Sunbeam Quantum Smartbake BM7800

Great performance. Poor long term durability – This model DOES perform well and makes consistently good bread. It's programs are well sorted and can be modified to fine tune results to suit your personal needs. In this regard it gets a full 5 stars from me. HOWEVER. Durability is simply not good enough for long term use. It'll safely get you a few years (just beyond warranty) but not much… Read more

more if you make more than a couple of loaves a week.

I've had two of these breadmakers over the last 15 years. In that time I have:-

-replaced the pan once

-replaced the heating element in the 1st one

-replaced two of the electrical relays in the 1st one

-refitted the belt a few times

-dismantled and rebuilt the three pans

-rebuilt the drive spindle housing in the 2nd one

All of the above is certainly beyond the average home user. I just happen to have the skills and equipment to do it.

The heating element can't be purchased as a spare part, but I found a "bend-your-own" element that was close enough to the right specifications. It was actually a bit hotter than the original but because the programs can be modified I simply reduced the baking time a bit and got the same consistently good loaves from it again.

The problem with the pans is that the mixer paddle spindle is only supported in a simple brass bush at the bottom of the housing. It's just plain bad engineering design. It slowly wears out, when it gets a bit wobbly it then wears out the shaft seal which then lets flour and water through it which then exacerbates the bush wear and it all just gets worse over time.

None of these parts are serviceable. It requires drilling out rivets and grinding the shaft deformations that hold the shaft in. I could do this. I then machined the housing to fit a small ball bearing and used a simple O-ring and stainless flat washer to form a seal. Then re-assembled and welding the shaft. This was done to all three of the pans I have. Each of which has lasted another year longer and I've just started using the 3rd one again now. When this one dies I'll be tossing the whole lot.

I've also done much the same procedure to the drive spindle in the bottom of the machine as it is mounted in the same style of brass bush. It lasts much longer because it is not subjected to the same loads that the mixer paddle creates on the pan shaft.

Tips.

Always leave the loaf to sweat in the pan for 5 mins or so before trying to remove it. Makes all the difference.

Weigh your water and flour. I use:- (added in this order)

2 tablespoons of linseed grain

300g of water (I'm on rain water, but didn't make much difference from when I was on scheme water)

500g of breadmix flour

2 teaspoons of dry yeast (2 of the small scoops of the supplied scoop)

Simple and very consistent results. About the only real failures I've had is forgetting the yeast or leaving the lid open!!

I use either a 250:250 mix of Laucke Wholemeal and Laucke Crusty White, or 150:350 Laucke German Grain and Laucke Crusty White.

Where I am it's the only brand consistently stocked. (I've seen rural WA IGA stores with much greater variety)

My wife also makes a pizza dough in it once a week too. Nice big pizza that will feed 6 adults! None of the commercial crap that only feeds 1-2 adults.

In summary; great machine let down by skimping mechanical engineering design which severely reduces durability. It's disappointing to see such design shortcuts whereby it'll only last just beyond it's warranty period. Like so many consumer products nowadays......

Love this machine! – I've been using the Sunbeam Quantum Smartbake for more than 10 years and I love it so much! We rarely buy bread now. I live in a cold climate so being able to program it in Winter to warm the ingredients for 10min before starting to kneed is fab. I also like a bit of a darker crust than was coming out on the normal cycle, so I could program it… Read more

to bake 10min longer to get the colour I wanted.

I have several 'favorite' programs for boutique style loaves I like to make.

Has been a great bread machine for me with loaves coming out consistenly well and if not, I know its been user error and the bread may not look perfect but still tastes great.

We did have one machine which stopped working very soon after warranty expired, but we contaced Sunbeam and they were able to give us a generous discount on a new machine and we were happy with that. Very small hole from kneeding blade, programming options for boutique loaves and being able to adjust settings so loaf comes out as you like - eg. darker crust One machine which stopped working very soon after warranty expired, but we contaced Sunbeam and they were able to give us a generous discount on a new machine and we were happy with that.

