Contempo LW-8552

I bought this more than a year ago on (low) price as a (temporary) replacement for a 4-slice model that had failed - just until I could get around to research and buy a “proper” one.

It has actually been excellent so I haven’t replaced it. With two teenagers, it gets a heavy workout and falls into the nice category of simple devices that “just work”. At not much more than the cost of a single deluxe pizza, it could fail tomorrow and I’d still have had my money’s worth out of it.

At the price point (sub $20) I have no criticisms. If it were multiple times the cost I might expect want an on/off switch on the device itself for convenience and possible a more flexible hinge for extra thick sandwiches and maybe a more even heat distribution. However using the on/off switch on the power point is easy enough, it does have clear lights showing power and at-full-heat, and the heat distribution is no worse than a couple of much more expensive appliances, so the only real objection is that it works best for standard sandwiches and you have to play around a bit if you want to use it for thick ones.

So on price performance a definite 5.