I update this review occasionally , I suggest you copy the permalink at the bottom of the review to find it again at a later date.Update 5/27/2015: a new version is coming out right now with a built in timer similar to the dual version of the product.Update 8/20/15: HB has come out with a Breakfast Burrito Maker it's essentially the same tech but large enough to take a tortilla.you put the tortilla in the bottom, scrambled egg mixture on the egg plate with cheese, vegatables, etc... on top cooks for 5 minutes. You drop the cooked egg and other ingredients and roll up the tottilla around it. You can also use it for omelettes. As with the original, I'm sure it's only limited by you imagination.HAVE YOU BURNT YOURSELF? don't do that! read Misc Tips below.Note: No. I do not work for the company. I just really like the unit. And want to help people get the most from it. Frankly, anyone that thinks I work for Hamilton Beach or anyone connected to this device, is an idiot.Note: Since I've been ridiculed for some of the things in the next two sections. Let me preface it with: I know that some of them are a stretch. What I was hoping you'd take away from them, is that it's more your mindset and not necessarily the device that makes it a 'only does one thing' appliance. Things are uni-taskers once you decide they are.Mini oven: In reality the unit is a mini 300 degree oven and you can bake things in it.1) Pillsbury Grands Biscuits: preheat the unit, create a disk of crumpled aluminum foil about 1/8th inch thick using the rings as a guide, one side should be relatively smooth. Place it in the rings smooth side up, and spray with a little Pam. Pre-heat the unit and place the biscuit on the disk. Leave the egg plate in the open position (unless you want a flattened biscuit) and close the unit up. Give the biscuit about 10 minutes and check it, adjust your time as needed. The disc of aluminum foil will cause the time to fluctuate depending on the thickness etc.... But it's reusable. Frozen biscuits take a little longer.2) Pillsbury Ready to Bake cookies. Use the disc, or a couple layers of foil, and place one cookie on it, flatten the cookie a bit if It would touch the bottom of the egg plate when the unit is closed. Adjust the time for the cookie a bit based on it being cooked at 300 degrees instead of the package temperature, the thinner the foil the faster the cookie will cook but it may burn the bottom as well. You can use the egg plate for a second cookie, but use a layer of foil in a 4 inch circle under the cookie, so when you slide the egg plate open to drop the cookie out, it doesn't get squished against the side of the ring. Hot cookies are soft.3) Yes, I've made small pies in it with crescent roll dough, and a can of pie filling. I fashioned my own pie plate from layers of aluminum foil. The lid from like a peanut butter jar will give you the basic shape. Just don't cook the plastic lid. Bake the crust first. Also muffins / mini cakes using the just add water mini mixes and a clean tuna can. 11/17/14: these days I use a 3.5 inch ramekin I bought off Amazon instead of a tuna can for these little projects.Note: in the comments below another user suggests she gets good results using parchment paper in stead of foil, I haven't tried it yet but I agree it actually might work better for at least some of the uses.What else can you cook?1) Rubens: Cut rye bread circles, using the rings as a cookie cutter, or I use a 4 inch plastic storage container. Put the pastrami on the egg plate during preheat. then carefully add the bread to the bottom section for the cook and drop the pastrami on top, put well drained sauerkraut on the egg plate give it about 3 minutes then add a slice of Swiss cheese on top of the sauerkraut and the top bread. Let it cook for another 2-3 minutes. You can Add the thousand island dressing on top of the meat just before dropping the sauerkraut and cheese then remove the sandwich, or remove the sandwich flip it over remove the bread and add the thousand island dressing and put the bread back on and flip it over again.2) Tuna (or chicken) melts: mix your tuna ingredients, I like pickle relish tuna (and optionally raw egg. Don't make it too liquid.) Put in the bottom bread, put the tuna mix on the egg plate and let it cook, open the egg plate so it drops on the bread, put a layer of cheese onto the fallen tuna mix, leave the egg plate in the open position and close the unit back up. Let it cook an additional couple minutes to melt the cheese.3) Hotdog sandwiches: Cut slits 3/4 of the way through 1 side of the hotdog, about 1/2-3/4 inch apart. The hotdog will then curl in a circle to fit on the egg plate. Let it cook for a minute or two before you add the other ingredients. You could, if you wish pour a scrambled egg in to the center. I do and then top it with chopped onion and green peppers, Cook it till firm. The hot dog will pretty much come to the top of the egg ring so the top bread, I use bagel thins, will just sit