Mainstays (201729) Single Serve and K-Cup Black Coffee Maker Reviews

Pro's Compact, easy to use, coffee brews hot, takes any k-cup, or use your own ground coffee as it comes with a filter basket Cons This does not compare to a Keurig where you can fill up a med/large water reservoir It only allows you to brew 1 cup of coffee at 6 8, 12 oz, so basically it's a single serve only The price is a bit high, should be $40 max. It's a decent coffee maker but Keurig is better

DO NOT BUY. I know that probably reads as spam but this thing literally just stopped working out of the blue today. I was just making my coffee as usual and for some reason, it didn't pour out the whole thing. Instead, a small portion of the coffee came out and the machine was essentially "stuck". I looked at the water holder and there was still water in there. So I thought it was a one off. So I decided to just let the water run out without the coffee pod and this was fine. So I tried it again, this time not only did the coffee not pour, it started pouring out overtop onto my floor! I was like what the hell is going on? Is something stuck? I clean it regularly and nothing looked off base. Tried it one more time and same thing, coffee started flowing out over top. I was done! I just threw it out. I'm going back to my single serve Keurig Coffee Maker. Sure it doesn't have the ground coffee option but dealing with the Sboly is not worth it. If you are looking for a combo ground coffee / pod machine, look elsewhere. I will never buy a Sboly product again!

This machine works great! It makes single cup coffee in 1/2 the time my old one did. Because it was much hotter than my old unit, we took the temp of the coffee after brewing and it was 76 degrees, so nice and hot as far as I'm concerned. Love that it does both K-Cups and grinds so everyone in the family can use it. Looks sharp and super easy to use and keep clean. Exactly what I needed. Highly recommend!!!

Works flawlessly. Best thing is it’s compact and does not take up counter space. My only concern is the lid for puttin the pod in. The button may wear out as I find it a little flimsy. It’s a spring design button but somewhat poorly designed in my opinion. Overall great and would recommend. I have been using for a month with pods and non pods.

This thing is great, works awesome. Very quick and I love how I don't need to use pods if I don't want to. Just use the adapter that comes with it for grown beans. I am drinking this great kicking Horse dark coffee and it is amazing. Way better than paying $4 million dollars for a cup at Tim's or gross folders or Taster's choice.

My Tassimo unit died recently and I did not want another like it. This unit handles both Kureg pods ( pre-packaged and reusable PLUS it has a special basket for ground coffee. It makes excellent coffee. I have also been using up my remaining Tassimo pods by dumping the contents into the ground coffee basket and I discovered that by using the " Capsule" cycle, I get a reasonable imitation of what the Tassimo unit did. I also use ground coffee and select the 'Ground Coffee' button and it makes a perfect cup every time. The two buttons appear to have different timing and flow sequences suited to the two different types of coffee. The pod coffee grains are very fine and the ground coffee is much more course. You simply choose the 'start button' that matches what you are brewing. The only complaint I have is that this unit must be level. The instructions mention it, but I found that the counter needs to be perfectly level. Otherwise, some of the incoming hot water over the basket 'escapes' and flows out of the unit over the handle of the basket. It's only about 1/4 oz but annoying. My counter slopes slightly but I found that when I shimmed the unit so it is level, the problem disappeared. In the end I just added some little rubber self sticking pads to the bottom of the feet and the problem went away. The off set was about 3/16". This unit has a permanent home and is used three times per day.

Does exactly what it's supposed to. Hotter than my previous coffeemaker, a Kuerig 1.0. Because you brew one mug (up to 12 oz.) at a time, going from cold to finished brew takes about 8 minutes. I just had to adjust my own timing to accomodate. A good unit at a decent price, for sure. I haven't cleaned the whole unit, yet, but so far giving the basket a rinse seems to do the trick.

I use this product to brew my single cups of coffee everyday since I got it. I worked well and is very easy to use. I am happy with the way it works. My coffee comes out hot and ready to drink. I love the ease of just scooping my coffee in the little cone and replace it with the cover pours your water in cover push the button and away it goes. It’s that easy. No time you have a great cup of Java hot and ready to drink. I’m glad that I found this little treasure. Everyone who is a coffee drinker and relied on a fine cup of coffee to start your day needs to get one of this little baby. I’m now drinking my first cup without milk and I love it? I did make a little five minutes video of me brewing my coffee but I can’t find it right now. I’ll do another review with video clips.

