Others say...

"Terrible"
This is the worst coffee pot I have ever owned. You have to fight and fight to get the carafe in place as there is basically NO roon between it and the drip valve. No matter how hard you try, coffee grinds seep through into the carafe 50% of the time. And, after one month, the water tank in mine began leaking in the valve area.

"TCM830 Reviewed - The Almost Perfect Coffee Maker"
I recently bought the B&D TCM830. It was exactly what I had been looking for in a coffee maker. Previously I had a Mr. Coffee and it could never be cleaned satisfactorily, retaining old coffee residue and grime in the coffee basket area. So an important feature was to find one that the coffee assembly could be removed to be cleaned. I also became tired of breaking carafes so the stainless steel thermal pot was welcomed, plus the fact that it can and does keep coffee warm longer than I am interested in drinking the stuff. I was concerned about the fact (as others had mentioned) that the tower seemed a bit wobbley and allowed the water / coffee valve over the carafe to easily misalign. (Although it does not seem to cause any leaks or issues.) The other item I worried about is the valve between the removable water tank and where it seats on the coffee maker. As someone else said "it's seems like a leak ready to happen", but once again it has never caused a issue. And as others had mentioned, I too found that overflow hole at the 10 cup level that always spilled water on the way back from the faucet,(highly annoying). Overall, I am very satisfied with this coffee maker and if B&D had paid a little more attention to those 2 things this would be "The Ultimate Coffee Maker". It's priced very reasonable and as a matter of fact I was surprised at how reasonable it was ($49 @ Lowe's). I would have bought a Bunn but they did not have a model that had all the features of this Black & Decker. I give it 4+ stars and would recommend it.

"Not perfect - but well worth it"
I purchased this coffee maker after doing a lot of research. It's not perfect - but it is definitely worth the purchase price. Makes a great cup of coffee and keeps it hot (without cooking it) for many hours. Easy to use and thermal is the only way to go! I have been using it daily for approximately 3 weeks. Very satisfied with it's performance so far.


"Rather well-done coffee maker"
This unit replaced a similar Cuisinart unit which had failed. We were looking for a thermal carafe and 10-cup capacity. Black and Decker seems to have gotten most things right with this unit, such as the removable reservoir and a straightforward design.

Since I grind my own coffee, I found the #4 Mellita-style filters took some getting used to (i.e., getting the grounds into the filter without spillage). Also, the valves on the bottom of the filter bail and the top of the carafe don't slide across each other easily, so some fiddling was necessary until we got used to them.

Perhaps most important (and rarely mentioned in these reviews) is that we chose Black & Decker for its reputation for longevity; When we chose the TCM830, we had in mind an older B&D coffee maker (non-thermal-carafe) from 10 years ago which still works like it did out of the box.

"The Art of Brewing"
I recently bought this machine at Lowe's and I like almost everything about it. It is a 10 cup machine, compared to my old 4 cup, has a stainless steel thermal caraffe that keeps the coffee warm and tasty, has a removable reservoir that you can fill at the sink, and makes wonderfully brewed coffee, better than the Mr. Coffee that I was replacing.

Some people complain about the coffee not remaining hot, but if you rinse the caraffe with hot water before you brew, as is suggested in the instructions, then the coffee is hot enough to make your cup hot after you pour it in the first two hours, and continues to be warm enough to drink for hours on end. If you prefer your coffee to be sitting on an element and to be piping hot, don't get this unit, because it doesn't have an element. To me, that is actually better than having one, because the element on some of the machines I've had can really degrade the flavor of the coffee by overheating it.

Another thing to watch out for when you purchase the machine is that removing and inserting the caraffe from the machine is a two handed operation, because the parts really interfere with each other. This is unlike the Mr. Coffee model I had that would slide right in and out with one hand.

Also, the caraffe pours rather slowly, which I find annoying when it says in the instructions that you're not supposed to remove it while it's brewing for over 30 seconds or it will overflow.

And speaking about overflow, If you don't insert the caraffe the right way, it will overflow onto the counter until you figure out how to make it not do that.

So, I'm giving it only 4 stars, because it's like a lot of things from Black and Decker--it's very nice, but has a few design flaws that are often annoying. (it's the same way with my B&D long slot toaster that doesn't toast dark enough toast)