As a tired father to a newborn, I am very happy with the upgrade this machine offered to me over my previous coffee maker.\nMy first machine was defective, but Ninja’s customer support was quick to diagnose the issue and ultimately, they replaced the machine without me having to spend too much time on the phone.\nThe drip brew coffee is consistent and predictable, and with basic adjustments to how fine of a grind you use or to the grinds to water ratio, you can really dial in how you like your drip brews to come out. \nI even went so far as to make a super fine espresso grind out of one of my favorite beans, ran the specialty brew setting to make a super strong 4 oz pour that I turned into a 'cappuccino style' coffee with some frothed milk and that was delightfully good! FYI – I also got good cappuccino-style results using the Café Bustelo Espresso Style K-Cups (also on the specialty brew setting but for the K Cups this time).\nMy wife (who hates all coffee products) said the cappuccino style coffee I made was something she would drink with me (huge win!)\n\nHowever, I'll admit that it took finding and buying the proper fitting metal reusable filter to get good results. It is disappointing that the machine does not come with the metal filter at this price point, but even more disappointing that the Ninja brand filter is perpetually out of stock. No one wants to constantly use something disposable and add to the garbage in the world, plus the metal filter results are just superior in my opinion.\n\nYou CAN buy any number 4 reusable cone filter and get it to work, but you'd have to put your fingers into the bottom of the filter and then shove it down until it bends enough to fit all the way into the machine. I've done this, and it went fine but that still didn't stop me from buying the actual metal filter for this machine once I found it. The standard number 4 filters aren’t quite as tall as the proper fitting ones.\n\nClearly, the Ninja brand reusable filter is a bit of a unique fit but fear not, there is another coffee machine that uses these exact same unique filters AND they are in stock. It’s a GE Cafe 10-Cup Drip Brew Coffee machine (a model that Best Buy also happens to sell) - AND if you look on GE's parts websites you will find it so I recommend everyone that owns this machine to grab either the Ninja filter or the GE Café filter (they are literally the same thing) as soon as you can. If you do this, I am confident you'll have great at-home coffee results. My results with this machine quickly became good enough to consolidate a bit and give away my older drip brew coffee machines. Now I have only one nice looking coffee appliance on my countertop, and I feel like my at home coffee station is very well equipped.\n\nFYI – this Ninja machine comes in 2 versions, one with a metal thermal carafe and one with a glass carafe/warmer plate combo. To be as polite as possible…. if you know what you’re doing you will choose the correct version for your needs – so please disregard any other reviewers’ comments about the thermal carafe. It’s A THERMAL CARAFE – its not magic. If you only fill it up half-way, the coffee is not going to stay hot that long, that’s just basic physics. However, if you put the top on it and fill it up at least ¾ or more – I can promise you the coffee will stay hot for at least 3.5 hours (which is as long as I cared to test it myself with a thermometer). I brewed a full carafe and the initial temp was 160-165 (perfect IMO) and then immediately poured myself a large cup and set the carafe down. After 1 hour I poured another 2 cups and set the carafe back down (to simulate some realistic usage for when I’m brewing a pot to leave for guests to come help themselves too). 3 hours in the temp was 145 and 3.5 hours in the temp was 140. Still good for sure! \nLet’s not discount the fact that the carafe doesn’t have to be anywhere specific to work (no warmer plate that it has to stay on), so you can brew this large pot and then just put the carafe on the table for everyone and the machine is immediately available to brew other stuff (you can brew directly into cups, travel mugs, teacups, other carafes you have, etc.) It is so versatile it kinda feels like a little coffee shop in your house.\nI specifically bought this machine because I was being picky about a few features I really wanted – and even so I was still very surprised to learn that it had other stuff that is really thoughtful and useful. I specifically looked for something with – \n(1) cone style filters, which I strongly prefer over basket style filters (cone is much more consistent, efficient and better able to brew a proper single cup)\n(2) I specifically wanted a thermal carafe rather than a warmer plate that burns the coffee and ruins the flavor if you leave it on for too long, (but be my guest and buy that version if you really prefer)\n(3) larger capacity for when I have guests and \n(4) also being able to do K Cups. \nThe hot or