Rancilio Silva V3 vs Breville BES870

[Muz]

Hello Coffee Gurus,

I've been a long time lurker on this site and find the knowledge and information posted absolutely fantastic.

My little Gaggia Coffee Deluxe is a bit tired and old and I am looking to get a new machine to replace her after years of faithful service.

I am very keen on a manual, no frills type of espresso machine.

Under my frequent flyer program I have enough points to get either the Rancilio Silva V3 or the Breville BES870.

Would the forumites be kind enough to offer an opinion on what they think is the better machine.

I am not particularly interested in the resale value of the machine in 5 years time nor do I yearn for funky obscure machine simply as a conversation piece.

Thank you very much in advance for any advice and opinions offered.

Regards

Muz

[koshari]

best is hard to define under the different metrics that both machines can be judged by,

the 2 mentioned machines are quite different beasts, one being a full domestic machine (breville) and the other being a semi pro build (Silvia).

i will try to point out a few differing points for you to consider as i have a little bit of exposure to those 2 models.
both are quite different machines.

firstly price-
The Brevile is the obvious winner here with built in fancy controls like PID control and pre-infusion, the brevile also has a built in grinder meaning you would need have the extra expense of a stand alone grinder.

secondly comes build quality, - for my money the silvia would be my preference with a brass 330ml boiler as opposed tho the ally thermoblock brevile machine. and a full brass 58mm portafilter as opposed to the smaller double walled consumer 53mm portafilter. the silvia weighs in at about 15kg where the breville is closer to 12kg.

there are plenty of v1 silvias that are operating fine 15 years on however if you dont adhere to a couple of basic rules you can boil them dry.

I am very keen on a manual, no frills type of espresso machine.

the silvia likely meets that description better than the BES870. but keep in mind we are comparing a $800 machine (silvia) with a $650 machine (BES870). some beleive these days that the silvia is a little overpriced when compared to other semi pro machines like the Lelit which are effectively based on the silvias design but now have features like PID control.

[Muz]

Thank you very much.

The Silvia it is then.

Appreciate your input.