Russell Hobbs RHM1714B 17 Litre 700 W Black Digital Solo Microwave with 5 Power Levels, Digital Clock and Timer, 8 Auto Cook Menus, Automatic Defrost, Easy Clea

Amazing for the price, though rather noisy for early morning use.
(review for Russell Hobbs RHM1714WC, sold by Amazon Nov2020). Microwaves don’t seem to last long these days, so thought I may as well try a cheap one. At 55.99 this fitted the bill, and I’m pleasantly surprised to find it doesn’t seem cheap or nasty, so first impressions are that it is amazingly good value.

There is a separate page of safety info and then the manual itself gets to page 10 before the list of precautions finishes, leaving one thinking it may be safest never to plug the device in. There is also some info that I would have liked before purchase, like the large amount of clearance needed around it (approx 3″ at sides and back and 12″ above). However it is well written, in English, and uses a font size that is suitable for reading, which sets it several light-years ahead of some competitor’s offerings.

It took quite some time to set up the kitchen around the requirements, but once done it seems to work as expected. Very briefly a ‘new’ hot kind of smell but by the second use this was gone. I was hoping to just turn the dial and press go, like previous machines I’ve had, but this one selects the preset rather than time by default so another button needs to be pressed first; not ideal but easy enough to get used to. There are quite a lot of identical buttons which are labelled with modestly sized text, so (unlike my last model, which was clearer) reading glasses are needed to operate it.

It seems to have quite a range of functions, more than many budget models, and so far has done everything I’ve tested it at. The only significant down-side is that the traditional ‘ping’ is loud enough to seem more like an alarm – and it goes off whenever a button is pressed, then ‘four’ times when it finishes heating, then four times again after a pause if one doesn’t open the door in time (then opening the door also sets it off, though just the once). This might be useful for the hard of hearing, except it is also quite high pitched, but it has already been commented on by the neighbours (in an adjoining flat) and I’ve only had it a day; it really doesn’t seem very suitable for early-morning breakfast time unless there is some way to shut it up that I’ve not seen yet.

But overall very pleased with it for the price. If it will last as long as the previous microwaves I’ve had, which failed within months of the warranty expiring, then I shall consider it to be much better value.