hey everyone
been rocking my Silvia for almost 2 years now. im happy with it and get excellent taste but Im a bit curious. how much am I missing with my Silvia?

anyways, would it make sense to change the whole machine, or rather, how good is a Silvia with a PID?

Boils down to what you are comfortable doing. I was in the same boat as you and decided to just get a whole new machine.

meCoffee seems like an excellent pid option.

How many drinks do you make in a day?

I was in a similar situation a couple years ago. I had a Gaggia Baby (SBDU machine) and hated temp surfing. I ended up adding a PID to it but wish I didn't. Even after the PID, I wasn't happy with the temp swings during the shot because of how small the boiler was. I ended up upgrading a few times after and wish I had just gone straight to a temp stable machine instead of making several incremental upgrades.

During this year's holiday, I visited home and pulled my old Gaggia out of storage to have some espresso away from home. Wow - I really had a hard time getting espresso like I get with my double boiler. I am very happy to have upgraded.

If you're tight on money and are going a PID route to save money, my second machine was a La Pavoni which I liked a LOT more than my gaggia, and was only $300 used in great condition. I would totally recommend going with a small lever if looking to save of cash. Good luck!

If you pull less than 5 shots at a time, and are okay waiting a little longer for steam than you would with a DB or HX, then I would get a meCoffee and save the rest of the money for a grinder upgrade or future machine upgrade.

I upgrade from a stock Silvia V4. Was going to PID, but no matter what the wait from Shot to froth was very apparent. Making several lattes and making your guests wait for semi decent drinks are not something is embarrassing.

I upgraded to the Cellini plus PID with no regrets. I know, not the best of upgrades but a vastly substantial compared to the Silvia.

The PID option is ok if you only make espresso shots imo, but if you want better froth, an upgrade to a HX or DB machine is a must.

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What Calvin (zany13) said or I foresee an arduous crawl with added expense to an inevitable machine change be it HX or DB from your current small single boiler. The Silvia like the Rocky grinder have been around since the 90's and only sell new today based on their antiquated reputation.
So much has happened in the pro-sumer espresso machine and grinder world since then and for the better.

I have a Silvia V3 with PID and I'm considering upgrading next year. what it boils down to is how many shots do you pull at a time. I only make one flat white a day and that's it and rarely have guests and when I do it's not a big deal. For one drink, I think the Silvia with a PID is perfectly fine as the espresso taste great and it takes one minute only (I have a video on youtube showing how long it takes for the Silvia to go from brew to frothing temp) for the Silvia to get to froth temperature and when it does, as long as you start steaming when the temp hits 265 and you know what you're doing then you should be able to have great microfoam and enough milk for a drink or two. Machines with small boilers are not designed to make multiple drinks anyways.

I started off with a Silvia as well. It didn't take long though before I got fed up with temperature surfing and added an Auber PID. But switching between brew and steaming temp was still a pain as I drink a lot of milk drinks. So I upgraded to a Strega and have been happy since. If you have stuck with a Silvia for 2 years, you've been infected with HBVirus and will most likely end up with a DB or HX at some point. You might as well invest some money now if you can and save yourself the hassle of a series of small upgrades.

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Gabriel I concur with what you said. That's my reasoning for a small lever.
The added benefit of the lever gives you all that plus the added benefit of naturally controllable ramping pressure both on the incline and decline and controllable pre-infusion time.
One would have to spend thousands more in order to duplicate that on a pump machine and even with a P.I.D. not achievable on a machine like a Silvia.

well guys youve convinced me
im looking at quickmill alexia....