Not the breadmaker I hoped it would be – Sunbeam's Quantuam SmartBake delivers the larger size bread loaves that I bought it for; and it's permanently attached kneading blade simplifies cleaning. It has a major drawback for me: its Dark crust setting fails to achieve a dark crust. The SmartBake produces a pale (almost white) soft crust on the dark setting. (I use only Laucke flour.) To… Read more

achieve a darker crust, I use the bake function after the basic (No. 1 setting) completes. To use the bake function to bake the loaf darker, the SmartBake has to cool down first; it will not accept another function setting before then. Once cool, the bake function allows only a one hour time. So to get a dark crust, I have to return to the kitchen after 3hrs 20mins, hang about for 15 more minutes before setting the extra bake, then come back again in another hour. Sunbeam's product design decision that offers only soft white bread makes the breadmaking process for me longer with inconvenient extra steps Size of loaf, easy to clean Poorly designed bake function

Love it – I got this as a Christmas gift over 10 year ago. I am very happy with this machine and the bread it makes. I would buy this product again or recommend to a friend. I used to bake bread with it almost every day but I don't use it as much as I used to. Pro's - lots of settings for the different things you can make. - Makes really great pizza… Read more

and pasta doughs

Con's - Sometimes the bead can be hard to get out of the machine because of the blade at the bottom of the pan sticks to the bread.

- Can be tricky to find a bread slicer that fits the loaf size

Years of Good Service – This machine gave us perfect bread and problem-free service for about a decade. Excellent reliable machine with good useful features. It finally died today (the heat element gave out - I finished the bake in the oven... the bread still turned out perfect). My only hope now is to be able to find a machine that is as good.  Show details

10 year old beauty – I have had this machine for 10 years or more, I made bread in it for awhile but only use the dough cycle now. Double the volume and double the baked size loaf, in my old Willow Bread tin. Made 2 dozen Hot Cross Buns for Easter they were beautiful. Just out of the oven Soy and Linseed loaf nearly 1kg. Hope it keeps going.  Show reply

Biggest waste of money EVER!!! – This bread machine is nothing but a waste of money. After using it a few times the bread basket will no longer stay in the cradle and continually throws itself out when mixing the dough. The only way to use it is to hold the basket in while it kneads the dough. This takes more than half an hour. This happened after using it only a few times. The… Read more

bread is heavy, undercooked and very pale on top.....WHY IS THERE NO TOP ELEMENT TO BROWN THE BREAD!!!!!

I would never recommend this product or any Sumbeam product to anyone EVER!!!!

Waste of money with little to no customer service

Lack of browning – Totally agree - never had a loaf brown - always pale and insipid: BECAUSE THERE IS NO ELEMENT IN THE LID!! Why can't the designers work this out - people want a nicely browned loaf. My old Panasonic made a beautiful loaf ever time til it died. Would not recommend  Show details

Good bread but poor quality machine – I am on my second Quantum machine now. It was a second-hand one again but looked new and it did well for the first couple of weeks. Now the paddle doesn't turn anymore or very inconsistently. The first machine I had lasted a year (also a second hand machine) before the heating element gave the ghost, an item that can't be replaced unless you do it… Read more

yourself with a similar type. It is not just Sunbeam that I have used, also Breville machines, but I like the larger loaf you get with the Sunbeam Quantum. My Breville machines started leaking and the coating came off the paddles. So that was no help either. I might have to strip this machine and see if I can repair the paddle driver.

The control panel lightning – We purchased second hand Sunbeam Quantum BM7800. The control panel Light is not working & we are unable to locate where the problem lies. Show reply

Great bread maker bought 2nd hand, but pan slightly too big – I bought this machine second hand for $8 a few years ago and have used it a lot. I make a simple wholemeal bread and found that with the recipe I use, it rose better after I made my own custom program. It is great that you can do this with this machine. My bread rises way above the pan if I make it do so and the bread turns out excellent. People… Read more

love the bread that comes out of this machine. The one problem is that if I want the bread to rise less, the pan is slightly too big for the amount I make (because we like it fresh, so we can't eat a big loaf quickly enough). The large sized pan means the smaller loaf comes out uneven in shape because the dough doesn't fill it up. WARNING: Do not scratch the pan of your bread-maker, no matter the brand or model. We did so, and the scratches make the bread stick to it, so it often gets broken when we take it out of the pan.

