I have had nothing but bad luck with coffee makers over the last 3 years. I have purchased just about every brand at every price point and have had most of them last less than 9 months. Needless to say, I was skeptical and didn't really want to get another lemon. I have had this over a month now and it works great. My water isn't the best, so the charcoal filter does a wonderful job and has eliminated the need for bottled water. If you add 6 cups of water, you get 6 cups of coffee (my last machine would steam so much that I rarely got close to the original amount). I love the "alert" feature that lets you know when the pot is brewed and also warns you when it shuts off. Easy to use, easy to fill and simple to clean, I hope that I have this machine for a long time.