The Breville the Eye Q 870 Auto 4 Slice is a premium toaster that uses a set of optical sensors to track the browning level of your baked goods, automatically adding the extra time needed to properly toast frozen foods and denser breads. It has a button for one-sided toasting, and another that adds a little extra toasting time at the end of a cycle. This model lowers your bread into the slots when you press the start button, rather than using a lever like most toasters.
Our Verdict
The Breville the Eye Q 870 toaster is a great option for everyday use. Its sensor mode automatically tracks the doneness of your bread, even if it's straight from the freezer. There's also a mode specifically for sourdough toast and a button that adds a little time to the toasting cycle. As a 4-slot toaster, it offers ample capacity for thinner slices, but the slots are very narrow, so thicker baked goods don't fit. It toasts the faces of your toast or bagel evenly, without drying them out. However, its toasting speed is unremarkable; it leaves one side of your baked goods a little darker than the other, and you get very different results depending on which slot you use. It includes an option for toasting a bagel or crumpet on one side only. While it mainly toasts the cut side, the top and bottom still get a little browning. This model is particularly good at managing crumbs, with only a couple falling past the crumb tray, even after repeated toasting.
Toasts each surface remarkably evenly.
Includes a function that only toasts one side of a bagel or split bread.
Has four long, deep slots.
Contains almost all crumbs, so you rarely have to clean them off counters.
Feature-rich model with sensors that make toasting more automatic.
Toasts one side of each slice more than the other.
Browning levels are inconsistent between slots.
Slots are narrow and can't accommodate thicker slices.
The Breville the Eye Q 870 makes decent toast. It toasts the surface of each slice very evenly, but leaves one side a little darker than the other and produces very different results depending on which slot you use. Its toasting speed is mediocre, but your toast stays moist in the center, despite the extra toasting time.
Toasts each surface remarkably evenly.
Toasts one side of each slice more than the other.
Browning levels are inconsistent between slots.
The Breville the Eye Q 870 offers good performance for bagels. Its one-sided toasting mode works decently well, but the top and bottom of your bagel still brown a little as the cut side toasts. This model toasts the surfaces evenly, though one half of your bagel comes out darker than the other because each slot provides a different level of browning. Its toasting speed is just mediocre, but the extra toasting time doesn't dry food out much, so your baked goods stay moist and soft in the center.
Toasts each surface remarkably evenly.
Includes a function that only toasts one side of a bagel or split bread.
Browning levels are inconsistent between slots.
The Breville the Eye Q 870 contains crumbs incredibly well. Only a few crumbs wind up on your counter, making it very easy to keep things tidy.
Contains almost all crumbs, so you rarely have to clean them off counters.
The Breville the Eye Q 870 is very large and bulky. It takes up even more counter space than most 4-slice toasters, and it's very heavy, making it a hassle to move around.
Very heavy and large, even compared to other 4-slot models.
Performance Usages
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Breville the Eye Q 870 Auto 4 Slice comes in two colorways: Brushed Stainless Steel and Noir Launch Edition. We tested the Noir Launch Edition variant; here's a photo of our unit's label.
If you come across another variant, let us know in the comments, and we'll update our review.
Popular Toaster Comparisons
The Breville the Eye Q 870 is a high-end 4-slot toaster. Like the Breville the Eye Q 850 Auto 2 Slice, which is from the same lineup, it uses optical sensors to track the shade of your toast and adjusts automatically for frozen items or denser kinds of bread. This toaster also includes some features found in other Breville toasters. For example, it lowers your bread with the push of a button, rather than a lever like the Breville Die-Cast 4-Slice Smart Toaster, and includes a button that adds a bit of extra toasting time.
Unfortunately, it toasts more slowly than many other 4-slot models, including the much more affordable Black+Decker 4-Slice TR4900SSD. However, baked goods retain more moisture than with the Black+Decker, despite the added toasting time. It toasts more evenly than some premium toasters like the Dualit Design Series 4 Slice, but its one-sided toasting mode isn't as effective, so the top and bottom of your bagels and crumpets don't come out as soft. One area where this toaster really shines is crumb management; it leaves far fewer crumbs behind than most other toasters, so you rarely have to clean up after it.
Check out our picks for the best toasters to see the best options on the market. If you're specifically looking for a 4-slice model, our roundup of the best 4-slice toasters has you covered. Our article on the best toaster brands will help you get an idea of which brands to look at when you're shopping.
