Breville’s Eye Q Auto Toaster ‘Watches’ Your Toast

This week, Breville unveils its finished product featuring advanced technology: the Eye Q Auto toaster. Available in a two-slice model for $469 or a four-slice for $629, this toaster truly observes your toast to determine when it’s done, while maintaining a familiar toaster appearance.

A key modification for the technology’s functionality is that only one slot within a pair contains sensors, peering through small openings between the heating elements. Consequently,when toasting a single slice,ensure it’s placed in the sensor-equipped slot; otherwise,the toaster will return it untoasted.

Another change-described by Groundes-Peace as more for dramatic effect than practicality-is the absence of a spring-loaded lever. Instead, a motor raises and lowers the toast. A light-up button initiates the process, and a chime signals completion.

The toaster offers seven settings to customize your toasting preference. During testing, it performed precisely as described.On my standard toaster, the medium setting takes approximately two minutes. The Eye Q’s default medium setting yielded the same toasting time for store-bought grainy bread. However, frozen grainy bread required nearly three minutes, achieving the same level of toasting. Similarly, toasting my denser homemade white bread took about three minutes, while bagels toasted in around two minutes.

Because the toaster assesses shade change rather than overall colour, breads starting with different shades will finish differently. Naturally brown bread still achieves a satisfying toast. Like other Breville toasters, it includes a button for crumpets (which toasts hotter on one side, also suitable for bagels) and a “bit more” button, utilizing the optical sensor to slightly darken the shade.

Despite the toaster’s consistent performance across various breads, I had questions regarding edge cases, and groundes-Peace provided comprehensive answers.