Saeco Odea Giro Plus Fully Automatic Espresso Machine

Great Machine - Very Finicky
After owning the Saeco Giro Plus for about a month, here are my observations

Pros:
Great tasting coffee! Very strong without tasting bitter. Rich creme.
Affordable price. Paid $400 from a "club" store.
Relatively quiet compared to my sister's super-automatic Krups.

Cons:
After installing the water filter, the water storage is pretty low, 3 cups of Americano at most.
Machine is very finicky (will go more in detail later)
The "cup warmer" feature is a joke, only thing it can warm are ice cubes.

Here's a list of stuff that might cause the warning light to go off.

Solid Warning Light:

Steam knob not turned all the way off (need to click in place)
Water is low (20% full is still considered low, sensor goes by weight it seems)
Drip tray is full

Slow Blinking Warning Light:

Brew group not inserted properly (DON'T hold the Push button when inserting, it should click in)...

Great Taste. Less Fulfillment
This is a review by a Coffee Fanatic who has owned several machines, including the $8000 industrial version. I had the Vienna Plus for 8 months and decided to give that away to get the Odea Go. It does not matter which model you get, all the Odeas have the same BMW mechanics and design. All work the same way. So I'll give a comparison for your own judgement.

The Vienna Plus had more water in the dredge drawer.. so much that I first thought the machine was leaking!! Found out that IS the way the machine works.. But the machine was bigger than the Odea, so it had room. I had to clean it out every 6-8 cups made.
The Vienna also allowed me to see the water level, so it was easy to refill.

Now for the ODEA:
Doesn't matter which model Odea you get, they're the same build. I was impressed by the BMW-designed mechanics, so I bought it for the sleeker look. Smaller unti fitted well on the small kitchen counter I have.
MAKES STRONGER COFFEE than other...

do not buy
I purchased this machine on the "whole latte love" website. It took a week to arrive via ups ground. Upon arrival it was 100% dead. as soon as you turn it on the alarm light turns on and the machine does not do anything. also the optional filter was missing as well. I called the seller that told me to call Saeco, this is their agreement. I called Saeco (Philips) that issued me a promise for replacement
I received this replacement within less then a week, which is great. Initially they "promised" 10-14 days, but changed that after long phone discussions. the second machine arrived and turned on as promised. It made 5 great espresso shots and after the 5th shot the alarm light turned on (again). Nothing helped besides resetting the machine. Every 3-5 cups I need to reset it for the same reasons. The resetting itself takes about 30-40 seconds, but it is pretty unpleasant to need to do this all the time.
In summary, although it makes a good espresso shot and despite good...

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