexiusII says "Good printer, but with limitations." about Hewlett Packard DeskJet 960c

AlexiusII — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:10:14 GMT

The Deskjet 960c has been an excellent printer for the five years I and my family have used it. It gives very nice photo printouts and clear, easily legible text(even at small font sizes). While the printer is now too slow for my needs, it continues to be a workhorse for mother, as she just uses it to print e-mails and web pages. Be aware, however, that this printer does have some problems related to its age. Firstly, Hewlett-Packard has not issued driver upgrades for this specific printer in three years. As a result, it is not a good printer to use with either Mac OSX or Windows Vista. The printer will work under OSX if you are just performing basic printing, with little graphic complexity, but the driver hangs on complex documents, particularly in Adobe programs. As a result, this printer should not be purchased by users who have newer Macs, and it causes any computer running Vista to slow to a crawl during printing attempts, while the printout itself is never actually made. As such,...

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