Perfect temperature I make a cup of water for the first brew to get the water out from the previous day. Takes no time to brew a cup, about 3 mins. I use for both ground and k-cups. Only con I could say is that with the ground, I always have a powder type residue at the bottom of my mug. The ground coffee that seeped through the mesh cup. It doesn’t bother my boyfriend but I just put a filter in there to avoid getting it in my cup. Overall, real happy with it

I received the product just over a month ago. Love it and planning on getting one for my elderly parents as Christmas present. Then problems started. Only getting a trickle of water while the towel under the coffee maker is soaking wet. I did cleaning with vinegar, which works very well the first time. The second time with vinegar took multiple rounds to make it work. I tried to auto-clean multiple times and tried run empty rounds. And now it went straight to dispensing water, totally bypassed the heating. 12/08/2020 additional comments I emailed the seller about the machine bypass the boiling process, the seller said try running vinegar cleaning cycle. It ended up spill over from the top. Turn out cleaning cycle flush out the hidden coffee grounds and loose leafs. Lesson learned is that even if you are using the soft water, still needs to run the vinegar cleaning cycle and check the dispensing tank for build up, every few days. 12/12/2020 update: The seller did not want me to return the product and was very prompt in issuing refund. Upgraded rating to four stars.

I purchased this coffee maker to replace an inexpensive (CAD$20) Black and Decker single cup maker that had a number of problems (e.g., a water reservoir that leaked, an ineffective filter basket which resulted in sludge in the bottom of the cup). The Sboly is superior in every way and is well worth its higher price (CAD$75). The fact that K-cups now are recyclable removed my reservation about purchasing this type of coffee maker. I'm pleased with the brewing speed: it takes just under 4 minutes to brew a 400 ml/14 oz. cup of coffee. I contacted Sboly customer support by email to ask whether the buzzing noise during the last 20 seconds of the brew cycle was normal. I got a prompt reply asking if I could send in a video so they could hear the noise. A couple of days after sending the video I got an email informing me that the noise was made by the pump and was completely normal. Excellent customer service.

Makes Very Good Coffee especially from my own ground beans I think because of the size and design of the ground coffee basket. Also used for K-Cups by wife with no complaints. I have two minor complaints and neither would deter me from recommending to some one else. It is a little slow and I tend to catch the ground basket when removing the basket to empty, sometimes spilling grounds. No issue with K-Cup removal. Delivery was quick well before expected due date. Now only question is durability and will update if does not meet expectations.

I had to write this review, It had been almost 15 days with this new coffee maker and we are nothing but impressed. I have tried coffee makers from the bigger brands and i did not get the same taste as this one makes. I am a huge coffee addict and enjoy my coffee to the fullest and i can tell you that you will not be disappointed. I would have preferred that the coffee could be a little hotter than what it throws out but this is not a big deal. Overall, a great product to buy !!

En fait, j'avais acheté un modèle Keurig équivalent, cependant une fois déballé, malgré plusieurs essais, mon appareil ne fonctionnait pas, donc je l'ai retourné. Puis je me suis dit que je devrais chercher soit un autre modèle Keurig ou même comparer avec les concurrents. Cela m'a amené à découvrir la marque Sboly et en comparant les deux appareils comparables, j'ai opté pour acheter le modèle de Sboly, principalement pour sa versatilité de produire un excellent café avec dosette ou café moulu. Facile à utiliser et surtout à entretenir. Excellente garantie et prix avantageux, bref je suis ravi de mon acquisition.

From start to finish it takes 3 minutes and 15 seconds for a perfect cup of coffee. My only issue with this machine is you have to be aware that there are sharp parts that could cause injuries while cleaning and manipulation if you're not cautious. Aside from this minor issue it's a great machine.

