Instant purchase regret

[u/WoodenBus4120]

I know I’m not the first to post about this but I am new to the sub after being super disappointed by the Ninja Autobarista pro and researching tips to help. The extraction is small/weak, no crema, no depth. Used so many beans already just calibrating and haven’t enjoyed a proper cup yet. Do I persevere a week and hope grindIQ will figure it out or look for an alternative?

Need something easy to use & clean, we all like different coffees so need something versatile too although we have a milk frother already so don’t need this in the machine.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

[u/0098six]

Return it. Get a Delonghi. Way less fussy.

[u/Octan3]

Buy a delonghi or a philips. I have a philips 5400. 3 years now. 0 issues. I can recommend it.

[u/hypnoticimager]

Ninja has serious quality control issues. You could try another one as a warranty claim or just go with DeLonghi.

[u/cuoreesitante]

Return and get one from a proper coffee brand. There are so many options on the market at every budget range.

[u/shopper7575]

I bought a Jura C3. Very
Simple. Makes coffee or expression only. I always tell friends it’s coffee for dummies.

[u/Kinibo]

Only my personal experience here, but we just returned our Ninja Autobarista the other day. We were really excited to get it because it’s supposed to be the swiss army knife of espresso machines, and we were tired of the waste and expense of using pods. My wife loves lattes and I’m a drip coffee guy. After three days, it basically stopped dispensing water; it would go through all the motions and then squeeze maybe six drops of espresso into the cup. We wasted nearly half a bag of beans troubleshooting the issue and couldn’t get it to work. We also found the drip coffee was nowhere near as hot as our old Keurig, and tasted different every time we brewed. I’m sure if we wanted to go through the hassle we could have had ours replaced, but it’s a $1000 machine with only a one year warranty. Based on our experience, I would still be worried about the new machine probably outliving the warranty by a month and then we’d be out of luck. Very disappointing.

[u/MapFabulous2126]

How much do u want to spend

[u/WoodenBus4120 → u/MapFabulous2126]

Around £1k

[u/Threeaway919]

Contact ninja to send you another. I’ve had my best cups ever from a super auto from the ninja. I’ve also had some of the worst. It’s about a 90% success. Once you set grindiq for new beans, ignore grindiq until you switch beans

[u/ImportantlyToMe]

Oof, if you hate it, I don't think it'll get better.

[u/WoodenBus4120 → u/ImportantlyToMe]

I want to love it hahaha and less then 24 hours in i don’t but not sure if it’s something i need to adjust

[u/ImportantlyToMe → u/WoodenBus4120]

then adjust away! make a bunch of changes. test different options. if it still isn't good, call it.

[u/Ok-Lobster-919 → u/WoodenBus4120]

If you want to try to continue to use it, set the grinder to +1 or +2 in the settings and just ignore the grind calibration, even when the light turns orange, when it pulls a choked shot though you have to let it finish so it can learn from it, the next shot will be better. It will not produce as much crema as the other machines because it is a non-pressurized brew group, it has no "crema valve", it produces "real" crema though which is very different than any other superautomatic. The shots are going to be more concentrated and the machine leans to that, try it with the bean counter (strength) lower and it will give you longer shots closer to a normal superautomatic. It's kind of counterintuitive.

But it will always waste more beans and always be less reliable since it relies entirely on grind pressure. It is excruciatingly hard to automate as Ninja is apparently just learning. The beans will change overnight from environmental conditions and the grind from yesterday that worked no longer works today.

[u/samson-and-delilah]

I have a rivelia. Love it. Got my MIL the ninja because she likes espresso and black coffee. Her machine makes a damn good cup of coffee/espresso

[u/WoodenBus4120 → u/samson-and-delilah]

So maybe I need to adjust something in the settings

[u/samson-and-delilah → u/WoodenBus4120]

We just ran one grind iq calibration and it puts out a brilliant espresso. Lots of people have had issues with grind iq, so just maybe reach out to ninja and try a replacement machine

[u/drmoze → u/samson-and-delilah]

I can't imagine the Ninja making even one brilliant espresso.

[u/Psychological-Toe641]

I’m having to replace mine because the iced latte hangs the machine after foaming and I have to unplug. But, I’m not giving up because to my palate it’s the best tasting super auto across my spectrum of preferred drinks.

ETA: I did have to adjust +1 grind because of flow

[u/WoodenBus4120 → u/Psychological-Toe641]

I want to love it so I don’t want to give up yet but not sure how to make things better! Maybe I’ll try replacing it

[u/Soontobecincydad]

I just returned my ninja auto barista back to Costco and switched to the delonghi duo. I also found it disappointing. Nothing seemed very strong, and everything felt watered down. Also, the foaming on the milk was also very subpar. I also felt like I went through a water tank every single drink because it had to be rinse itself so much.

[u/baffledbum]

Being a guy that roasts my own espresso beans, it could be the beans you are using. I don’t own a SA but I did in the past. Currently I use a manual Italian machine and most of all, store-bought beans produce terrible espresso. Roasting my own resolves this as the beans are fresh and not charred.

[u/AriBenSion]

Try the new Philips 8000. It makes great coffee is easy to clean, and very simple to use and is much cheaper than many of its fancy competitors. I love it every morning!

[u/No-Anybody-823]

I'm hoping Ninja reiterates on these models cause damn. They're tempting for the price and all but we ended up with Delonghi after recommendations from this sub

[u/Big_Instruction9922]

It's not that these machines have quality control issues. They are designed for people who like the idea of coffee, and foamed milk and a easy to use machine.

  If you are coming from a drip machine wanting large cups of coffee with foam wrapped up in the idea that it's espresso and fancy, it's hitting the spot. It's a cash cow for Ninja. It's a Delonghi True Brew with milk.  Please, do tell me about the non pressured basket, and how Ninja is a pioneer.  These people selling the brand on here sound like the TK employees in here trying to tell everyone how awesome TK was as a company, basically doing god's work and how awesome the TK 02 was. The TK was designed for the same demo as the Ninja.

[u/Rude-Oven-6742 → u/Big_Instruction9922]

I think a big part of the issue is Americans drink different coffee to everyone else. Nowhere else in the world is "normal coffee" defaulted to drip coffee.

Just about anywhere else "coffee" now involves espresso by itself or as part of something but it sems like a large amount of complaints on any machine are "it doesn't taste like the pot coffee at my local Starbucks or diner". 

[u/Von_Jelway]

Love my Ninja autobarista. I think they are selling a lot of lemons though. Lots of people love theirs, but lots seem to hate them because they don’t work too.

[u/sometimes_lost89]

I hated the kf8 and eletta explore but I love the ninja ab pro go figure lol