Long standing workhorse has finally died - now I need to find another 1.5kg machine! – We have used our BM7800 almost every day for over 10 years. Sometimes we make 2 loaves in a day as we are a larger family. We use home ground flour which is heavier than commercial wholemeal flour. Our loaves are light, perfectly coloured and delicious. We mostly use the standard wholemeal setting. I had hesitantly purchased the Sunbeam after… Read more

having worn out 2 Brevilles. It was recently a great disappointment to discover my machine has outlasted spare parts! The pan seal has gone to the extent it's becoming a problem so I now need to start the hunt for a replacement. It's really difficult to find a 1.5kg machine these days. So, my bread maker attrition rate stands at 3. Hopefully my next machine will last just as long!

worth the money – I bought this bakehouse about 8 years ago give or take a couple of years after my former one stopped working, this one is bigger than I had before only just recently it has stopped warming up during the rising of bread stage and we have had to take the pan out and rise it manually. well worth the money, due to a planned move I will not be… Read more ·  1

purchasing another when this one packs it in altogether however once settled in my new digs I will purchase another

Best Breadmaker we have had – We bake every 2 or 3rd day and this bread maker has lasted far the longer than the 2 Panasonic without any replacement parts needed. However the programmed bread was a disaster so I reprogrammed it using the Panasonic timings (warmed it up longer) & more milk powder and our bread is fantastic. It finally died so we are off to buy the same again.

Very reliable – Had the machine for 5 years with only 1 or 2 uses, then since having children, have used it 2-4 times a week (5 years). The machine itself has never faulted, though the plastic is slightly discoloured. The pan has lost some of its internal plating and the paddle seal has long broken but this doesn't seem to have affected the quality of the bread.… Read more

We use the Lauke mixes and the quantities given make a good product.

Apart from the pan wear, this is a great machine, from my experience.

WARNING - Do not buy this bread maker – If you are looking for a bread maker. Go find something else. This does not work. And you don't get your money back. If you use it you are waisting your money on flour etc and your time. It has never cook a loaf and if it gets to finish the so call bread is flat and pale. It's not the yeast. It's not the flour. It's not the packet mix. It's not… Read more

your electric having a dropout or shortage. It is this machine.. Every thing you try in the hope it will produce because good money was spent....it fails. It is this smartbake bread maker from sunbeam.

Every loaf disaster every time Product a joke – Have been using bread machines almost daily for 15 yrs with No problems. Last one worn out(Great baker)only cost $100 when purchased and I replaced it with this $200 .joke. Have tried 9 premix and 6 of own mix since purchase, every single loaf was unusable. Does not mix properly with large amounts of unmixed flour at extremities of… Read more

baking pan. Have tried scraping mix off side of pan during mix which seems to have assisted but loaf still heavy and unusable. Would rate product as - star if possible. An expensive $200 piece of junk, and after reading other reviews I have come to believe this product is a waste of time . Given up of trying to get it to bake Will be contacting Harvey Norman tomorrow

Not One to Buy :( – I have had my machine for a while and thought it was just me and my poor bread making skills. Recently lost my manual and was looking for a new one online when I came across these reviews ... perhaps not my lack of skill. For every one loaf I get near perfect (the top never browns but the consistency of the bread is OK) the rest of the loaves… Read more

have various levels of dough ... a very heavy bread at the best of times. I have used the recipes, store brought packets etc, measure everything (twice!). It is good for mixing for buns etc and makes a quick, easy jam but I can not recommend it as a bread maker.