My bride and I finally caved in and decided to get a K-Cup machine after years of putting it off. We reasoned that since we are not big hot-drink drinkers, such a device would be pointless, especially since we have a stove-top kettle and a drip coffee maker too. Then, after the second straight day that my local Timmy's screwed up my Earl Grey tea order (1 milk, sugars, not 2 milk and no sugar), we decided to act. We settled on this device because it didn't take up a lot of counter space (we don't have much), was reasonably priced, and very simple to use and clean. In addition, the option of just using it to boil water for cup-o-soup, or other non-K cup needs in a few minutes (as opposed to waiting for a kettle to do it), made a lot of sense. This is exactly what we got and it works perfectly for us. This device fits perfectly on our counter (it takes up half the space of our old drip coffee machine) and the handy adaptor for non-K cup coffee is very useful too. Moreover, the water always hot, and is ready about two minutes after you start the cycle. If there are any drawbacks to it, so far they are not apparent to us. The device simply works. It makes a hot drink fast, is reasonably priced, and doesn't take up a lot of space. If that's what works for you, this machine should too. If you want more than that, look elsewhere. For us, this is pretty much perfect.

Love this Sboly single serve Coffee Maker. Or shall I say I used too !! Been using It for just over a month with Bullet Proof Coffee. It’s started not dispensing water. There seems to be a blockage in the water reservoir. I’m only pouring alittle water in & it’s already full. Not happy

I bought this coffee maker to get a Keurig compatible machine and this is definitely one of them. It makes the coffee surprisingly hot which I enjoy. I also enjoy the included coffee filter to use your own coffee instead of just relying on coffee pods. It includes a measuring water reservoir which is also a nice touch. But the machine is primarily plastic and seems to be cheaply made. I am curious if anyone has used one of these for a long time and, for that matter, how long the machine lasted with regular wear and tear.

This is precisely what I was looking for. It works nicely. Good hot coffee, it gives me the freedom to adjust how strong I want my coffee by changing the amount of water and ground coffee I put in the filter. I also liked that this filter can take my Brazilian ground coffee, that is way thinner than the regular north american ground coffee. Since I like both kinds of coffee (believe me, there is a world of difference between them), I am able to brew both of them, depending of what I feel like on the moment. All I need to do is use the ground coffee I want, the correct volume of water and BAM! Another good thing is that even if you use a smaller mug, the coffee will no splash all around. This was a good purchase. I'm happy with it.

I liked the small form factor as it is easy to fit on an already crowded kitchen counter. Another thing I liked is it brews a nice hot cup of coffee in mere minutes whether Kcup or ground and does quickly and quietly. Something I didn’t like is the opening to add water is a bit small and rectangular making pouring from the cup you are going to use ( a good idea as then you don’t overflow a cup) a tad messy. I fixed the problem by finding a good funnel.

Really wanted to love this coffee machine. Easy to make a single serving. The water isn't that hard to pour in despite what other reviewers are saying. However, the coffee that comes out is barely hot. Like I could stick my finger in it lukewarm. By the time I add a tablespoon of milk, the coffee is colddd. Ill have to try and see if I can return it :/ what a shame... update: changed my review after trying it a couple more times and wowowow my coffee is scalding hot! Great buy. And excellent customer service. Very happy with my purchase

This a very nice coffee maker, very easy to use, very easy to clean and the coffee tastes better You get a nice hot coffee in less than three minutes, the only problem I found so far it's that I want to drink more coffee now that the weather is getting colder. Very happy with it, I really recommend it !!;

Makes hot coffee not warm. Does take roughly 3.5 min. to make a 14oz so don't be in a rush. It is noisy too especially near the end of the cycle. I don't mind as I bought it for work where it is always noisy. I only use it for fresh coffee so can't comment on pod capabilities.

What a great unit, worked right out of the box and makes scalding hot beverages, literally. We've purchased 4 Keurig brand machines now and I was determined not to spend another dime on one - 1 did not work out of the box at all, 1 worked for a month, one worked about 6 months and the other maybe 3 months. None made water as hot as this little unit does! Its a very light little unit with various water levels for various size cups. Also comes with a filter to use in place of the standard k-pod of coffee so you can use your own coffee grinds. Bottom drip catcher comes out easily for cleaning as does the pod holder. It heats up quick too. I'm glad I bought it!

