Mini Vivaldi S1

[srfdude44]

I have an opportunity to purchase one, at $850. One owner, 2010 model. Owner says no problems, and I have no reason to doubt him. Still, it is old, and I'm not sure if I should run, or take the opportunity. What say you experienced folks?
Mike

[chas]

That's a tough call. If you can truly plug it in and start using in with no repairs needed once it arrives, then it's a pretty decent deal. But if it does have issues or gets damaged in shipment, things can quickly get painful. At least you'll have this site as a resource.

There have been a lot of members on this Forum who have bought machines of that age. Almost all have had at least some minor issues. Of course, there may be many more used machine buyers without issues. The ones that have issues are probably the only ones we hear from.

The good news is that the S1's are pretty easy to work on and spare parts are easy to obtain.

[srfdude44]

Thanks for your reply, Chas. Is there a post, or website that I can find out what what the machines of this vintage (2010) came with? It does have the 5 degree lights, does that say everything I need to know? Looking around it seems there were many options/versions available.
Mike

[chas]

In that case I'd wave off your purchase. In late 2004 Chris Coffee Service became the sole importer of the Vivaldi line. Somewhere around 2007 they released the Vivaldi V2 and Mini-V2. CCS never resold the Mini-S1. That was only available in other countries. So this machine is either from another country or is a gray market device.

My previous comments were made under the impression that your potential purchase was for a MIni V2. The Mini V2 added a lot of minor but important improvements and updates to the V1 model. An actual Mini V1 is probably not worth more than $450-$500.