Pale crust – I think Sunbeam has to own up that their machine will never give a dark crust as there is no element at the top that will brown the loaf. It is simple as that, own up and relieve everyone of their misery. It is obvious that everyone is almost pulling out their hair trying different possible solutions. People are not stupid and can see the… Read more

effortless way Panasonic users get a lovely loaf each time. Maybe a few minutes under the grill in the oven might do the trick ......I don't know. Get your home economist to work out a simple solution and let us go one with our day. I was given this as a present and it stopped working and I had to take it to a repairer on Paramatta Road for a free repair. Will not recommend it. Not ever.

Waist of money and time – should have bought a Panasonic every loaf comes out different never had a consistant result .tried different quantities recipes . better of buy bread from bakery .

Wish I hadn't bought it – I bought a Sunbeam Quantum Smartbake a few months ago and have had no success with it. I haven't had a decent loaf yet although I follow the instructions to the letter. I have tried using Lauke pre-mix and also following the recipes in the booklet. The loaves are dense, white on top and dark on the bottom or don't rise at all. I had a Panasonic… Read more

bread machine for 13 years and never had a bad loaf. I have given up persevering with it and will be disposing of it. I honestly think there must be something wrong with it. I will never buy another Sunbeam product.

Have to finish loaf off in the oven – I have programed this machine but to no avail still have to put the loaf in the oven to brown it and make the crust ok. The bread is soft on top and it seems quite useless to cook the bread, I am using laudke bread mix. This machine is ok for kneading and then cooking in the oven. This defeats the purpose of the machine Nothing really and was quite pricey to buy Useless for baking bread

This is a good, reliable, and easy to use appliance! – I've owned a Sunbeam Quantum Smartbake now for a few years. I read some people have trouble with the device; I cannot understand why! After use on average once every week for more than three years, everything works as it should. The coating in the baking pan is fine, and it produces consistent results every time. The programming panel is very easy… Read more

to use and baking can be completely on auto. I was that impressed with the Quantum, I bought another for a family member- she loves it and has never experienced any problems. The manual is one of the most comprehensive I've seen and answers pretty well every question. IF you follow the 'care and use' as described, you will have a high quality item that will give years of reliable service. Not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for. I totally recommend the Sunbeam bread bakers! Ease of use and versatility Nothing if you follow the instructions!

Was great until – I used this machine for making the dough only but after 3 years, the bowl's coating started to peel off. Always washed it by hand, never left liquid in it for a longer period etc. the service company offered a new bowl for $88.. No thanks. Very disappointing. You can buy a new less fancy machine for this much... Great machine Replacement bowl is expensive

Not happy – Purchased in January and first used today the 1st loaf was a disaster didn't rise hadn't mixed properly and had no colour 2nd loaf was no better both went into the bin very disappointed after paying almost $200. Purchased from retro vision I will be returning it for a refund

Faulty kneading – Very disappointed. The kneading function has stopped working as soon as the warranty had finished. Rang up customer service and they offered 30 percent off if I would buy another one. No way would I spend over 200 dollars on a useless machine. The inside has started to rust and it never produced a perfect loaf. I will never buy a sunbeam product again. Looks Broke down after warranty, baked average loaf

Love It! It's the best gift I have ever been given! – This bread maker is the best! I use it every couple of days to make everything from bread roll, pizza & a variety of other dough to the occasional loaf of bread, and the result it always perfect! I have just found after a lot of trial and error that you need to use high quality flour such as bakers flour or white wings & as for yeasts you will… Read more

need to use the container of lowan premium bakers yeast & keep it in the freezer or fridge! I tried the small satchels of packaged yeast and they didn't work real well in the bread maker. I only make 750g loaves as I have found that the bigger loaves are just too heavy and dense for my liking, I like light and fluffy loaves! You need to make sure everything is measured exactly! Read the manual that comes with it & follow instructions to the letter! It's really easy to use!

