Explorer Bundle

They could do a lot better of a job explaining what this ships with, because I wound up paying extra an extra 45 bucks for the Naked Portafilter just to get the non pressurized basket it comes with, only to find out one was included in the box alongside the pressurized basket...

The included portafilter's plastic handle is cheap feeling (the metal portions are perfectly fine though), and already developed a crack after ONE use. The brand new naked portafilter I ordered extra arrived with a loose handle. The handles don't use the standard screw, so I cant just swap them with a nicer handle like I can for other portafilters. Given the abnormal portafilter size, I feel like this is a huge setback that the included ones are so bad.

The funnel it comes with is OK but doesn't stay on well. The spoon tamper doesn't fit well, with a bigger gap around it than most tampers. Considering the unusual basket size, ordering the official upgraded accessories winds up bringing the price awfully close to the cafelat robot, arguably a better overall manual brewer.

To my surprise, my 51mm baskets all fit the stock portafilter and the naked portafilter, despite the information saying it's an uncommon 50mm. This allowed me to use my stockpile of 51mm accessories, which makes the machine infinitely better.

The biggest issue I'm having overall though, is the preheating. No matter what I try, the shots come out a few degrees short of what I can get from my other machines. While they aren't exactly cold, the shots are just a little unsatisfactory as a result. This also rushes me to get powdered creamer in before it cools down too much to mix in properly.

...

On the bright side, the main unit feels very well made despite the bad accessories. The metal is smooth, well machined, and thick in most places. The plastic/glass composite materials have a certain sturdiness to them too.

Most of the smaller parts have very reasonably priced replacements, and they even chose to sell retrofit kits to upgrade the older models.

I love the repairability and overall aesthetics of this. The positioning of the (sold separately) pressure gauge is also so much better than the Cafelat Robot, though it's metal housing touches the water and further complicates the preheating.

I love that I can pick this up and rinse it out in the sink as needed. The tray is also big enough for MOST scales, though the recess makes some of my nicer ones trickier to use with it. The recess does catch a LOT of spills from the preheating process. so it's not without benefit.

At least according to the pressure gauge accessory, this can hit and exceed 9 bars with the right grind settings in the single wall/non pressurized baskets. If your idea of espresso requires 9 bars to be considered "real", this can do it.

I'm really enjoying this machine overall, but they REALLY need to overhaul the included accessories, at the very least swap the portafilters to using the standard screw handle, and widen up the spoon tamper just a bit. Would be great if they revised and even sold an upgraded plate to use 51mm portafilters specifically. Between that and the preheating being a messy pain, just to get not-quite-hot-enough shots, I've had to drop this to 3 stars for an "Okay" product.

A LOT disappointed! Paid a decent amount on this espresso maker and it came with absolutely no instructions!! Hard to figure this out on my own!! Quite upset. Tell me - how do I use it??!!!

Yes, it makes good spro- but what are all the extra pieces for? there's a cleaning filter, and a syringe- with no talk about what I do with them. After taking the time to watch many users youTube videos, I'm no closer to dial in my system, and lack the confidence I have with my machine. even a link to manuals would be helpful, but I couldn't find anything for information on how to use, or take care of the machine

I've been making my own espresso for about 40 yrs. Ive tried many brands and styles of Espresso makers. Until the ROK came out all were electric. The last several of those were in the price range (or higher) of the ROK. I bought my 1st ROK not long after they were avaliable. I was very pleased with it and enjoyed espresso at least as good as from the automatic machines i have owned. The 1st version of the ROK did have some issues, though over all it still allowed me to make good espresso. Then came the ROK GC! All the important flaws were addressed by the upgrades and now the quality of my espresso is great every day.
I have tried the other manual machine, Flair and it wasn't much competition with the ROK. I have not tried the latest of that brand which is twice the cost of a ROK GC. I think that one is a much better design the the 1st flairs, but the single lever is not as ergonomic and easy as the ROK double levers.

I actually really like this as a travel espresso, or even a "double shot in the afternoon" espresso maker. But, I do have some feedback (not really complaints) that could help other buyers:

1) I do find this slightly overpriced for something that can only perform the one job, but then again, EVERYTHING is expensive now. And the build quality does seem to legitimize a higher price. Even so, regularly priced at $260...that's a lot of money. I did buy mine on a bit of a sale.

2) As mentioned, it only does the one thing. So, if traveling, you definitely need to also pay attention to having a travel or manual grinder or pre-grind your espresso.

3) Finally, the one thing it does--it's pretty great. Comparing to the Nespresso machine I used to love, I prefer the shots out of the ROK press. BUT, temperature is an issue. I've attempted to solve this with pre-heating every single element involved. And that helps. But even so I wouldn't all my shots "hot" as much as very warm. I do wish somehow I could accomplish getting a nice HOT shot out of this, but to do so you'd have to start with super hot water.

Overall, I'm pleased. 4 stars for the excessive challenges in getting a hot shot and for a price that feels a bit high to me.