This is the new Fellow Stagg EKG Studio Pro - a kettle that has a mouthful of a name obviously very reminiscent of Apple products.
So first things first, I did purchase this kettle myself for the full price of $260.
Okay so let’s dive right into the review starting with the various models and the one I have here.
So the base Fellow Stagg EKG electric kettle goes for $165. The new Pro model goes for $195 and finally the stagg EKG Pro Studio Edition goes for $225. For each of these models you can add $30 for wood accents.
Now the only difference listed on the Fellow website between the Pro and Pro Studio editions are the more premium build materials of the base on the Pro Studio edition using a combination of metal and glass versus plastic.
Okay, so now let’s go over the build quality.
BUILD QUALITY
Starting with the kettle itself because there are very few changes here. The only change I’ve been able to notice is the lid which now uses this rubber gasket seal so it sits a little more flush and is a little nicer to pull off and put back on. It also has a very slightly larger knob on top.
The new kettle also now has a slit on the top versus the 3-hole design on the old lid. The new lid does fit on the old kettle but the old kettle lid does not fit on the new kettle. Also different is the metal portion connecting the wood handles which is now black instead of silver. I like that.
Now besides those changes, I could find no other differences between the kettles. The size, shape, material, and spout all are seemingly identical.
I also noticed that these are not interchangeable between the bases, probably being the reason why you can’t purchase just the base on its own. The new kettle only goes on the new base, and the old kettle stays on the old base, not able to fit on the new one.
And now, the base.
Again, this being the pro studio edition, it has a glass and metal build quality.
First, taking a look underneath the base - you can see that they look fairly identical at first glance. But closer inspection shows that the new kettle base has a new matte like texture, but I do think it is still plastic.
The metal portion of the build seems to be this new inner lining between the plastic base and frame, which is also metal.
I would expect this to hold up better in a commercial environment, but honestly, I had no issues with the plastic base of the original. In fact, my original Stagg is nearly 3 years old and still functions perfectly.
The glass surface on top is quite nice. It has a nice smooth chamfer around the edges and it sort of helps hide the now full-color LCD screen which I think is just a nice little design element.
The dial on the base also feels noticeably different from the old one. The knob spins much more quietly and feels smoother and the click is also a bit more satisfying.
We also have this secondary button which is used to switch between the brew mode or going into the settings. On the rear of the kettles, we no longer have switches to switch between holding mode or temperatures as it's all now done through the settings of the kettle.
FEATURES
Okay so now let’s get into the biggest differences with this new Fellow Stagg EKG Pro and Pro Studio versus the original.
There are a number of new digital features on this kettle. Most of which are nice little quality of life upgrades.
First, navigating into the settings menu is a single click of the smaller button.
At the top we have the schedule feature which lets you choose a desired temperature to bring the kettle to at a set time. This is similar to how I have a smart plug that lets me turn on my espresso machines in the morning before I’m out of bed to warm up.
One thing to note is you can also now change temps to half a celsius, if you use celsius over fahrenheit.
Next we have guide mode, which gives you a few pre-selected temperatures for different brewing methods if you’re not sure where to begin. These include:
Green/White Tea at 82C
Aeropress at 90.5C
French Press at 93C
Pour Over at 96C
Herbal/Black Tea or just boil at 100C
Next we have chime which let’s you set an audible little chime sound when your desired temperature is reached, and this can also be adjusted anywhere from 1 to level 10 volume but I found that even at 10, the chime is really quite soft and mostly gets drowned out by the volume of the water boiling.
Next is units which is pretty self explanatory, allowing you to swap between fahrenheit and celsius. Sadly, no Kelvin units here. I’m kidding, totally not necessary.
But - it is something that could be added because this scale also connects to wifi for future updates. Why would your kettle need to be updated? I have no idea. I’ve had my original stagg for 3 years not really thinking I’d need a wifi connected update for it.
Under the general tab you can set the language between English, French, or Spanish. You can also set a digital or analog clock to display while not in use. And of course this is where you would get those over the air updates for your kettle.
It might be worth noting only 2.4ghz networks are supported too.
To connect it to Wifi you would need to download the Fellow app and NOT the fellow stagg EKG+ app.
The app itself is pretty basic, showing you a list of your connected devices and if they need a firmware update and what those updates provide. However, I couldn’t actually figure out what to click on to get the update going as there was no “update” button.
The next setting is Altitude which lets you set where you are above sea level to prevent over boiling, and this is done in increments of 30 meters from sea level all the way up to 3000 meters or around 9840ft.
For our last 2 settings we have pre-boil which will bring the kettle up to a boil before bringing it down to your desired temperature as a way to purify your water.
And finally, hold mode which can now be adjusted to hold your temperature between increments of 15 minutes up to an hour versus the old kettle that would just hold for an hour.
And finally, we of course have another little easter egg. Similar to how we had Wormy on the original Stagg, this new one now has Bricky. To get to the game you remove the kettle, click the smaller dial to get to the menu, then spin the dial in either direction about 6 rotations until you see Bricky pop up. A fun little easter egg but obviously nothing that impacts your coffee brewing.
IS IT WORTH IT?
The EKG Pro Studio, has got a lot of nice little quality of life upgrades but I’m not sure if it's worth a nearly 40% increase in price over the original unless you value those premium materials.
But, for just $30 more than the original, or roughly 18% more, I think the new Pro is a solid choice over the original for those little quality of life features if you don’t already have a nice gooseneck kettle.
I certainly don’t think you’ll need to upgrade from the original, but it's definitely a nice to have feature set.
I do think the Apple-like naming structure is a little ridiculous but aside from that, this is a well built product with nice quality of life upgrades that I think most people will appreciate.
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