I have been looking into the VST/Strada Baskets to use with my Rancilio Silvia. My question is, would a VST basket work well with my Silvia?

Yes.

And several of these would be a less expensive alternative:http://www.espressoparts.com/EPMZ_107A

The baskets that ship with the current Rancilio Silvia are of the same high quality but have lesser capacity. They have Rancilio part number 40-100-102 embossed on the side.

erics wrote:And several of these would be a less expensive alternative:http://www.espressoparts.com/EPMZ_107A

+1 Its very nice basket. I have VST and these and VST's are collecting dust.

Sold my VSTs after using the HQ baskets for a few months.

As far as I know, the VST baskets need a finer grind for the same weight of coffee than the HQ baskets. This may make it a better choice for the Silvia, which worked a lot better for me with Italian style low doses and fine grinds. With the VST you can use the same fine grind and dose higher.

If I am mistaken about the this property of the HQ, please correct this info.

Wow, the HQ basket does seem like a great basket for the money. Thanks for the link erics. I think I'd rather go with this than pay $30 for a basket that I may not even like. The basket in the link is "ridgeless." Does this mean that the inside of the basket is straight? And what are the benefits of ridgeless? Thanks alot guys! I'm quite new to the whole world of coffee, let alone espresso, so all your help is greatly appreciated.

What ridgeless means is that it doesn't have that ridge that snaps on your portafilter. Personally, i use ridgeless because it makes the basket easier to remove

I never had an issue with higher doses on Silvia, but that might have been a result of replacing the stock dispersion screen screw with one that was flush with the screen. Never got to use VSTs on Silvia, but at the time I found that ridgeless La Marzocco baskets worked great (these are still available at Stefano's last I checked). Eric also tipped me off to the HQ baskets, and I have been using them for about a month on my new set-up. They are a great deal, and so far I don't see any advantage of the ridgeless LM baskets over the ridgeless HQs.

At first I was wary of the HQ holes being arranged in an unusual octagonal pattern, but worry not. The espresso doesn't taste octagonal.

Thanks tag team, I won't let the octagonal pattern dissuade me. I'll definitely be purchasing one very soon. If you read this again, do you know where I can get a screw that's flush with the dispersion screen like yours? Lastly, if I get a ridgeless basket, won't the basket fall out of the portafilter when I knock the puck out?