Smart Toaster Showdown: I Tested the $400 Revolution Toaster and a $120 Knockoff
My love affair with Toast began when I was 16 and first heard the catchy song Toast by Heywood Banks on a family road trip. We all loved the tune as much as the classic breakfast food and hummed it in unison all the way to the nearest restaurant.
For toast lovers, finding that special golden brown hue is essential, and modern smart toasters take the guesswork out of making perfect toast every time. These high-tech toasters may seem like a frivolous addition to the kitchen, but if getting that shade is important to you, a smart toaster may be a splurge worth paying for.
The Kalorik Vivid Touch toaster still has a traditional toaster lever.
I tested two smart toasters at two very different prices to see which would be the better buy in 2025. The R180 Connect Plus Smart Toaster has been the benchmark smart toaster. CNET reviewed an earlier version of the toaster. However, we were admittedly slightly reluctant to recommend it to our readers due to its high price.
There’s another smart toaster that gives Revolution’s high-end machine a run for its money: Kalorik Vivid Touch Toaster. This model costs less than half the price of the Revolution toaster. But can this copycat smart toaster hold up in a head-to-head smart toaster showdown? I went to work to find out.
First impressions
The Vivid Touch toaster is lighter, wider and shorter than the Revolution and offers a more traditional design with a manual lever in addition to the smart display. The Revolution toaster has a few more features and a slightly larger screen.
Here’s how they stack up side by side:
Toaster comparison
| Price | Guarantee | Bread Options | Toasted nuances | Special Features | Dimensions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revolution toaster | $400 | 2 years | 40 | 7 | Wi-Fi connectivity, removable crumb tray, photo screensaver, weather forecast, cleaning notifications | 11.93″ L x 6.87″ W x 7.8″ H |
| Vivid Touch Toaster | $120 | 1 year | 20 | 6 | Automatic shut-off, removable crumb tray | 10.83″ D x 6.89″ W x 7.76″ H |
Toaster tests
I toasted white bread, multigrain, brioche, and a frozen bagel in both toasters to see how they each performed. With the Vivid toaster, you swipe on the touchscreen to find the bread you want to toast, and there are six browning levels, while the R180 Connect Plus has full pages you can swipe between and seven browning levels.
The R180 Connect Plus Smart Toaster’s bright display makes the screen easy to see and use.
Although the R180 Connect Plus lets you make your choices a little faster, both are very simple to use and experienced no issues in testing. The R180 Connect offers more options, including several pages of gluten-free choices.
Both toasters also allow users to choose “fresh,” “frozen,” or “reheat” before toasting begins.
The Vivid Touch toaster has a slightly smaller screen, but it’s still large enough to easily see your options.
The Revolution Toaster has reached toast level
When toasting a frozen bagel, the R180 Connect Plus toaster was able to brown the bagel close to the image shown on the screen, and it worked much faster than the Vivid Touch toaster. It took the Vivid toaster 2 minutes and 55 seconds to toast, while the Revolution toaster finished it in 1 minute and 53 seconds, and it came out a darker shade.
Once the bagel halves were cooled, I returned them to each toaster and toasted them again on level 1 to see how well the toasters warmed the bagel. They both produced a warm bagel half, but the R180 Connect Plus browned it slightly more, while the Vivid Touch toaster still didn’t. However, the bagel was still a bit crispy despite its light color.
After two turns in each toaster, only one bagel half reached the promised level of browning.
Similarly to the bagel, the Vivid toaster also undertoasted multigrain bread at level 3, but it performed well at level 4.
The R180 Connect Plus Toaster has reached the browning level of multigrain bread.
With white sourdough bread, both toasters did a good job of reaching the level of browning displayed on the screens at level 3.
The R180 Connect Plus performed slightly faster, but both produced excellent white toast.
However, even though the Kalorik was toasting most of the time at level 3, it burned a small slice of brioche bread when placed at the same level.
Brioche bread prepared by the Kalorik Vivid Touch toaster, left, and brioche toast prepared by the Revolution toaster, right.
Overall, the Vivid toaster seemed to perform best at level 4, while I liked the R180 Connect Plus’s performance at level 3. (Anything at level four on either toaster would have been considered burnt for me.)
White bread prepared with the Kalorik Vivid Touch toaster at level 4 was an ideal toasting level.
Features
The R180 Connect Plus toaster has a handful of more fun features, like quirky screensavers and the ability to upload up to 24 personal photos that rotate on the screen when the toaster is not in use. I shamelessly took this opportunity to display my new wedding photos.
The Vivid Touch toaster’s screen cannot be customized like that of the Revolution toaster.
Wi-Fi connectivity allows the toaster to display local weather and automatically set the time. On the other hand, the Vivid Touch Toaster still has everything you need in a toaster, including auto shut-off and four language options (English, Mandarin, French, and Spanish).
Final verdict
After using both toasters, I realized that they can both produce great toast and other breakfast carbs, but the Vivid Touch Toaster takes a little longer (by a minute or two) to achieve the same results and it can be a little more finicky when it comes to browning levels, depending on what you’re toasting.
Personally, I prefer the design and user experience of the R180 Connect Plus toaster, especially since the screen saver option helps it blend into your kitchen and the Wi-Fi connectivity makes it versatile. Plus, using it feels a little more like a luxury experience.
But it goes without saying that the price should not be neglected. The question remains: Is a toaster really worth $100 or more, even if it can also tell the weather or work as a picture frame? Ultimately, I still think the answer depends on how often you’ll use it.
At $400, the R180 Connect Plus isn’t the best choice for everyone, but if budget isn’t an issue and you’re looking for maximum toasting options, features, and an extremely stylish toaster that you plan to use every day, then the R180 Connect Plus Smart Toaster is the winner here.
Although I always consider Kalorik Vivid Touch Toaster a strong contender in the world of smart toasters – especially since it costs less than half the price of the R180 Connect Plus Toaster – it was less consistent in achieving the promised browning levels displayed on its display. Plus, at $120, it’s still not a budget choice. That said, there was something about lowering the lever on a conventional toaster that felt right RIGHT during the tests, but maybe it’s the words of Toast seeping into my head again.
