My husband and I found this at a store at a very reduced price, and decided to pick it up. We have a traditional coffeemaker already but my husband finds that he usually does not drink the entire pot of coffee, so he winds up with a lot of wasted coffee. Pluse we figured that at the price we were getting it for, it was worth the price for the two stainless commuter mugs alone.
I am very impressed by how well this works. The coffee comes out tasting very good, and it's very fast. Due to the ease of making coffee with this machine I even find myself drinking coffee a lot more often than I used to- I used to NEVER drink coffee.
However, I do have a couple of minor suggestions to Cuisinart for future editions of this coffeemaker: it would be really helpful if the base had some kind of warming feature. Since these mugs have stainless steel surfaces they cannot be microwaved, so if you can't drink the coffee immediately it would be nice if there was a warming element on the base. I've also noticed that although there's a dual spout to brew the coffee into both mugs simultaneously the brewing isn't exactly even, so it would be helpful if that could be improved in the future. Also, the product brochure does not recommend putting these mugs in the dishwasher; since one of the selling points of this coffeemaker is convenience for people on the go, it would be nice if the mugs could be machine-washed rather than hand-washed. But another perk of this coffeemaker is the fact that any commuter mug can be used, so if you have one of those plastic travel mugs from Starbucks, those are microwave and dishwasher safe, so you can opt to use those to brew the coffee instead.
I don't know if I would ever pay the list price for this machine; to me it's not worth it. But given the price that Amazon seems to offer it at on a regular basis, it is well worth that price for convenience and for the reduction of wasted coffee.
Another plus is that this coffeemaker is really low-profile; we don't have much counter space left with all our kitchen gadgets and this takes up a lot less space than traditional coffeemakers.
All in all, this coffeemaker is recommended for:
* Those who only drink one or two cups of coffee a day
* People who are on the run a lot and don't have time to fuss with an entire pot of coffee
* People with small kitchens who can't have a traditional coffeemaker cluttering up their counter space
* College students, for a whole variety of good reasons
This coffeemaker is NOT recommended for:
* People who drink a whole pot of coffee. If you do so, just get a traditional coffeemaker unless you want to brew one cup at a time... of course even for those who do drink a whole pot of coffee there's something to be said for having a fresh cup every time! So, then, maybe it's recommended even in this case!