Because we're serious about our coffee, we sold our old $100+ Cuisinart coffeemaker to be replaced with this much better designed and much easier to use coffee maker.
A motel room we stayed at had this model coffee maker. We used it twice a day for 10 days. The coffee was delicious and we found no minuses at all, so I bought one. We've been using it daily now for about three months.
The carafe is made of heavy duty glass and doesn't drip at all. The hole to pour water into is large and easy to get to. There are convenient and accurate water level windows on both sides of the unit. The controls are convenient, easy to understand, and easy to use. The basket is easily removed for cleaning, easy to position, and uses standard flat bottomed filters. The time and function displays are large and bright. All of these are comparative problem areas in the Cuisinart.
Programming works perfectly and is so simple to use we didn't need the manual. To set the time of day press the "Hours" button until it reaches the current hour and then the "Minutes" button. To set the "Auto on" time, press the "Program" button, and then set the start time the same way. Press the "Program" button again to go back to time of day. For auto start, press the "Auto on" button, which lights up. That's it.
In addition, the water enters the drip chamber in a shower rather than a stream, resulting in consistently smooth and uniform tasting coffee. I can't comment on the warming plate because we put what we don't drink immediately into a Thermos for all day use. The warming plate shuts itself off after two hours if you forget.
The negative reviews are a puzzle to me. We found none of the problems mentioned.
This is an addendum in mid Nov, 2007. The coffeemaker still makes perfect coffee and everything works like new. The only negative I'd add is that the warming plate is quite rusty, probably because I put a pot of tap water on it at night to have chlorine free water in the morning. Often the pot is damp. When we need to replace this coffeemaker, I'll paint the new warming plate with bar-b-cue paint before the first use, for rust protection.
This is an update, dated 11/20/07. The coffeemaker still works perfectly and still looks good. I sanded the rust off of the base plate, painted it with bar-b-cue paint, and as expected there is no more rust problem. I don't think the rust would occur for most people. I caused it by putting a wet pot on the plate overnight seven days a week.
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Black & Decker DCM2500B SmartBrew CoffeemakerProduct Description: Black & Decker SmartBrew coffeemaker in black.Includes 12-cup capacity, lighted on/off switch, removable brew basket, water window, cord storage and Perfect Pour carafe.
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Purchased to replace a Mr. Coffee that finally gave up the ghost.Had comparable features like auto brew timer and auto shut off.Will be replacing it soon with another Mr Coffee. When you pour the first and second cups you can expect to make a mess with the dribble carafe. It is difficult to fill the coffee maker with water without making another mess. I dont know why they added a splash bar across the fill area but it does make filling it with water a challenge.On the positive side the brew timer and suto shut off work well and it makes coffee as you would expect. The big down side is that useability is lacking.
