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The SPINN Coffee Maker … oh where to begin. When it's good, it's GOOD. When it's bad … it’s broken … and you can’t fix it.

A little background. We drink coffee every day. We aren’t Starbucks people. My wife and I generally drink black coffee, not too dark, but not weak and watery. Just good beans and a good brew. We also like it hot and ready when we want it. The SPINN promised to deliver all that (and a bag of beans).

Having lived through years of a boring drip maker, my wife and I went brewer shopping after our old metal carafe had seen its last day. We liked the idea of a per cup coffee maker, but weren't satisfied with the quality (or the cost) of the available pod machines. When I found the SPINN, I loved the idea of being able to get a fresh-ground and fresh-brewed cup of coffee using whole beans at the touch of a button (whether in the kitchen or from the app on my phone). The ability to also switch from coffee, to espresso, to a variety of other brewed coffee drinks using the SPINN mobile app was also intriguing. What was not intriguing? The price. When we were first looking at them, the Spinn V1 retailed for around $999. Ouch.

So I did what I always do when price becomes an obstacle — I went bargain hunting. Specifically, I went looking to see if maybe the SPINN wasn’t the perfect coffee maker (for someone else) and maybe I could get a used one for cheap to try.

Hard to find on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, a gently-used SPINN can typically be found on eBay. I got my first SPINN for about $500 with shipping. Ultimately we added a 2nd SPINN unit (also from eBay) for another $600. That newer unit could be plumbed directly into the water line making it even easier to always have a hot cup of coffee at the blink of an eye.

Now our experience: The SPINN app works great. The SPINN Machine, when it's working, also works great. Delicious fresh-ground hot coffee at the push of a button, and easy clean up (just dump the grounds, no more filters). The machine requires periodic maintenance (a descaling function), but that is also easy to manage, runs itself in about 40 minutes (just add the descaling solution) and you get prompts from the app when it's time for maintenance.

But once things start to go south, it can be a dark and lonely road. Our 2nd SPINN machine (our daily driver) began to get periodic machine errors. Sometimes these errors would clear up after descaling. Sometimes you could Fonzi it by unplugging the device and plugging it back in. But sometimes that could take an hour of fussing with it … on mornings where you don’t have an extra hour … and you really need a cup of coffee … and you have Questionable Kids giving you attitude before they leave for school … and Mrs. Questionable is on your case because your stupid expensive coffee machine isn't working … and you can’t get SPINN customer support to get back to you … and you bought it off eBay, so you didn't register the device for the warranty.

Ultimately, despite some reasonable assistance from SPINN customer support (that included shipping me a part and a link to a YouTube video to DIY that sumbitch), our SPINN unit gave out. And while we were able to pivot back to our first SPINN (where we have to fill the water carafe every day like a peasant), I do feel like it's just a question of time before this SPINN too craps out. What then?

I don’t think I’d buy another SPINN off eBay. I’d want the warranty and the support, but I’m not ready to put $1k down on a device that has a shelf life of 3-4 years. So while we love the device in theory, and most of the time in practice, caveat emptor.