on top. I cook the hotdog and egg without the bread with the lid closed for most of the time and then at the end add the top bread to warm it up and toast it a bit. Makes a great sandwich.4) all kinds of other things, there are at least two cookbooks out for it. Although, you'll probably not see my recipes? use you're imagination! S'mores would work, but they'd be a bit messy.5) and of course for college kids, you can cook most canned goods in the can, on the bottom plate after all it gets to slightly over 300 degrees, open the can and let it heat up. I'd put down a layer of foil to catch any overflow and to protect the Teflon finish some what. But other than that, you've got hot spaghetti o's, or ravioli, hot water for coffee, hot chocolate, soups etc... Of course a lot of these things can be cooked in a microwave if they're allowed and one can afford it. If not this is a very compact cooking machine for just about every thing. You could even use a cleaned out tuna can, to bake a muffin/cake in. See mini oven above. When I first saw this I was skeptical that it would work without making a mess to clean up afterward. I've bought many of these little gadgets in the past and usually the clean up is never as easy as it is shown on TV or the product doesn't quite come out the same. This one works great!!I was eager to check it out when I first received it from UPS. I didn't have any english muffins and just had some thin lite bread in the fridge so just used that. Seasoned it first (and I highly recommend doing this every time you use it) with some vegetable oil after I washed it like recommended. I heated it up, squeezed the first piece of bread in so it fit in and didn't leave any gapes, added my cheese and bacon, then an extra large egg (it's what I had) and then gently shaped the top piece of bread to fit too without squeezing out the egg. Came out great! Then my daughter came over and I remembered I had some frozen pancakes in the freezer and offered to make her a sandwich and she loved it. My "McGriddle" is made with two small blueberry pancakes (store bought that come in a big bag). I put the first one in, put a small bit of maple syrup to coat it, add some cheese and the sausage or bacon (have done both), then the egg and the top pancake that I also put a thin layer of maple syrup as well. Those come out tasting so good!I've made them with English muffins, bread and pancakes. I believe because I season it with the vegetable oil each time after I've cleaned it and it's dried that when I go to use it nothing sticks at all. I don't have the white residue from the egg that one of videos showed except once and that was when I made another sandwich right after the first one. It wasn't a big deal, still cleaned up easily.I also tried to make a Reuben style sandwich as well. I used Weight Watcher's rye bread that I put in and squeezed into the bottom to fit, a little mustard, Swiss cheese, pastrami and sauerkraut and the top piece of bread also molded to fit. I had the "egg" tray slid out when I tried this and the top bread didn't brown because it wasn't up high enough but it was warm and crispy. I may try to arrange the ingredients a bit differently next time and leave the "egg tray" in this time and put the meat on top of that so it gets a bit hotter because it was just warm before and the bread should toast nicely. Bottom line is, you could make a variety of hot sandwiches in this and doesn't necessarily have to be for breakfast.One thing I did notice and I think others had mentioned was the top and bottom having a sticky residue feeling to them after using. I ran into this too and as it tells you not to use a scrubbing pad on it it is hard to get rid of. I do have non scratch type scrubbers for my smooth top stove and I gently tried using that. Still found it was sticky. One of the things that I think helps tremendously is that after your sandwich is done leave it on and closed while you eat and then wet a dish cloth and wipe the top and bottom with that being careful not to burn yourself and that helps remove that residue. I also just rinse and repeat and wipe down the rest of the the cooking surfaces as well.A couple of other tips, if you want to try making a sandwich and your bread is too big and you don't want to deal with trying to squeeze it in just use the one of the circles to "cut" the bread like a cookie or biscuit cutter and it will fit perfectly. The pancakes I use are varied in shape and sometimes too big too fit and are frozen so trying to use the cookie cutter idea isn't plausible so in that case I just trim them around the edges a bit with some kitchen scissors I have. Also, the sausage I buy that is round is rather small and we found the first couple of sandwiches would slide around so, after I microwaved it to thaw, I mashed it down a little bit to spread it out to fit better and give you more sausage per bite (and I do recommend thawing out any frozen meat first in the microwave). We also like to scramble up