As a family we don't seem to have much success with toasters ... our last one died when a blue plastic lid got dropped in it and melted everywhere!

So, anyway, faced with the seemingly regular 'need a new toaster' dilemma, I started looking around - and was delighted to come across this one on half-price offer at Argos. It usually retails at around the £60-£70 mark which I think is a lot for a toaster (particularly given their life expectancy in our household!) but at half-price I was hooked.

It's a bit of a big beastie - as per the picture it is almost a cube shape, taking 4 thick slices. It's a shiny chrome with black sides and looks really smart. It also feels really sturdy - not at all flimsy.

There are two levers - the front lever operates the front two slots, whereas the back lever operates all four slots. Nice and logical once you get used to it, but did cause some confusion to my husband who for some reason was trying to use the back two slots.

Fairly standard features include a browning control (nice, clear, easy to use), frozen bread setting, and cancel button.

Less common features are bun-warming racks (sounds painful now I come to think about it!) which we've never used, and a 'stay warm' function - one I always forget about, but very useful when you're trying to time your toast to finish at the same time as your egg or beans and don't quite get the timing right!

Definitely uncommon feature is a bagel toasting function. Only one side of the slot heats up, so it only toasts one side (you need to remember to put your bagel halves in with the cut sides facing each other) and leaves the rest of the bagel lovely and chewy - warm but not toasted. I love this feature, as this is how I like my bagels toasted, but couldn't always be bothered to do them under the grill, so used to stick them in the toaster and put up with both sides being toasted. This feature is only available on the front two slots - a bit annoying if you are wanting to toast bagels for more than one person, but hey, I'm not complaining, one bagel toaster is better than none!

I don't know whether this is just my perception, or whether our previous toaster was particularly speedy, but this toaster does seem to take quite a while to toast. I'm not talking ages here - just a little longer than I expected - but if you are the kind of person who grabs 'a quick slice of toast' on the run in the morning, then it's worth noting.

The only other minor niggle is that I would prefer the lever to lift the toast a bit higher when it's done - I've had other toasters which have done this better. It's not enough to be a problem, but I've deducted a 'blob' from the 'Ease of Use' category because of this.

I'm not a toast connoisseur, but I've been happy that the bread generally comes out evenly toasted, browned nicely - I've not managed to burn it yet, anyway!

Very happy overall with the looks, performance, and features of this toaster, and I would happily recommend it. I'm not sure I would personally pay full price for it, but having experienced it I would at least now consider doing so, even if only for my bagels! Definitely worth snapping up if it's on offer.

I'd probably give it four and a half stars if I could, because I do think it's a wee bit pricey, but on the whole it's nearer a 5 than a 4 - I'm feeling generous!