There is nothing to dislike about this product. The only problem I have is that I didn't order one earlier. I don't drink a lot of coffee and I just love the fact I can make one in the morning, it only takes a few minutes to get done, the coffee is hot . It's so easy to clean and the fact that you can use ground coffee or the pods is an added bonus. I'm honestly just thrilled with the product and can say nothing negative about it...........Bridget

My wonderful machine just arrived and I just couldn’t wait to try it so, I am enjoying my coffee with lots of cream (just the way I want it). The machine is amazing so far and the coffee came out super hot and it’s still super hot even after I poured lots of cream. The flavour is good. I used k-cup though since I got some from free samples. (I tested my machine first before I had my coffee.)

Very impressed! Boils the water first and then pours it on your coffee grinds or into your k-cup. Tried both methods and produces very good tasting hot coffee no matter the brand you use. I bought this for my office at work, it's compact and allows coffee mugs or taller insulated cups to be used. I'm very pleased with this purchase. Recommended!

I bought a single serve coffee maker 2 years ago and it soon started turning itself off and on at random times. The switch was very loose. It was Black & Decker and was only 20 bucks (get what you pay for). It did not do K-cups. Now this one is much more solidly built. The switches are push straight in and they feel firm, not loose & wiggly. This one does do K-cups. The water reservoir is easy to see because it is light blue and not black like the rest of the machine, means no accidental over-filling.. The coffee has good flavor, all the parts are easy to clean and it has a cleaning cycle. Haven't used for K-cups yet but there are two built-in metal piercers that look sturdy and will no doubt do the job. Great warranty and I bought the extended kitchen warranty from amazon. Expect to get many years of service from this coffee maker. They only downside is that the pump is a little noisy, but coffee is ready in under 3 minutes - and it means I know when its done from the next room, cuz I hear it stop. LOL Highly recommend.

My previous coffee maker was a 12 cup Bunn which I had for 15 years. I paid $100 US. Expensive for a coffee maker but I got what I paid for. This little machine is great. It doesnt take up alot of space. I am still getting accustomed to a single cup brew. I find I am not wasting coffee like I did with the big machine. The flavour is good. The only negative is there is a residue at the bottom of the cup. I suppose to be expected because its a single cup. I havent used the pod feature only the grind. So far so good.

Makes a very good cup of ground coffee. Our keurig makes horrid coffee. Just takes longer than I expected and the coffee too hot when its brewed

Really loving this coffee machine. It’s one of the few that actually let me use both coffee grounds and k pods. For everyday coffee I stick to the k pods because they are easy to use and require minimal effort to use but when it comes to the weekend I use fresh coffee grounds. This machine does both flawlessly and is definitely a step up from my previous machine. The price is pretty good for the amount of functionality it offers. A great buy!

Our old coffee maker that used coffee grounds stopped working. This one came with both options K cup pods or ground coffee, I primarily got this for the ground coffees as I already own a nespresso and use those pods. It does not take a lot of space in my coffee counter at all. The only downside is that it is a single serve coffee maker so if you have a large group, this will not be suitable for them. This is good for making your coffee cup before you head to work. Decent price for making coffee at home.

This is a really great single serve coffee maker! I’ve used it almost every day since I purchased it! Small, compact super easy to clean, all the k-cups I have can fit into this unit! Simple and easy to use! Would definitely recommend for home office, dorm rooms, work space, literally any space! It’s perfect!

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.  This is a great quality coffee machine. It is very compact which is something I’m fond of, as I don’t want it to take up a lot of space in my kitchen. It also has 2 functionalities, either for K-cup or coffee beans which is also very nice as not all machines have this. It is easy to clean, the coffee tastes great, and sufficient for all my morning coffee needs. Highly recommend!

You can use Keurig pods in it. It's just as good as a Keurig but like wayyy smaller. Also they included their own reusable cup to put your own coffee grinds into it. Just press the button and you got coffee a minute later. I haven't had to clean it much yet. But it's really simple to wash by hand. I bought this to replace a bulkier unit and I don't regret it at all. It will fill up to 14 oz.

