Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme Bread Maker Machine - Automatic Bread Maker with 13-Hour Delay Timer & Gluten-Free Setting for Homemade Bread, Dough, Jam - Perfect for Family Breakfast & Healthy Baking

About a year ago we bought a Breadman Pro breadmaker, which was OK. But it has started to have the spindle for the paddle fall out, which can be a bit awkward if it happens at the wrong time. Parts are hard to find, so I decided to get another breadmaker. When I was looking last year, I was very taken by this Zojirushi, but we got the Breadman Pro locally for about $50, so we went with that.The Zojirushi arrived very quickly and in good order. I washed the pan and paddles, set it up, and decided to try the Basic White loaf. Result: a really good loaf of bread. The best I've ever tasted? No, but very, very good!Comparisons. The Zojirushi is much, much quieter in operation. Very quiet, in fact, which is much appreciated. I am careful with my measurements for bread, but I got this loaf as a far better 2 lb. loaf than the Breadman Pro could do. The shape was better, it had a nice crust (I think it was the butter), and was more even within in terms of texture and form. The two smaller paddles came out of the loaf very cleanly and left far less disturbance than in the Breadman Pro (which has one larger paddle). And the indentations were crusted, rather than torn bread.The larger pan of the Zojirushi allows a 2 lb. loaf that is longer (about 1.5 inches) and so not as high as the Breadman Pro. It doesn't spill over the sides of the pan. The shape fits nicely into the bread cutting form we have, so we can slice it nicely. At present, sandwiches for all 5 of us for lunch consumes a whole loaf, less a couple of slices, so this longer loaf will allow us more slices per loaf. I had cut back to 1.5 lb loaves with the Breadman Pro, as the shape of the top of the 2 lb. loaves wasn't good for cutting and using for sandwiches, but these 2 lb. loaves will do us very nicely.Still to be tested is whole wheat bread and various specialty recipes. But this good start is very promising. Will report back later.June, 2011, Update. This machine is still amazing. It produces excellent raisin loaf, and the recipe for the custom Crusty French Bread can be run through the ordinary cycle with excellent results: it's my more common loaf. We've produced a loaf a day for most of the time we've had it, and it has worked very, very well. Loaves are a good shape for sandwiches. It produces very good bread with some wholemeal flour, but fully wholemeal loaves are still a bit heavy, but the family still eat them: I need to experiment more! Various other loaves from the recipe book have been great.Points to watch. As noted in other reviews, you do need to get the paddles out when washing the pan, but the non-stick surface makes this easy. The non-stick material on the 6 rivet heads on the base of the pan seems a little less effective, and a little material may adhere to the spindles, but these are simple checks you washed it properly. I don't think I've had a time where a paddle has stayed in a loaf, as they seem to bake a crust around themselves. Wiping with your finger in a wet cloth after washing seems to clean it well enough.The fact that there is a supporting website and spare parts is very comforting after the vacuum of support for our old Breadman Pro when it failed. I'd rather pay more and get longer life and support, as well as better bread. I don't think that the Zojirushi has produced a loaf one could call 'below average.' I am not sure why the people who couldn't get it to work had problems, but a little fine tuning can make a difference, e.g., I use a tiny fraction less yeast than the recipe for a better loaf.In summary, an excellent piece of equipment that is a fixture in our kitchen. It works well and without drama. It's not cheap, but you get what you pay for here: a quality product which does what it's supposed to.November, 2015, Update. Still working well, without any dramas. We had to cut back on bread, as two of the four people now living here can't have gluten, one of them seriously. So the breadmaker sat on a shelf for quite a while. But the arrival of gluten-free bread mixes (especially Bob's Red Mill) have revived the Zojirushi, and it didn't miss a beat. We now have three gluten-free styles (whole grain, white and raisin), which produce great bread. I tend to add extra yeast to help them rise a bit quicker in the available time, and the resulting loaves are greatly appreciated.I am very glad I bought this machine. It has been flawless and is so easy to use, and produces great bread. Would that all kitchen appliances were so well made and work so well. Six or more stars, if that were possible!May, 2019, Update. It's still going strong. I just made a gluten-free loaf yesterday and a regular loaf today, and both turned out very well. Several years ago I bought a pair of new paddles, as the original ones were starting to lose their coating and bread was sticking to them. That was quick and easy and we have since settled back into a regular routine with bread without any drama or concerns.This has turned out to be an excellent investment. Far better bread than any previous bread maker we've used, and trouble-free operation. It's simply an impressive product that I am very happy I bought.