I bought this to replace a more sophisticated programmable Breadman Ultimate that I had used once or twice a week, sometimes more frequently, for several years. The machine still worked, but the kneading assembly finally just fell out of the bread pan (the shaft, etc.), and there were no replacement bread pans available for that machine. (I looked high and low!)I looked at a number of different machines before choosing this one. It seemed that people who bought Breadman machines were satisfied with this one, but the successor machine to the Ultimate received disappointed reviews from people who had owned the Ultimate. I also looked at other brands, and for one reason or another, rejected them. One of them, when you look at the manual, you discover that the ONLY setting for one pound and one and a half pound loaves is the "fast" setting, and the other settings are available only for the two lb loaves. Since I almost always bake one and a half pound loaves, this surprised me. (I find that the "fast" setting is hardly adequate even for a plain white loaf, but forget it for anything involving multiple whole grains.)The Breadman TR520 isn't programmable the way that the Ultimate was, but I had only used that feature rarely, so it was something I was willing to forego. It has a plain dough setting, but no pizza dough setting, which my previous machine had. Pizza dough does not require the time and rises that a bread dough would, but that's easily worked around -- I set my kitchen timer for an hour and take the pizza dough out after an hour and it's perfect. (I use my own traditional recipe for pizza dough, not the one in the manual that comes with the machine, which calls for sugar and dry milk, which I found bizarre.)Some of the differences between the TR520 and the Ultimate:- the TR520 cannot be custom programmed, although it does have the "delay" feature so that you can set the machine up the night before (or in the morning before work) and set the bread to be baked up to 13 hours after you put the ingredients in the machine.- the TR520 is MUCH quieter than the Ultimate.- the TR520 does not have as many settings as the Ultimate (such as "pizza dough"), but it still allows you to "mix and match" your loaf size, crust setting, and loaf type (e.g., basic white, whole wheat, French, etc.), and it does have the "plain dough" and "bake only" settings.- The display does not tell you what stage of bread-making the machine is on, only the time remaining. With the Ultimate, it was nice to glance at it and see that it was on its second rise, or whatever.- The key to the programs and the labels for the buttons, as noted by other reviewers, is printed on the machine in white with a yellow background and is very difficult to read, though I didn't find it impossible (really a stupid design mistake). You can always refer to the manual until you memorize them.- The casing seems to get hotter than the casing for the Ultimate used to, but that may be a subjective impression that is actually incorrect.- It has a slightly smaller footprint than the Ultimate, and is more of a square machine than rectangular, although the loaves are the usual rectangular loaf-shape.- Rather than having a receptacle for extras (raisins, nuts, etc.) like the Ultimate had, the TR520 has a loud beep, instead, signalling you to add the extras.- The Ultimate had a pause button, and the TR520 does not. I would like to be able to pause the machine early on and use my spatula to push dough from the corners if necessary, and pause it when adding the extras.- Neither the Ultimate nor the TR520 have two paddles, but they handle stiff bialy dough very well with just the one, and they don't make two holes in the bottom of the bread.I have baked several different loaves in the machine so far, including a buttermilk white loaf, a whole wheat oatmeal loaf, a whole wheat potato bread, cinnamon raisin bread, and a multigrain loaf, and they all came out well, just as I'd expected them to. My pizza dough has turned out beautifully each time I make it, too, and I do that about once a week. I have also made hard roll dough and bialy dough in the machine. It handled the very stiff bialy dough beautifully (bialy dough is like bagel dough), which pleased me.I have never made quick breads and cakes in my bread machine, this one or its predecessor, since I found early on that they don't turn out well for my taste. It's also scarcely any harder to mix something like that in a bowl and put it in the oven to bake, provided you have an oven!One of the things I love about the bread machine, aside from its general ease of use, is that I can bake bread in even the hottest weather without heating up my kitchen with the oven.The manual that comes with the machine is good and quite thorough. It pays to read it -- it is important with this machine, as with the Ultimate, to keep it unplugged in between uses, for example, and not to soak or immerse the bread pan. The recipes, however, are not any I would use as written, although I may try the pita bread recipe and tweak it a bit. I have been baking bread for about thirty years, more if you include when I would help my mother when