I wanted to try a pump machine, after many years of using steam machines always with a more-or-less bitter tasting coffee. This Capresso sounded good in the descriptions, but I had some doubts because of other reviews, although several of them sounded like they might not have been running the machine properly - lots of "leaks" but never where the leak was coming from, etc. So I bought one to try it out, and have used it regularly for the past few weeks.I am VERY happy with it. It took several days of mess and experiment to understand how it works - and I actually read the manual, surprise surprise. It is well-wriiten, much easier to understand and much, much more complete than the usual foreign-languag-ey kind of thing. The machine makes excellent espresso, and its foamer works beautifully, makes a nice long-lasting foam - I don't know how it works, my experience with the old inexpensive steam machines was pretty bad. One of the best things about the Capresso is that you can make as many capuccinos as you want, one after another, without waiting for anything to re-heat or cool down or be cleaned and refilled!! They have some kind of internal hot-block and they pump the water through it in one way to make the espresso and in another way to make the steam for foaming - there's no "boiler", when you shut off the steam it just stops!! And that's where the "leak" review must have originated. Because there's no boiler (so you can keep making them one after another until you need to replenish the water tank!) what they do when you shut off the foaming is to release the steam pressure in the foaming pipe into the drip-tray - so you get the last puff of steam and hot water into the tray. After 2 or 3 capuccinos the tray is full. Since I have to put fresh coffee grounds in for each new cup (duh!), I just empty the tray at the same time - saves thinking about it.Anyhow, I don't know how sturdy it is, etc etc, but it doesn't seem to be fragile or flimsy, so I have hopes that it will last. In the meantime, we'll just enjoy the coffee!