alt Hacker NewsI would like to give a strong counterexample to that. I got a Flair 58 lever machine which on the one hand is a beautifully engineered machine (connected to a trash power supply that feels like it stepped out of the 90s but that's another story).
However, it's not the machine for me. I got it when I was deeply getting into coffee, and I'm coming from a scientific background so I wanted to do proper testing of my extractions. That's not really possible with a lever machine. Shots are inherently not reproducible, it's very difficult to get the same pressure from one shot to the next, even with the pressure gauge.
If that doesn't bother you and you're just happy to get decent espresso from a beautiful looking machine, then absolutely go for a lever machine.
But if you have scientific tendencies, if you want to properly test and compare flavors between between and brew ratios, it's not for you.
A prosumer electric machine will give you way more consistent results, although you won't be able to adjust pressure you'll still be able to adjust everything else.
And of course, if you want to steam milk then a lever machine can't do that either.
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lol, the pressure gauge is the sole reason I get more god shots from my Flair!
Well, I have good news and I have bad news for you, and they're the same thing:
An electric machine (other than the Decent) is not any more reproducible in terms of the outcome of the shot than a manual lever, and in many ways they're less reproducible. The reason is that the actual pressure the water is under is not the important thing, the important part of coffee extraction is how that water is flowing through the puck.
Due to just random happenstance configurations that the puck can settle into, applying the same pressure every time will not result in the same extraction every time. Someone skilled with a lever and who is used to knows what it feels like when a shot flows too fast or too slow can adjust the pressure on the fly to compensate, improving consistency.