Easy to fill up to the desired amount of water. It takes a couple minutes to warm the water but it’s at a perfect temperature for both tea or coffee I like that we can use either kcups (endless flavour combinations) or ground coffee. Or make straight hot water Easy to clean (instructions on how to do this are included) Great for office or at home to make a fresh hot beverage whenever we want without taking up a crazy amount of space (my favourite part and reason why I purchased this machine)

I will be honest, I LOVE this. I have been using it every single day for my morning coffee with both grounds and pods and it works so well and brews hot enough that I have to let it sit for a good 15 mins before I even try to drink it. You just fill the amount of water you want (similar to in room hotel style ones) select ground or pods and go. It’s that easy.

This coffee machine is compact and easy to use. We have a full sized Keurig in the kitchen but wanted a secondary unit for our home office space so we can quickly grab a drink on crazy work days in between meetings without having to go downstairs. This perfectly fit the bill as it was light and compact. We love that it comes with both a k-cup attachment as well as the mesh basket for loose coffee. Personally I use the mesh basket for loose leaf tea, as I find most filters or “tea steepers” allow at least SOME tea leaves through and I’m not a big fan of that. We also love that so many components detach completely for easy cleaning. I have tried putting various mug/cup sizes and almost every cup I own fits under there. I measured and the tallest cup you can fit is 6.5”. The teal cup in my picture measures exactly 6” tall and is 20fl.oz. You can also lift up the metal grate that is part of the spillage drain area and fit an even slightly taller cup in there! In a pinch I have even stuck a cup noodle under there and was able to have my noodle soup! The reservoir can hold a max of 14 oz of water. Great buy!

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.  I usually buy keurig for my coffee maker but because its quite expensive, so I tried to look for a different brand which is still able to do all the work. This machine was easy to use, it was self explanatory. I didnt even read the instruction. Just make sure that you have to measure the water when you fill as it may not stop for a certain cup size which was my mistake for not reading the instruction. Mine overflowed but its not a big deal. So when i tried it again, I use the cup to fill it and went perfect! Easy to clean and not big enough to fill my countertop!

Very easy to clean. Everything can be taken out for easy rinsing once you are done. I have photos of the different cups you can use to make coffee. You can have kcup or grinds. The mesh cup for the friends is much larger than some that I have seen in other brands. This one allows you to out how much water you need for your cup of coffee which makes it so there is no water reservoir. My old maker was thrown out due to water leaking.

Absolutely thrilled with this purchase! I had to replace my kuerig I was sad to see it go because it was a Xmas gift from my son. However this little miracle isn't as bulky. I was hesitant because of comments regarding slow heating time. Yes it's slow compared to the kuerig but definitely not a deal breaker. Use a measuring cup to pour water and ensure there is no overflow. Fits perfectly on my coffee and wine bar. Had it for over a month it's definitely a keeper.

If I could give zero stars, I would...Only had a week or so, it just exploded the coffee grounds out and coffee in cup has to be restrained!!..Next time I will check Country where made before purchase!!!

Perfect for people who want keurig but without the price tag. Makes a perfect cup of coffee and the option to use ground coffee instead of k cups if desired.

We have the extensive brand at my job that holds tons of water, but you know what I LOVE this K-Cup Single Serve. It does the same job. I simply pour my cup of water in and it works well! In fact, it does a good job getting the coffee out of the K-Cup better than many expensive machines. I will say this the only small negative is you hear this noise after it finishes brewing for about 30-Seconds. So just have patience it will stop. I also read the reviews prior to purchasing and folks said you have to wait a bit. I didn't experience any longer wait then other machines. I love it! It's worth the $20 bucks! I plan to use it as long as it lasts! It's getting me through COVID and that's important right now!

This is an excellent product for a great price. The size of the machine allows you to put it just about anywhere.