No Good – I used this machine several times exactly as per the instructions, but the bread was always undercooked on top and overcooked on the bottom. Having read other reviews, this seems to be a common complaint. The machine was useless as a bread maker and was returned. I would not recommend the product. It looks good. It did not function.

Average Breadmaker – I have had my breadmaker now for around 6 months and have rated this a 3 for the reason being that to date have still had no success baking a white loaf, they simply do not brown on top (and yes....I select the darkest crusts always upon setup) and they are a little dense also. Laucke multigrain soy linseed is the most successful to date, baking… Read more

a beautiful loaf of bread and if not better than that of the bakery!....so this is what i mostly bake, although i have whipped another white loaf this morning hoping its not so dense inside, still anaemic looking though, still endeavouring to succeed with the white bread! I always make the 750g loaf too as found the larger loaves too difficult to slice, too big for the toaster and sandwiches. There are definately issues for the manufacturer to address as after reading other reviews I am not the only one trying to achieve a brown crust! Convenience......much easier to whip a loaf up at home then to traipse off to the shops just for a loaf of bread. Does not brown! Yet to achieve a great white loaf!

A piece of junk – I have had my new Quantum Smartbake for about two weeks. There is absolutely nothing smart about it. Once we worked out that it can't bake bread on the auto settings,any kind of bread that is, I had to put the ingredients in and then hover over it extending the rising settings and then the baking settings until , finally, I got a loaf. In the… Read more

mean time we were accumulating 2inch high "bricks" with which I could have started to build a house with. Our 20 year old Panasonic never failed.

It would still prove the dough but the cooking element burnt out so thought I'd try the Sunbeam. Bad move. I wouldn't get another. Even when we got it to bake we had to put the loaf in the oven to get a crust. The window. Wouldn't bake a decent loaf without a lot of coaxing.

Pretty average – I've had this breadmaker for a couple of years and it already seems to be failing; the last few loaves I've made (from various kits) have all failed to rise. When it works, the bread is adequate but inferior to anything available from a bakery. The top is never crisp or browned. I won't be replacing it with another Sunbeam. Average results, short lifespan.

Getting bread out of the tin – Bought mine second hand and have used it twice. The dough sticks to the mixing blade and have had to wrestle the loaf out of the tin ending up with a huge hole underneath in the middle. What am I doing wrong here because the bread that has baked is fantastic. Fresh home made bread - we live in the country so its important. Bought second hand, maybe I should buy a new one? Show reply

Started failing Within 18 months! – My husband wanted this for his 30th, very practical guy ;) we used it every single day. After about 14 months there started to be black bits in the bread where the kneading arm joins the actual pan. I inspected closely and saw that the inside lining of the pan was flaking away and into the bread. Not long after noticing this, I also found black… Read more ·  2

"stuff" IN the actual machine itself in the round part that turns the kneading arm. I worked out the water is leaking through the pan and being turned to black sooty flaky substance when baking. Now the water literally drips at a very steady pace through the seal at the bottom. Not only does this leave less water and therefore makes the final product sticky and doughy, but clogs up the mechanism inside. Im not happy considering I brought this one because of all the rave reviews I read in researching which was the best one for us. Very versatile, makes lots of handy tasty recipes Leaky seal after a short time, flaking lining inside pan.

I love love love this machine – Super easy to use, would replace it immediately if it wears out. Very happy. My family loves the bread, pizza, rolls, sweet rolls etc etc That I make using this machine. The fruit and nut dispenser is fantastic at Easter for hot cross buns. As we live in the country access to daily fresh bread is fantastic. Easy to use ... Idiot proof Addictive Show 4 replies

Fresh homemade bread – We used this daily when we first bought it, it makes pizza bases, jams, and of course breads. Easy to follow instructions and the result is very good too ! Don't use it as often now, but will plan too as I recall the wonderful products. A recipe book is included with lots of recipes. We purchased from The Good Guys and would recommend the extended warranty. Easy to use, good results. It's large so you need cupboard space !