The Breville the Eye Q 870 Auto 4 Slice and the Breville Die-Cast 4-Slice Smart Toaster are both great options for daily use, but they have different strengths to consider when choosing between them. Go for the Eye Q 870 Auto 4 Slice if you want toast that's more moist and fluffier on the inside after toasting, or if you want an option that leaves fewer crumbs on your counter. Choose the Die-Cast 4-Slice Smart Toaster if your priority is toasting evenness or if you make a lot of bagels, since this model's one-sided toasting mode works more effectively. It's also smaller and much less expensive, so it's a good choice if you're trying to save space or cash.
The Breville the Eye Q 870 Auto 4 Slice and the Beautiful 4-Slice Toaster with Touch-Activated Display both offer solid performance for everyday use, but the Beautiful is a better choice for most people. The Beautiful toasts faster and more evenly, leaving each slice softer and more moist in the middle. It can also toast only one side of a bagel more effectively. The Beautiful is also more compact, while offering a little more capacity for thicker slices, and it's significantly less expensive. The biggest downside of the Beautiful is that it leaves far more crumbs on your counter after toasting, so you may want the Breville if this is a priority for you and you're not concerned about the price.
The Breville the Eye Q 870 Auto 4 Slice offers better overall performance than the Dualit Design Series 4 Slice, but both models have strengths to consider, so your choice will depend on your priorities. Pick the Breville if you want more evenly toasted baked goods or a toaster that leaves fewer crumbs on your counter. Go for the Dualit if you want a toaster that works faster or if you toast a lot of bagels, since it's better at toasting only one side. It's also more compact, so it's ideal if you need lots of capacity in a smaller space.
The Breville the Eye Q 850 Auto 2 Slice and the Breville the Eye Q 870 Auto 4 Slice are from the same lineup, marketed for their use of optical sensors that track the color of your toast as it darkens. They both offer solid performance for everyday use, but with different benefits and drawbacks. Go for the 2 Slice if you don't need as much capacity, if you're short on space, or if toasting speed is your priority, since it toasts faster. Choose the 4 Slice if you need more capacity or if toasting evenness is more important to you, since it toasts both sides of the bread more evenly.
Test Results
This toaster is very bulky, with a large countertop footprint even compared to other 4-slice models.
This 4-slot toaster offers an impressive amount of capacity, with one exception: the slots are very narrow. Longer, taller slices fit easily, but thickly sliced bread and particularly chunky bagels don't fit.
As with the Breville the Eye Q 850 Auto 2 Slice, this toaster includes plenty of features, but they work a bit differently than those of most other toasters.
The Stop/Start button lets you choose among three modes: sensor mode, timer mode, and sourdough mode, which automatically accounts for the extra air pockets in a slice of sourdough.
In sensor mode, the toaster uses optical sensors to track the color of your baked goods as they darken. According to the manual, frozen items automatically toast longer, so you don't need a separate defrost mode. There's also a button for bagels or crumpets that toasts on one side only, and a button that adds a little extra toasting time after the cycle ends.
This toaster is remarkably good at managing crumbs. Very few fall past the crumb tray, so you rarely have to clean the counter underneath your toaster.
There's an internal cord storage compartment on the underside of the toaster. To tuck the cord, you simply feed it into the opening.
Bread toasts evenly across the entire surface, but one side comes out a little darker than the other, and you get different results from each slot. The optical sensors used to track browning levels are located only at the ends of the toaster, which helps explain these results. Because there are no sensors monitoring the middle slots, you get significantly different results depending on which slot you use. Additionally, the sensors track only one side of the bread, resulting in a larger face-to-face difference.
When you use the bagel setting, this model does a decent job of toasting only one side. The top and bottom of your bagel get a little browning, but not nearly as much as the cut side.
Despite the somewhat slow toasting speed, baked goods stay moist throughout the toasting process.
Since this toaster uses independent sensors in the first and fourth slots to track the doneness of your toast, the slots finish toasting at slightly different rates, even when using the same setting in each slot. We measured the time required to make golden-brown toast using the slot that finished last. The toasting speed is mediocre, so you have to wait a little while to start buttering.
Although the sensor mode avoids burning toast, the timer mode chars bread at the highest setting. You can make golden-brown toast with setting 4 or 5, but the latter tends to be more reliable.