It seems the current version is cheap - glass is thinner, metal is not as good, and the plunger seems cheap.

French presses are incredibly easy to use: heat up the water in a kettle, place the coarse coffee grounds in the carafe, pour the water in, steep for a few minutes, and depress the plunger

Well designed plunger !!!

The first one I ordered has a defective plunger--it's difficult to insert into the carafe

The plunger felt loose in the carafe and was held in place by plastic, and after just a few hand-washings the filter lost its shape and no longer filtered as well as when it was new

Just take a look at other 1-star customer reviews: coffee grounds escaping the filter, metal frame rusting, glass jar cracking, plunger getting looser with each use, customer service refusing to replace filter, handle breaking off, glass jar exploding when pushing plunger down, etc.$7.21 for return shipping also