I was growing up, and I have never, either in old-fashioned manual bread-making or in machine bread-making, used TWO TABLESPOONS of sugar for one ordinary loaf of bread. The sugar is there to feed the yeast, not to flavor the bread (unless it's a sweet bread, such as cinnamon raisin, Portuguese sweet bread, or challah). Two TEASPOONS per loaf has always been sufficient, regardless of the bread/flour type. My loaves turn out beautifully risen and golden with a lovely texture and crumb. Some breads, such as traditional white Italian and French loaves and pizza dough, do not need sugar at all.It was a a great price for a very good, perfectly functional machine. It had the features I found essential in a bread machine, though it didn't have some of the extras that would be nice. The only flaws that were real design flaws, as opposed to just being not-ideal, are the lack of a "pause" button, and the strange choice of white writing on yellow on the breadmaker lid. But the white-on-yellow is more-or-less a cosmetic flaw that can be compensated for. I do miss the pause button, though.It's not perfect and it lacks some frills, but it's an excellent buy, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking to buy a basic bread machine.On Thanksgiving Day my trusty Breadman Plus Dual Loaf breadmaker went to small appliance heaven in the middle of the dough cycle for my dinner rolls. After I finished my nervous break down I jumped online to see what it would cost to replace. I have had it for nearly 11 faithful years and so I was hoping to purchase the same brand and model. I couldn't find it anywhere and I assume that at some point in the past decade it must have been discontinued. What I did find is that dual loaf makers are a bit pricier than they were back in the day....While homemade bread and rolls from scratch are considered a necessity in my house, I can really not justify spending a couple hundred dollars right now with the holiday season once again at our throats lol. So I began to search lower cost options. I supposed I didn't really need one with a jam cycle, especially if you consider the fact that in 11 years I never used it once. So I didn't mind giving that up to purchase this model. I have only a handful of times ever had a need to bake 2 loaves at once, or a loaf plus dough, so I did not mind too much giving that up either. (*sobs quietly*)I purchased this version and hoped for the best. It arrived practically the minute I finished ordering because amazon prime is some kind of voodoo magic. It was packaged well and did not get beat up in it's travels. I opened it up and cleaned it as per the instructions. I briefly flipped through the included recipes while shaking my head at the thought of putting a quarter cup of sugar into a recipe for 9 dinner rolls. Really that is what it said to do. I went ahead with my own dough recipe, and though this machine is a bit noisier that the one it replaced, and the pan feels flimsier, it did turn out ok. Of course that was just kneading and first rise, I baked my rolls in my oven.Today I decided to make and bake a simple 1 and a half pound loaf of white bread.right in the machine. I did have to consult the booklet for the settings and I do find it odd that L is for light crust but P is for Medium and H is for dark. What kind of alphabet is this? Why not D for dark? but oh well I am not going to argue with the machine. I did need my reading glasses to set the machine, as has been noted by others the white on yellow of the control panel is not easy to see. It happily and loudly began to mix my ingredients once I got the pan firmly snapped in place, and I do mean firmly. I had to push it in with 2 hands. It mixed well, kneaded well and chugged along sounding a bit like a washing machine. I kept a careful eye on it once it finally began baking because there was a full hour left on the timer and that seemed long to me for baking a medium sized loaf with light crust. I did end up turning the machine off when it had 10 minutes to spare because the crust had gone from light and headed towards medium and when I gave it a thump it did have a nice sound like it was fully baked (which it was) This could be because I did not use their recipe, but my own. It turned out well and I had no trouble getting it out of the non stick pan. I used a non metal crochet hook to extract the kneading paddle from my loaf.My bread turned out delicious and the pan was easy to clean.All in all I would say this is a good machine for the price but only time will tell whether it will last.Do keep an eye on it if you are baking in the machine. I don't think I would use the timer to wake up to fresh bread because if I had not been watching I think it would have over baked my loaf. I do think it will be best used for bread and rolls that you make in your own oven. I can not say how it would turn out with their recipes because I have not used and do not intend to use them. They all sound a little off to me.*just a quick update*When I say "good for the price" I meant the price that I paid. I see now that the price has already gone up 11 bucks from just the other day when I purchased it for 52!