Fellow Stagg EKG Pro Review: $200 for Hot Water?

The Countertop Flex

Let’s be honest: you don’t need this. A $20 saucepan boils water. A $50 generic kettle boils water. You are here because you have deep-seated insecurities about your kitchen looking “cluttered,” and you believe that a matte black gooseneck kettle will signal to guests that you have your life together. Fellow knows this. They have built an entire brand around the anxiety that your coffee equipment might not match your brutalist architecture. The Stagg EKG Pro is the ultimate status symbol of the at-home barista—a device that screams “I know what V60 means” before you even pour a drop.

It is undeniably gorgeous. While competitors like the OXO Brew look like medical equipment and the Bonavita looks like a stainless steel udder mounted on an alarm clock from 1998, the Stagg EKG Pro is sleek, weighted, and satisfying. The base is minimalist, the dial feels improved (for now), and the high-resolution full-color screen is sharp enough to make you wonder why your microwave still looks so basic. The counter-weighted handle forces your hand into the perfect pour-over posture, which is helpful, because you’ll be holding it for a while.

The WiFi Lie

Fellow calls this “Pro” because it has WiFi. “Finally,” you think, “I can turn my kettle on from bed!” You cannot. The WiFi is strictly for firmware updates. That’s right: you are connecting your kettle to the internet so Fellow can fix bugs in your boiling water. It’s a solution in search of a problem. The companion app connects via Bluetooth and feels like an afterthought, useful only for setting the “Schedule” feature initially. It is a classic case of Silicon Valley over-engineering: adding a chip to a device just to put “Smart” on the box.

The Morning Ritual

Despite the stupidity of the WiFi, the “Schedule” feature is genuinely brilliant. Setting the kettle to be at 205°F at 7:00 AM every weekdays means you walk into the kitchen and the water is ready. It removes the 5-minute friction of staring at a rising number. The “Guide Mode” is also surprisingly useful for novices, offering presets for different roasts and tea types without needing to Google “green tea temp.” The pour is slow—agonizingly slow if you’re filling a French Press or a teapot—but for a Chemex or V60, it provides the kind of laminar flow control that makes you feel like a scientist.

The Ticking Time Bomb

Here is the reality check. Beneath that beautiful matte finish lies a history of reliability issues. The community is rife with reports of the control knob failing after a year, or the “Pro” sensor glitching and causing the kettle to “over-boil” and spew water like a geyser. Unlike the Bonavita, which will survive a nuclear blast and still wake you up in the morning, the Fellow feels delicate. You are trading durability for vanity.

The Software

The software on the base itself is actually good. The menu is navigable, the “Chime” volume is adjustable (thank god), and the “Hold” mode keeps temp for up to 60 minutes. But the fact that there is a “Studio Edition” with a glass base for an extra $30 is the cherry on the sundae of greed. It adds nothing to the function; it just adds shiny bits.

The Mob Speaks

The community r/pourover respects the pour but resents the price. High-altitude users praise the Pro’s altitude setting—a fix for the original EKG’s infinite boiling bug—but reports of failed buttons and erratic sensors persist. The consensus is clear: it’s the best performance you can buy, packaged in the best shell, with electronics that might break your heart.