Worthy of only the finest Iggy’s, Baker Bleu, or Jocelyn’s Provisions (for the Brisbane-ites) baked delights, Breville’s new Eye Q 850 Auto 2 Slice Toaster is the most extravagant everyman toaster to come across my desk in some time. But, as a self-proclaimed gastronome, and irrefutably bread and butter’s most devoted fan, I can’t say I didn’t jump at the chance to review the ‘breakthrough in toasting innovation’, the appliance that watches over my bread and stops the toasting once it’s reached my ideal shade. But it begs the question – is such a high tech toaster even necessary? Is the toaster game so broken that we need a toaster with optic sensors to watch over my bread? What’s next – a toaster that texts my fridge to tell it to add bread to the shopping list? (I hope so.) Let’s get into it.
My credentials? As my friends and colleagues can attest to, I have literally packed an entire carry-on full of my favourite brand of bread when I travelled to a certain destination – a brand I am not willing to disclose, lest it becomes too popular. I have also roped in more than one well-travelled friend to fuel (enable) my carb addiction, using their luggage as my very own bread delivery system. As for my butter? Imported from France, naturally, and safely stored in my adorable sunny yellow butter bell.
So as you can imagine, if I go to all the trouble to perfect and source the sacred pairing of bread and butter, I expect my toaster to deliver. I’ve been burned by burnt toast, annoyed by checking and rechecking the toast’s status, and perturbed by the mystery dial where the number never quite seems to correlate with my toast’s done-ness. So how did the toaster that uses sensors to track the shade of my toast stack up? Read on to find out.
Breville’s Eye Q Auto Toaster review verdict
- Our rating: 8/10
- Why we rated it a 8/10: It’s clever, but I wonder if it’s fixing something that wasn’t really broken.
What’s so special about the Breville Eye Q?
Using the patent-protected Eye Q® Optic Sensor technology, it monitors the toast as it’s cooking up to 10 times a second, automatically stopping the toaster when the chosen colour is reached.
Pros
- It allows you to select your perfect shade of toast,using optic sensors rather than relying on time
- It delivers consistent results, whether you’re toasting white bread, wholegrain, sourdough, crumpets, or fruit loaf
- You can turn your attention to more pressing matters in the kitchen knowing your toaster has it under control
Cons
- Despite its size, the toaster slot doesn’t perfectly fit a whole slice of sourdough
- It costs a significant amount more than manual toasters
Breville Eye Q dimensions
The 2 Slice toaster is 317 x 207 x 191mm, and the 4 Slice toaster is slightly larger, at 330 x 317 x 191mm.
How to use the Breville Eye Q
Admittedly, it’s quite simple to use. You can just select your preferred toast shade by selecting a shade on the colour selector, place the bread in the slot, and press the start-button. The inbuilt optic sensors will then monitor your toast as it cooks using dual wavelength green and infrared LEDs. When it has reached your desired shade, it will raise the lever and your toast will stop cooking. If you’re toasting sourdough, just press and hold the start-button to activate sourdough mode, or if you’d like more control, manual mode can be switched on by double pressing the start-button. And there’s no need for a defrost setting – your Eye Q will detect that too.
Results from our test
Unintentionally giving the Eye Q perhaps the most difficult bread to work with, I chose a frozen piece of sourdough for my toaster’s debut. Thick chewy crusts? Check. Dough filled with bubbles? Check. Frozen solid? Also check. And surprisingly, it rose to the challenge without even breaking a proverbial sweat. I found the one-button press and toast-shade selection incredibly easy to use, the auto-rise functionality a delight and found that it toasted my bread to perfection – no burnt crusts here. Plus, after toasting, clean up was a breeze thanks to its catch-all crumb tray that easily slides out for quick cleaning. I also can’t fault the sleek design and non-stick ceramic coated top, both of which look fabulous on my counter top. My only real complaint was that the length and width of the toaster slot didn’t perfectly fit my jagged, hand-cut bread, nor did it fit the whole slice in length ways. However, a typical slice of bread will fit in there perfectly.
Overall, is the Breville Eye Q worth it?
Let’s talk value. Will you get enough value in your life from having this toaster – and will it be enough to offset its hefty price tag? I can’t say I would ever happily spend $469 (for the 2 Slice) or $629 (for the 4 Slice) on a simple toaster – even though I am a purist when it comes to bread. But when there are so many other toasters on the market that can offer me a well toasted slice of bread for less than half the price, this product does cause a slight eye twitch. But, I am not you, and you are not me, and perhaps you would find value in this automatic toaster. Either way, it does what it promises and it certainly does it well. So I’ll let you decide.
Where to buy the Breville Eye Q
- Breville, $469
- The Good Guys, $399
- Myer, $399
