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Nice choice to make.
I'm no expert, but have been reading up recently as I'm looking to purchase soon myself.
The main difference between the two machines is that the Apartment is a HX and the R58 a dual boiler. In case you haven't, it's worth having a read about the difference between the two and the pros and cons.
I found this useful -
https://www.bellabarista.co.uk/coffee-machine-guideIf it were my choice, I'd go dual boiler R58 as I use bottled water and would be unhappy with the waste involved with cooling flushes on a HX. I also think they're more stable in terms of temperature.
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You’ll still need to flush the group on a dual-boiler R58 as it uses the ancient e61 grouphead design which cools down and robs heat from the water when it’s been idling. I used to use the multi-boiler R8 commercial machine and even that couldn’t manage temperature, I always pulled a shot into the drip tray after it had been idling which is worse than just pulling a cooling shot on a hx, hence why it got updated to a saturated group, La Marzocco style.
Tl;dr: water wastage issue is moot.
Urgh. After nearly ten years of service (minus a new gasket seal, drop tray and solenoid) my trusty Gaggia Baby Class has gone the way of the dodo. A sudden electrical pop which blew my circuit and its dead.
Which means it's finally time to invest real money into a real machine.
I am thinking the Rocket Apartamento. Anyone have an experience of that little guy? Anyone have a view on that over the R58? A friend of mine has the 58 and swears by it. But it is quite large esp. for a small cotttage kitchen. That said I will be buying someplace bigger out of town next year. Hmmm.
Any and all views appreciated. Thanks in advance!