Great espresso and consistent flavor.

Better get a good grinder.  Also was a little tough to learn how to make good foam. (3 months later: I don't even think about it.  Making good foam is very natural for me now)

I took a couple of months of researching before deciding to go with the Rancilio Silvia.  I'm extremely happy with it and I'm also very glad that I bought it with a PID installed.

Let me tell you the good and the bad:  
GOOD:  With the PID - you get a very consistent shot pulled every time.  It's all about grind and temperature.  If you grind the same way and draw shots at the same temperature, you get a great tasting shot CONSISTENTLY.

BAD:  The Silvia is tough to make good foam with at first.  If you are a novice (as I am) - it will take you 40 to 50 times before you will get the feel for how to make a great foam.  But once you get past that point and it will become second nature.

Thanks Dave for a great machine.

I purchased my Rancilio Silvia with PID from Dave at High Tech.  By email he told me it would take about 10 days to ship and I was OK with that.  Then he called me because he realized that I lived about 4 miles from him and he offered to let me come over and pick it up.  I did and I had the pleasure of getting to sit and talk with him about espresso and online business in general.  He came across a genuinely nice guy that really enjoys what he does.   As a recruiter, I have to judge the character of people everyday.  I saw nothing about Dave that would lead me to believe him to be un-genuine.