I almost pulled the trigger on a similar Hamilton Beach. But I noticed there were some negative reviews on Amazon (and also on Wal-Mart). When I sorted them by date, almost ALL of the reviews in the last two months were negative.
Three major complaints:
coffee tastes like plastic
coffee maker starts to leak water from the bottom all over your kitchen
Hamiton-Beach customer service is terrible.
I wonder if they changed where/how they manufactured the last big batch of these, but when you compare the reviews from one purchased a few years ago, it is not even close.
If I have time, I will get the model number I am referring to. What I can remember is that it looked almost exactly like your model, except the single serving was on the other side, and the cost was $79, both on Amazon and Wal-mart.
Based on what I have read, I will not be buying a Hamilton Beach coffee maker. Maybe in a few years when the next one goes belly up, but right now, they seem to be having some production problems.
I have never had a good cup of coffee with the permanent gold filters. I have tried them a number of times, and the coffee always tastes metallic. So I have gone to the paper filters exclusively.
Does the metallic taste go away over time, or in your experience, it never tasted metallic?
It doesn’t to me, but perhaps you have a sensitivity to it. I don’t like cast iron for the same reason. The pot accepts paper filters without problem; I just find the permanent filter to be more convenient. The best features, as I mentioned, are the temperature of the water (the coffee is actually too hot to drink at first), and the the construction of the carafe, which has a serious stopper/sealer on it to keep the heat in.
I have been a coffee maker for over 50 years (but you can’t buy me). I use a Mellitta cone with a paper filter and (gasp) pour the water by hand into the ground coffee, which I gring fresh every morning. True it doesn’t hold the coffee hot, but the microwave still does a good job of reheating.