The Revolution InstaGLO R180 is a modern-looking 2-slice toaster with a touch screen. It offers plenty of presets for different baked goods, like bagels and toaster pastries, and also lets you select from toasting, reheating, and defrosting modes. Unlike many toasters, it displays a 10-second countdown at the end of a cycle to let you know when your toast will be ready. While its slots can fit thicker slices, they aren't that deep when pushed down, so the top of taller slices can stick out of the toaster.
Our Verdict
The Revolution InstaGLO R180 is a decent toaster. It stands out for its touchscreen and offers a variety of presets—not just for bagels and frozen items but also for big bagels and toaster pastries. It has a fantastic range and manages to char white sandwich bread quite quickly, so things that need longer toasting shouldn't require more than one cycle. The screen also displays a 10-second countdown timer before your toast pops up, which is convenient. However, it tends to toast one side of the bread more than the other, particularly in one of the two slots. You're also limited to 7 distinct shade settings, unlike toasters that let you adjust the dial between two settings.
-
Fantastic toasting range.
-
Cycle countdown indicator.
-
Toasts one side more than the other.
- Toasting
- Updated Jan 09, 2024: Updated the text under Evenness to explain that the toaster's sub-par performance on that test may be due to its clamping mechanisms. The results and scores haven't changed.
- Updated Dec 15, 2023: Review published.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Revolution InstaGLO R180 comes in one stainless-steel variant. You can see the label for the unit we tested here.
If you come across another variant or yours is different, let us know in the forums, and we'll update our review.
Compared To Other Toasters
The Revolution InstaGLO R180 is a two-slice toaster with touchscreen controls. It toasts quite quickly and can char white bread with one cycle, so if you like things like rye bread and bagels that generally take longer to toast, you might prefer it to the Oster 2-Slice Toaster with Quick-Check Lever. However, its slots are on the shallow side when pressed down, so if what you're toasting is much bigger than white sandwich bread, it may stick out the top a bit.
If you're looking for a recommendation, check out the best 2-slice toasters, the best 4-slice toasters, and the best toasters.
Test Results
This toaster's touchscreen controls offer you more preset modes than most. There are settings for toast, bagels, English muffins, frozen waffles, toaster pastries, and big bagels. You separately select one of seven shade settings. The manufacturer advertises the bagel setting to turn down the outer elements to avoid burning your bread. The manufacturer also sells a panini accessory that sticks into one of the slots and will catch any drippings from messier foods like grilled cheese sandwiches. The screen will display your food's status (like 'heating' or 'browning') and show a 10-second countdown at the end of the cycle.
Note: Even though it has a fantastic range and can produce anything from very light to charred toast with one of its shade settings, you're limited to seven distinct settings. You cycle through the seven settings with a button, and it's impossible to select a shade between settings to make smaller adjustments, unlike most toasters.
The photo above shows the results for one slot, but you can see a full montage showing all the bread toasted here.
The slots' clamping mechanisms can explain this toaster's sub-par performance when evenly toasting bread. When you push the lever down to lower the slots, the outer clamps don't move as much as the inner clamps. Instead of being centered in the slot, the bread (or other baked good) sits closer to the outer elements. This explains why the outer face of the bread turns out darker. However, we don't know if this affects all units. It could be a design flaw or a quality control issue with our unit.
The photo above shows the results for one slot, but you can see a full montage showing all the bread toasted here.