the egg sometimes before we pour it in and that works out well too, haven't tried this yet but for a western style sandwich you could scramble up the egg, pour it in and throw in a little bit of chopped up peppers and onion.Things I haven't tried but think would be good for hot sandwiches are Italian bread with butter spread on it and garlic powder sprinkled on top of that with the buttered side facing the heating sides and maybe some mozzerella and mashed meatballs or sloppy joe mixture on the inside, the reuben style I already mentioned, maybe a hamburger bun with a thawed chicken patty and your choice of cheese. Basically, just be creative and don't just limit your ideas to breakfast.Edited on 1-18-2014Still enjoying my sandwich maker very much. One thing I'd like to suggest and it worked well for us is that if you are making your own biscuits or buying a can of pillsbury grand biscuits you can make up a batch of sandwiches or cook for a crowd easily. While the biscuits are baking in the oven I cook up a couple of eggs at a time in the sandwich maker. I crack an egg in a bowl, scramble it up a bit, pour one egg in the bottom slot, quickly scramble up another and pour it into the "egg" slot and cook for about three minutes. I repeat this process while the biscuits are baking and then when they are done I put my sandwiches together reserving the last two hottest eggs for my husband and I to have a hot sandwich. I get everything ready ahead of time, precooked bacon and the cheese out and just do it like a quick assembly line. The rest of the sandwiches I individually wrap in wax paper and have some breakfast sandwiches ready to throw in the microwave or for my husband to take a couple to work with him. I like that the sandwich maker makes perfectly round little egg patties. Think you could cook up a dozen eggs like this and freeze them too to have a quick and handy, throw in the microwave, pre-cooked egg whether you wanted it in a sandwich or just to throw on a plate with some bacon or sausage.I’ve had it over a month and have used it every morning. I have saved so much $ not buying a sandwich on the way to work. A few tips so your not frustrated and annoyed.1. Getting precooked meats like sausage defrosted and warm in the nuke makes a better end product no frozen center surprise.2. Use whole egg. Scrambled eggs are runnier and will flow out of it for the next reason.3. They all have a slight gap in the egg plate. Knowing where your gap is you can be strategic to avoid the leaking everyone complains about. What I have found works best, crack egg in small dish, use a pastry brush to smear egg white around the inside edge to seal that gap. When the egg smear turns white and is sealed drop your egg in. Give it a swirl with a skewer (don’t break the egg white edge seal!) salt pepper, muffin top close machine set a timer 6mins. Or say Alexa set timer 6 mins! I also wrap mine in wax paper before going out the door. After about 15 mins in the wax paper it is set and perfect tempt to chow down in traffic. When I don’t wrap in wax paper, the English muffin can be too crispy, rips my mouth apart.At $5.99 a day for breakfast sandwiches it paid for itself in 5 days! I can leave home later now! So much time reclaimed from the drive thru I don’t mind taking 2 mins to clean it even when it leaks allover my counter, I still get a great breakfast! Absolutely not the same as a pan cooked egg on a toasted muffin. Absolutely will buy another if this one dies!If this review provides the info you need before buying, please consider marking it "Helpful", as that's very helpful for reviewers!I've wanted one of these for YEARS, because I basically eat a breakfast sandwich every day, previously from Tim Horton's, but now I make my own. I have some issues with this unit as it stands, but there are good things to say as well.I'll start with the good stuff:- does what it says on the box, makes breakfast sandwiches, and does it pretty well.- your bagel/English muffin/bun/whatever comes out nice and crispy and delicious.- if you use it right, there is practically no mess.- easy to use, with clear, well written instructions.- it's "easy" to clean, but it could be easier in my opinion.- the non-stick coating works very well.- small footprint, doesn't take up a lot of counter space.- relatively inexpensive, and if used often will pay for itself quickly.- feels well made of quality materials. I bet it would last a long time.Now the stuff I don't like so much:- your bagels better be small. English muffins are fine, but only quite small bagels fit, and even then I had to sort of "squish" them in there, though they lose moisture when cooking and shrink to fit pretty well. This does not happen with regular bagels like the four cheese Dempster's bagels I often use, they simply don't fit.