Good control = Great Coffee

This coffee maker is pretty reasonably priced, and so you have to be aware that you're not getting a commercial appliance which you'll pass down to your children's children. It will last if cleaned in basic way, and if you don't intend to abuse it.

That said, you get a lot of control for what you're paying:

12 cup capacity - that's really only 6-8 mugs of coffee, just enough for 4 adults at breakfast, and 20% better than 10-cups. This is a plus for us.

Flow Control - the dial allows you to tell it how many cups you're planning to make, which is really a fancy way of setting a ratio between how much water goes through the basket and how much goes directly into the pot. If you're willing to use a little more coffee, you can brew a full bodied cup using only the "best part" of the grounds. All of the water in the reservoir will be processed regardless of where the setting is, but it allows you to have some control (in addition to how much coffee you put in and how it's ground) over the final product. Excellent.

Temperature control - a temperature sensor and variable 'keep warm' control allows you to decide how to keep the coffee hot. We tend to set this down a couple notches from the middle, which lets the coffee last longer, but still is at an enjoyable temperature with some cream in.

Auto shut-off - Never having to wonder "did we turn off the coffee maker" when you're halfway down the block. You can even tell it how long to wait before auto shutting off (default is 4 hours).

Programmable - we don't use this much, but on the odd occasion it's been done without reference to the manual.

Footprint (and wall print) - it doesn't take up a ton of space. That's good. It also fits easily under a standard height above-counter cupboard. Quite compact for 12 cups.

All in all this a lot of quality, feature-laden, good-tasting coffee making for your average household, and given the price, it's pretty tough to beat.

I should mention that, common to most new makers, ours had a bad 'plasticy' smell and flavour on opening. We performed the self-clean function using the recommended vinegar mix, then did it again, then did it once with plain water, and within an hour the plasticy-ness was gone and we were having good coffee (just a pointer if you find this also).

Update: based on the helpful comments from Ladysmom (helpful especially as this is one of my first reviews) here is some other information:

A permanent gold filter (that does a good job) is included. These filters are bit of a pain to clean, but make an environmentally sound (if economically minor) contribution.

All the parts are easy to clean, even the basket holder, and little enough "splash" occurs so that the main unit needs a little wipe down only every so often.

The pot's handle is attached with pressfit plastic... This worries me a little, as I see no way to tighten it if the handle were to loosen, and though I have no indication it WOULD loosen, I've reduced my use of the circular swish-swish rinse out that I prefer and now reach my hand in more often. It could all go into the dishwasher, but we've never bothered, as it has stayed clean with basic washing.

The unit comes with a respectable 3 year limited warranty, and you can even register your warranty online at cuisinart.com (though it doesn't support Canadian locations).