On Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 10:52:51 AM UTC, Tim w wrote:
On 16/02/2015 18:49, Gordon Henderson wrote:
In article ,
Chris J Dixon wrote:
I've just pronounced my Russell Hobbs Classic toaster beyond
repair.

...

What should I look at?

Dualit.

The traditional one, not the newer ones:

http://www.dualit.com/products/2-slice-newgen

But the last time that I recall this question cropping up here, there
was the usual: "I can buy 5 cheapies from Argos for the price of a Dualit"
type of response, so make of that what you will.

My Dualit is relatively new. Only about 5 years old.

Gordon


A truly awful thing for the following reasons:

It is twice as big as it needs to be
The build is so heavy that you need to pre warm it by running it empty
in order to get elements evenly hot
You can't save the setting, you have to remember where to set the timer
dial
The timer is !NOISY! Click clicl cliclk click.
When the noise has annoyed you you will be outraged to find that the
noise doesn't stop when the elements do - the timer runs on a bit so it
doesn't even tell you when your toast is done.
The 1 or 2 slice switch turns off only 2 of 3 elements. You will
sometimes get bread toasted one side only if you can't remember which
slot is which.
The elements fail frequently. Because they were designed in the 19th
century the element is wrapped around a sheet of mineral mica so
replacement elements cost more than a normal toaster.
It's only good for Sunblest type bread. It won't toast buns, bagels,
baguettes, Batch or bloomer which is too thick/small/thin/wide unless
carefully cut to the dims of a slice of Sunblest.

Really. don't bother. If you are even slightly irritable in the mornings
you will learn to hate it, and hatred at the breakfast table is not
good. It can affect you marriage, your work life, your health,
everything. Walk away before you waste £150.

Tim W
(Whose life was nearly ruined by a Dualit Wedding present)

Well, I loved the old 1950s Dualit. Noisy yes, so what, clockwork timers are. Yes the settings shift as it heats up if you make lots of toast. I never found that a problem. Having used various modern ones since, I'd take the old Dualit any day. Its as robust as a rock and does the job, day after day, decade after decade, and with a little maintenance it should do century after century. Gimmicks? none. Bit pricey now unfortunately.

Elements, upto a point you can just bolt broken ends together. But really they tend to break only if abused, just don't, how hard is it.


NT