Dont get stressed if you think your system isn't "Good Enough"...

[Marco]

Dualit is your friend, accepts ANY slice of bread you like: https://uk.buymeonce.com/products/du...c420dba8&_ss=r

And before you tightwads (lol) moan about the price, remember that these things are designed to last for a lifetime (i.e. the 'buy me once' tagline), with EVERY part available for replacement/servicing, and all hand-built in the UK!

Why would you buy anything else?

(Much) more later...

Marco.

[struth]

i currently have a supermarket one. its ok as in it browns ok and takes wide bread; i use cobs. but it has to be toasted from both ends. i dont toast too much tho

[Macca]

Dualit is your friend, accepts ANY slice of bread you like: https://uk.buymeonce.com/products/du...c420dba8&_ss=r

And before you tightwads (lol) moan about the price, remember that these things are designed to last for a lifetime (i.e. the 'buy me once' tagline), with EVERY part available for replacement/servicing, and all hand-built in the UK!

Why would you buy anything else?

(Much) more later...

Marco.

Can we see some photos proving it can take a proper size slice of bread? I bet that a bit of it still sticks out the top. Nobody wants that.

[Barry]

It's interesting you mention Dyson. I must confess I've always been a bit of a fan. I think their older, mains-powered upright cleaners are brilliant and as the owner of a long haired cat and someone who also recorded one of the highest results ever seen by the local hospital for allergy to house dust when my eczema was tested, I appreciate their cleaning abilities and ferocious suck! I have a DC-07 and a DC-14 and they perform superbly and parts are cheap, plentiful and easy to fit when they are required.

However my recent experience with their HD-01 Supersonic hairdryer has royally pissed me off. It is my wife's and is around 5 years old and last year it began cutting in and out as you wave it around. Now given that I have had to re-terminate the mains leads into the above vacuums a number of times, as they perish where they enter the machines, this is most likely the problem.

However, I was shocked to learn recently that the item is no longer supported by Dyson, repair shops won't touch them as they can't get spares and Dyson could offer me no service information. Never mind, I'm an engineer - I'll have a crack at it myself. However, looking at a "tear-down" video of one on the web, it appears that to take it apart, you have to break it (although, I'm obviously still going to give it a go when I get 5 minutes). What a crap piece of design (or an ingenious one, if you're a conspiracy theorist like Marco! )

My email to the UK CEO of Dyson was ignored and so, I'm afraid they have lost me as a customer, although I think they had anyway given their move to battery-operated vacuum cleaners. Our friends have one and it's crap. Definitely a perfect example of newer not being better.

I have never liked Dyson products. They are over-hyped and badly made: the number of Dyson products I see in the electrical products skip at my local recycling centre is testament to that.

Most new electrical/electronic products are deliberately designed not to be repairable. This may be a consequence of cost cutting: the plastic housings are now designed to 'click' together with barbed attachments, so they cannot be opened without damage. This encourages a 'throw away' mentality, and because many of the products are relatively inexpensive, the public are content to go along with it.

H&S have some part to play in this. I worked in a research laboratory, where the mains leads would be regularly PAT tested (along with the calibration of the test and measurement gear). All mains leads which have a moulded-on plug have an indication of when the lead was made and of its recommended lifetime. Regardless of whether it passed the PAT test or not, the lead would be destroyed (by chopping it up into 6" long pieces) if recommended lifetime had been exceeded.

As I mentioned elsewhere, the major audio manufacturers are no longer interested in supporting products older than, say 20 years. They no longer stock the parts, nor are they interested in supplying advice to anyone who feels they can do the work themselves. I'm old enough to remember a time when many electronic products came with a circuit diagram and list of components as part of the user handbook.

[Barry]

I notice a lot of people, mostly but not exclusively women, like to change the fridge, hoover, furniture, kettle, toaster etc every couple of years even if there's nothing wrong with them.

No idea why but probably explains why Dyson don't make their vacuums easy to repair. Not enough users require that functionality.

There's certainly a gap in the market for a toaster that will accept normal sized slices of bread. I've done the market research and everyone wants one but no-one makes one. What's that all about?

I toast my bread under a grill and do the same with crumpets. I don't have a toaster as that would clutter up the kitchen work surface. Have even retired the coffee maker, as I find using a mokka pot makes better coffee and is just as quick.

[Macca]

I toast my bread under a grill and do the same with crumpets. I don't have a toaster as that would clutter up the kitchen work surface. Have even retired the coffee maker, as I find using a mokka pot makes better coffee and is just as quick.

I got one of those mini-oven things so I use the grill on that. Takes longer than the toaster though and you have to watch it or it gets overdone.

I like my toast rare. Rare but not cold.

[Barry]

I got one of those mini-oven things so I use the grill on that. Takes longer than the toaster though and you have to watch it or it gets overdone.

I like my toast rare. Rare but not cold.

That is the whole point - I can watch how the bread is browning and take it out when it's toasted the way I like it. Admittedly it takes twice as long, as you have to toast each side. But I find the toast settings on all toasters I have tried to be unreliable - so you have to eject the bread to see how well it has toasted, as well as having to put it back upside down so as to toast all of the bread.

[Macca]

That is the whole point - I can watch how the bread is browning and take it out when it's toasted the way I like it. Admittedly it takes twice as long, as you have to toast each side. But I find the toast settings on all toasters I have tried to be unreliable - so you have to eject the bread to see how well it has toasted, as well as having to put it back upside down so as to toast all of the bread.

Yes, and my toaster will solve all these issues. Plus if you move it around crumbs won't pour out of the bottom either.

[Barry]

Yes, and my toaster will solve all these issues. Plus if you move it around crumbs won't pour out of the bottom either.

Another bugbear of mine.

[Marco]

None of those things happen with the Dualit... Firstly, it has a crumb drawer on the base, which catches all the crumbs, and slides in and out for easy cleaning. When you move the toaster about, no crumbs ever spill out.

Secondly, the toast settings are very reliable, have a good range (from light to very dark toasting), and the colour is always very even on the bread.

Martin, I can take a pic if you like, but as I don't eat cack British sliced 'pan loaf' I'm not sure how useful it'll be to you. We buy sliced bread from the local Polish deli, which is much better quality and has a distinctive crust.

However. in terms of 'height'. which I think is what you're referring to, i.e. whether or not the slices of bread sit flush with the top of the toaster when inserted inside, in comparison, with 'British bread', the slices of which might be longer, I don't know, although there is no issue with the Polish sliced we use

In all respects it's a superb toaster, built like a brick outhouse (oozes quality), very reliable, easy to use and produces very good and consistent results.

Marco.