This High-Tech Toaster Promises No More Burnt Toast But According To Reviews, It's Not Worth The Price

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Toasters have been around for over 100 years, and the pop-up appliance even predates sliced bread itself! Though they have gone through many innovative changes over the decades, the most recent big change comes from the Breville-branded toaster, called the Eye Q Auto. This sleek-looking toaster, available in Australia, comes in four colors, with two-slice and four-slice options. What sets it apart is that it claims it will never burn a slice of toast. 

In order to make this feat happen, it took 10 years to perfect the Eye Q. Rather than relying on a timer, the toaster monitors the bread with optic sensors while it cooks, checking the bread up to 10 times per second until the toaster deems it's the correct shade of brown, of which there are seven options to select from. It then gently raises the bread out of the slot. If you want it slightly darker, there's a button for "a bit more" time, and there are helpful toaster button settings for crumpets and sourdough. Users just have to press a single main button to get started. 

It sounds like a solid design plan and a welcome innovation for people who always burn their toast. Some customers, however, seem inclined to disagree. Even though the product generally works, according to customer feedback, it supposedly still takes some fine-tuning and can have issues even then. On top of that, it has a price tag so high that most deem the high-tech toaster just not worth it. By high, we're talking A$469 (or a little more than $300 USD) for just the small model and A$629 for the four-slice gadget (or over $400 USD), which is a big ask when some reviewers call this appliance just a "very expensive gimmick."

The toaster is an undeniably great idea, and while it has its fans, reviews on multiple sites mention some problems that are hard to ignore. Although it has a sourdough setting, many have found the slots simply aren't big enough for a thick slice of sourdough bread. Others say that, if you use smaller bread pieces, it doesn't do a good job of detecting when the bread gets too dark. For people who prefer toast a specific way, you have to adjust the toaster every time, prompting one reviewer to say, "Having to set the toaster each time is the same as other toasters. Wouldn't recommend it at the price."

As far as never burning toast, there are still ways it can happen, especially with thicker sourdough slices. A person can also hit the "a bit more" setting too many times and end up burning their toast despite the appliance's best efforts. Considering eating burnt toast is bad for you, that's a major bummer. A reviewer who found they had to constantly hit that button because of uneven toasting voiced their discontent, saying, "I really, really wanted this to work, but unfortunately it has been very disappointing." Other users also had issues with burnt crusts and still-cold centers. All of these complaints are why the toaster doesn't justify its price.

A person can buy a basic toaster on Amazon for under $20, so the Eye Q's cost seems like an absurd sum. Given that the toaster isn't as perfect as it claims to be and has some pretty negative reviews, it's enough to make anyone hesitate before buying.