Grounds lifter is a great idea; the rest, meh
First, the grounds lifter is a fantastic idea. A+, 10/10 for that. The nice wide diameter is also great. You can brew a great tasting cup of coffee in this. Everything else, not so much. First, it's glass. Somebody is going to drop it, and it's going to break into a million pieces. (It's not like your measuring cup. This glass is thin and fragile. ) I had the 4-cup version. They stopped selling the carafe for it. Are they going to stop selling the 8-cup carafe when they decide to change sizes again? Buying a glass press means either depending on the manufacturer to stock replacements indefinitely, or throwing it out when you break a fragile piece. The glass isn't the only fragile part. The plastic lid is also a weak point, and that broke on mine, too. Fortunately, it's less critical. You can still brew coffee after the plastic lid breaks. That's good, because they don't seem to have ever sold that as a replacement part. The 4-cup model had markings for "2 cups" and "4 cups". First, what is a "cup"? Based on who you're asking, a "cup" of coffee may be 2. 5, 4, 6, or 8 fluid ounces. (Empirically, it seems to be 4 for the bottom two, and 4. 75 for the top two: why? Just use standard milliliters, please. ) Next problem: it's impossible to pour water for "3 cups": the lower mark is hidden on the inside (by the water+grounds), and the upper mark is hidden on the outside (by the steel frame)! Interestingly, instead of fixing the markings, it seems the new model simply does away with them completely. Measure your own water before pouring! I guess that's one solution. As long as you don't mind measuring your water separately, this is a decent french press, until it breaks. OXO is great at some things, but not about supporting older products. If I had to buy again, I'd skip this and buy a decent steel french press. It'd be cheaper in the long run. French presses naturally have big accessible handles, so this is not a tool where you'd be sacrificing usability.