We are struggling to find a refillable k cup that works with this coffee maker. The drip spout on the lid on top won't close on the reusables because they are all symmetrical and it is off center. HELP. I don't want my husband to keep using grounds directly in the provided filter because they are all over the lid and spout every time. I want his grounds in an enclos ed d cup I can clean in the sink. Anybody found a brand I can buy that works with this coffee maker? Otherwise this coffee maker is fine. The first one lasted 2 months before it clogged somewhere deep and stopped filling. We are on our second one. We have VERY HARD WATER. We expect them to die young.

This unit is quick to heat water and is great for the k-cups but I won't try using grounds again which is a disappointment. I have several cans of coffee that I was hoping to use. Great for tea or heating water I needed to clean with.... and coffee with k-cups. What I didn't like was the water coming out in sort of a spray instead of a stream so be aware of that and don't have any paperwork nearby because it may get wet. I thought that was weird. I used a taller travel cup so I'm assuming that a regular coffee mug will have even more spray outside of the cup. I plan to find something to place under the mug to raise it. I do like the removable drip tray and the fact that this is easy to clean and fast to heat water. Very easy to use.

I am a truck driver and wanted something that was fairly cheap (since everything is constantly rattling around) but that could also make me a quick cup of coffee instead of spending $3 a day. This worked perfectly for about 2 weeks. All of a sudden, every cup I make over flows from the top spilling grounds into my cup and water all over the space I use. It's not worth the 20 bucks. I'm going to take it back and exchange it for something that's more reliable and won't have me cleaning up a huge mess in the morning and enjoying chunky coffee.

I’m in love with my Single Serve and K-Cup Coffee Maker. The fact that you can also make ground coffee in it makes me love it even more. Definitely the best $20.00 I’ve spent in a long time! If you’re one of those people that don’t want to pay for an expensive name brand option, give this one a try, you won’t be disappointed.

I read more reviews while waiting for delivery. I wanted to be able to use my own coffee as well as K-cup, but lots of reviews tend to be on the negative side for grounds setting due to possible mess or weak coffee. I wondered if I can just spray out the top and the compartment after each use with kitchen faucet sprayer and also use the removable faucet to fill the water since filling is an issue for some people as well. I did try pouring from a cup and it got a little messy, so from the kitchen faucet worked better. I took 9 photos, but Walmart only allows 2, so I included the one showing filling and the one showing cleaning while the unit is tilted on its side. I use a two foot long very thick extension cord to connect to the outlet. This extension I normally use for my generator (it's that thick). So I have no worries about using that extension. Photos are my second cup of "grounds" coffee (no k-cup). The coffee maker got here before the coffee that's in a separate order, so I cut open a couple of my Nespresso decaf pods to use the coffee. I like the Nespresso for "espresso", but they only have one flavor of half caff in coffee size. Imagine that; one flavor to choose from, and it's not very good either. So I decided to get a cheap k-cup maker to get more variety when I just want a regular sized cup of coffee. I do really like some of Nespresso's espressos and I'll continue to use that for espresso. I'm going to keep this coffee maker next to the sink for filling and cleaning. I don't intend to unplug the unit either, but then it's plastic and I also don't intend to spray water onto the electrical cords or down into the coffee maker. I've turned this unit on its side twice and carefully spot cleaned the two areas that get funked up with grounds, using the sprayer. I then turn it back up, and use a paper towel to get down into the area that holds the screened pod and clean that out. I might alter my method, but thus far it seems far better than ordering refill k-cups at 33 cents a piece or manually cleaning the grounds off the top and inside of the unit. Like others say; if you fill up the grounds strainer with too much coffee, then it will overflow and make a mess. Using the Nespresso pod amount of coffee worked fine and was below the max line. Expect a little water around the coffee maker after tipping to clean, but I clean that up with the paper towel I use to clean the inside k-cup area with. This decaf from the Nespresso pod came out just as good as Nespresso. It was a surprisingly strong and flavorful cup since I brewed 10 oz of water for a 7.7 oz Nespresso (8 oz water) pod. Whether tipping this thing daily and rinsing that way does any harm to the machine, I will see. But this is how I'm going to do it unless I find any negatives. For anyone else who tries to rinse the grounds off by this method; you're on your own. Darwin is not forgiving for those who might drown this coffee maker in a pool of water while plugged in.