This letter MAY be of interest.
EE here would be "electrical" rather than "electronic" engineering but th=
ere
is a solenoid in there at least. Not a fine example of product design I'm
afraid. I'm not slagging the brand as a whole - they make some good produ=
ct
for the price - it's just that whoever makes their toasters for them hasn=
't
yet succeeded in doing so.

Decided to change Brand names to letters to avoid any possible complaints.
I'll leave mention of Breville in there as their product is very much bet=
ter
value for money (in this case anyway) than the alternatives - I recommend=
 it
(so far anyway). .

"Where Everyone gets a Bargain" is the slogan of the retailer concerned.



RM

_____________________________________-



=93Cair Paravel=94      Telephone 09 8372999
8 Wakeling Avenue      Mobile    021 133 7063
Te Atatu South           Facsimile  09 8375815
Auckland 1008      Email apptech@clear.net.nz


Carolyn Elsemore
The Warehouse
   TOASTER: B model ET44WE "Quartet" 4 slice

Carolyn,

I'm afraid that I have some more "toast" for you!
After the last toaster was returned I bought a B at twice the price.
While it does have  a timer which can accommodate Vogel's bread it still =
is
incapable of producing toast which is brown on both sides. The choices
available appear to be

Variably brown  / Bread
Or
Burnt / Variably brown.

It is not noticeably better than the $25 model.

I've gone into some detail below in the hope that it may be useful. Passi=
ng
this on to your supplier just may help in future. While the B toaster is =
no
doubt Asian sourced B have their roots at least in US/Australian customer
bases and should be able to spec an adequate product to bear their name,
regardless of price.

A major problem is that the middle element sits in an S shaped curve so t=
hat
it is closer to one piece of toast in one slot at the right hand end and =
in
the other slot at the left hand end. I hasten to add that where-ever you
place the bread you still don't get toast but the results do vary with
position because of the above "feature".

I have enclosed 3 "toast" samples. As you can see, results vary. This is
mainly due to position in the toaster relative to the S shaped element bu=
t
no-where works properly.

I thought about trying again at the Warehouse at an even greater price bu=
t
decided it would be too embarrassing to risk having to return toaster num=
ber
3. So instead I went to Mitre 10 - their prices for apparently equivalent
equipment are not as low. I obtained an assurance from the duty manager t=
hat
the toaster I chose (A Breville "Thick n Thin Extra Lift 4")  could be
returned if it did not make approximately evenly toasted toast. Fortunate=
ly,
it works well. Evenness is, as I would expect, not 100% all over or betwe=
en
sides but it is quite good and entirely acceptable. At $70 it also has so=
me
extra features like cool-touch plastic sides, wide slots, toast lift for
removing small bread slices,  an active toast centring system, and a pop-=
up
button. It also happens to sit better on a shelf that is not quite as wid=
e
as the toaster but that's just a bonus. While the toast centring system
allows wide toast to be inserted and removed more easily the non-active
guide bars in both cheap toasters did a rather good job of centring the
toast as well so the uneven toasting is not due to the lack of such a
system.

I realise that you do tend to get what you pay for and that to some degre=
e
it's a case of "Everyone-gets-a-bargain Emptor" but I'm surprised that ev=
en
the $25 toaster makers haven't got it even half right. This seems to show=
 a
lack of having tried the equipment on bread liable to be used in the targ=
et
market. Presumably this task falls to you if they have not done so? I wou=
ld
be rather surprised if it even worked properly on basic white bread but I
haven't tried it thereon.

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