Espresso machines · 14 differences · 6 published for only one
Steel Duo vs Retrò
Ascaso and Quick Mill, side by side at one scale on a 60 cm counter.
Images: Ascaso, Quick Mill, the manufacturers' product photographs, scaled by each published height. About our images
Specification
| Field | Steel Duo | Retrò |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 270mm | 340mm |
| Depth | 315mm | 230mm |
| Height | 360mm | 350mm |
| Weight | 15kg | 9.9kg |
| Boiler system | Thermoblock | Thermoblock |
| Boilers | 2 | 1 |
| Boiler material | not published | Aluminium |
| PID temperature control | Yes | No |
| Warm-up | 1min | not published |
| Pump | Vibratory | Vibratory |
| Pressure profiling | None | not published |
| Pre-infusion | No | not published |
| Group | Thermoblock group | Proprietary |
| Groups | 1 | 1 |
| Water source | Reservoir | Reservoir |
| Reservoir | 2L | 1.8L |
| Plumbing | None | None |
| Steam wand | Cool-touch | Panarello |
| Hot-water tap | Yes | not published |
| Milk system | Manual wand | Manual wand |
| Voltage | 120V | 115V |
| Power | 2,000W | 1,200W |
| Phase | Single | Single |
| Type | Semi-automatic | Semi-automatic |
| Display | Analogue gauge | None |
| Shot timer | No | No |
| Built-in grinder | No | Yes |
| Colours | Black | not published |
| Made in | Spain | Italy |
A lit cell is the better value only where nobody would argue (more capacity, less retention, a lower list price, a feature present) and only when both makers publish the figure. "Not published" is never counted as a loss.