- Better crack your egg directly into the egg tray. If you do as I do, and whisk them with some salt and pepper before cooking, some of it will run out of the tray no matter whether you make sure it's fully closed or not. I'm not sure why this is, but it is the case. I do not add water or milk to my egg either, I can only assume it has something to do with changing the consistency of the egg by whisking.- it takes like 5 minutes to heat up, and if you want to make a second sandwich, well, gotta wait for it to heat up again (though not the full 5 minutes)- they say in the manual that you should be waiting 5 minutes for the egg to cook. 5 minutes is not enough. I ended up with undercooked egg every time unless I left it longer than that.- to clean the unit, you pull out the trays by lifting the lid and taking them out. Now, this is fine. What I find kind of annoying is that they are all attached to each other, and that just makes it cumbersome to clean. I would be much happier with individual trays that you re-stack back in the unit, but I'm sure this is the way it is to make it as idiot proof as possible, and honestly it's kind of hard to argue with that.- only the one swivel "bottom" of the egg tray has a coating to stop you burning yourself. Seriously? You have to use a towel or oven mitt to open the unit and retrieve your sandwich? I simply don't understand this design choice. There are plenty of heat resistant materials that could be used for this purpose.Bottom line - I can literally make an equally as good breakfast sandwich, CONSIDERABLY faster, with the exact same ingredients using my toaster for the bagel and a single 10" frying pan for my sausage patty and egg in a silicone egg round. Not only that, but washing a single pan is a lot faster than trying to wash the awkward contraption that is the interconnected stack of cooking trays from this sandwich maker. I wanted one of these forever, and wanted so badly to like it, I had a real struggle telling myself to return it, but I have to. I won't be using it when doing it the old fashioned way gives the same or better results, more easily and quickly. This is a gadget that unfortunately does not make cooking easier.I've had this device for almost 2 months. I use it every day and (I'm sure you can do the math) I have had plenty of time to try it out numerous times. It is, indeed, a very useful tool and it quickly delivers tasty sandwiches. The problem is that it's too small, and it leaks no matter what.I have researched online and done everything you can possibly imagine to try to prevent the leakage, it just won't work. It will leak and it will get messy.Bottom line is: if you don't mind the hassle of having to clean not just the device but also the area around it, so buy it. It's practical and nice to have, but the leaking is just a huge nuisance to me.It’s good! The leaking egg is a serious design flaw though. There is a technique to add a little egg to seal the edges but once you put the bread top it will push the egg to leak, specially if you have used a thicker bread and thicker meat and thicker extra stuff like cheese. I guess the thing is really small that you are limited to add stuff so if the levels are not aligned, any slight adjustment will leak the egg. So it’s still a very good product just stick to smaller/thinner buns and never overflow each layer.I have to say this little appliance is awesome! A lot of reviewers have compared the sandwich it makes to the McMuffin so I'll do the same: way better, but likely because I use real cheddar cheese and the english muffin wasn't burnt, which is the case with any McMuffin I've had. I followed the instructions provided by Hamilton Beach to the letter and I had zero spillage. Prior to use I just wiped on a light coating of vegetable oil, which I apply right after cleaning so the maker is ready to go, on the bottom I used half a slice of pre-cooked ham, a thin slice of tomato and the real cheddar cheese, then 1 large egg with the yoke broken on the top with salt and pepper, capped off with the top of the english muffin. A timer isn't on the maker so I just used my stove timer at 5 minutes and presto, a perfect sandwich. It took only a few minutes to heat up prior to use. It's very easy to clean, which I do by hand, and tucks away nicely on the counter due to the size. I would recommend this to anyone looking for something quick and simple to make a snack at any time of the day, which is why I purchased it.Yum yum. So good I couldn’t put the whole sandwich in my photo because I couldn’t keep myself from eating it. Mc who? This thing is better and have could put them right out of business! I do have some tips. I like tomato in my sandwich. Put the tomato on cold afterwards. With some salt and pepper. Don’t beat your egg. Just break the yolk with a fork. It does leak but it’s a non issue it get hot and seals the leaky egg fairly quickly. I e used it every day for two weeks and it already paid for itself. I like it so much that I would buy it again tomorrow if it broke. Fairly sturdy construction. The plates have a slight learning curve. Clean yup is easy with just a paper towel while the unit is still warm.