Help weigh the pros and cons between a new Lelit Elizabeth or a used Lucca A53 V1 [$2000-2500 CAD]

After half a decade with a trusty Breville Bambino Plus (with a dimmer mod I put in), I'm looking to upgrade and I need HELP!

From comparing a ton of models, it looks like the Lelit Elisabeth is exactly what I want: dual boiler, temperature control, saturated group head, great programming for when you need it, and it's just about my full budget for what I'm looking for.

The contender: a Lucca A53 Mini V1 with some upgrades (Preinfusion, timer, wood panelling) that's available secondhand in great condition, for roughly the same price. This also checks the boxes, and I keep seeing everything online about this bad boy's build quality and reliability, and I'm wondering how much I'll be missing out if I pass this up.

I think I've got a good idea of the pros and cons, but I don't know how to weight the magnitudes of each, so I'm looking for some backup on folks who have had either machine to weigh in:

• Pre-infusion for Medium and Light Roasts: this is the big one since I mostly drink medium/light roast coffee. The reason I put the dimmer mod on my bambino in the first place was to try and accommodate lighter roasts. I am okay (mostly) with leaving flow control behind since in my case I found way more bang-for-my-buck in just a long long pre-infusion than in really tapering in the back end of the shot or getting funky with some other profiles. The Lucca has the pre-infusion upgrade, but on the V1 it's not programmable and only gives a default short 6 seconds as far as I can tell. This is a major attraction for me for the Elizabeth, which can handle much longer pre-infusions on a program (with even the options for different types of pre-infusion). Am I overestimating the amount that different pre-infusion options will actually affect my coffee if I'm using a more stable machine?

  • Since they are both vibratory pumps, I guess I could try and put a dimmer mod on either? But I am definitely not comfortable doing this without a guide, and I don't think many (any) folks have done this to the Lucca.

• 'Commercial grade' Build Quality vs Secondhand use: it sounds like for the price, the Lucca is just a bigger stronger reliable beast. But, it has some wear already. And, I don't really have any aspirations for regularly entertaining a ton of folks and cranking out back to back drinks that the Elisabeth couldn't support. I have no idea how to weigh this tradeoff, since either way both are going to be a huge upgrade from the bambino quality -- would I really benefit from the 'commercial' gear at this point?

• I'm coming from a Bambino, so I have 53mm gear: I am not at all stressed about the Lucca's 53mm gear -- it comes with it's own bottomless portafilter, and the rest of my gear from the bambino will fit fine. I'm comfortable with adding a few $ on the Elisabeth side for similar gear but it is a con that I'd have to start over.

• The wood panels look really really nice. That might actually be a 'con', as I'd be a little self conscious that it's so eye-catching in my apartment and I wouldn't want to bring attention to how much I spent on this.

There's also the option I don't want to do of a BDB that I can put the slayer mod on, but I'm trying to get away from Breville and having a plastic computer for a coffee maker.