I am entirely happy with my new Breville BWM620XL waffle iron. I have had it only for a short time. I will update this review if I learn anything new that is important.I have an old waffle iron with removable plates; but this Breville waffle iron makes waffles that are much, much better. I don't know why. So far, the computer-controlled cooking time seems to be perfect. The waffles are exactly and equally cooked from edge to center to edge.You can download a copy of the user's manual from the Breville website (breville dot com). I read this manual before buying the waffle iron. The manual contains a few waffle recipes. I also found some helpful videos on YouTube showing folks using this waffle iron.The waffle iron has numerous settings:- With the left dial, one may select: (1) Belgian; (2) Classic; (3) Chocolate; (4) Buttermilk; or (5) Custom.- With the right dial, one select 1 of 12 settings from Light to Dark.I have been using "Classic" with the Darkness set to 6 (center). If I am making a batch of waffles to freeze and reheat later, I lower the Darkness setting to 2, to undercook them just a little, so after reheating they are just about exactly cooked. The frozen and reheated waffles are quite good.Tip: I use a 1/2 cup measuring cup and pour 1/2 cup of batter into each of the two waffle sections, for a total of 1 cup of batter for the entire waffle iron. This fills the waffle iron almost exactly and prevents overflow during cooking.Here is the waffle recipe I have been using (I will be experimenting with more in future). I do NOT use a recipe that requires separating eggs and beating egg whites (since I am too lazy for that).Mix dry ingredients: - 1 cup all purpose flour - 1 tablespoon sugar - 2 teaspoon baking powder - 1/2 teaspoon saltMix wet ingredients separately: - 1 cup whole milk (could use 3/4 cup milk, plus 1/4 cup buttermilk or yogurt) - 1 teaspoon vanilla - 1 egg - 4 tablespoons butter (melted and cooled), or 2 tablespoons butter plus 2 tablespoon cooking oil, or 4 tablespoons cooking oil [4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup]Mix wet and dry ingredients, don't over stir, some small lumps are okayI am a waffle lover. My previous waffle makers were a constant frustration of stuck waffles, making a mess, etc. I threw out my last one and, for a time, resorted to making pancakes, until I discovered the Breville BWM620XL. It makes the most perfect waffles I’ve ever had, and I’ve been around for seven decades! Crispy on the outside and pillowy soft on the inside, as it should be. I prefer Belgian waffles and haven’t tried the classic or chocolate (huh?), and I don’t know how the waffle maker can tell the difference, but I’m sure they would be just as perfect as the Belgian. Can’t wait to indulge again!I bought this because my favorite wafle maker ever blew out with a series of fire and sparks. I liked it because the waffle heatingelements were detatcable and submersible. My waffle iron was always CLEAN, not GREASY.Well, since there is no such thing anywhere on this earth anymore. I should have bought 2 backups of this waffle maker.Enter the Breville Smart Waffle Pro. As far as the ability to keep it CLEAN (why buy something that sits in your cabinet GREASY) it is made of stainless steel and has a moat that does TWO things:1. It catches any over spill (Use 1/2 cup per side (yes you can cook just one waffle at a time))2. IT COOKS that over spill. Just wait a minute and the over spill lifts out as a single piece from the non stick coating) EASY clean up right on the spot.And of course, the stainless steel CLEANS easily.OK, enough about cleaning.I know that you will fall over and get hurt when I tell you this, SIT down.The selector knob at the left side turns the unit ON and OFF. You do not need to unplug this unit to turn it off.Once turned on, the selector switch selects which kind of waffle you are cooking. By default (thats what is already selected). I do not know at this point what the difference this makes. The choices are Belgian, classic,custom, chocolate, and buttermilk.The knob on the right selects Light --------- Dark. This is true to its design, just like a bread toaster. The default setting is probably whatb you would want. Once the unit is ready to cook, the display changes from white to orange. Pour in your batter, close the lid and it beeps and starts counting down by seconds. Now you know just EXACTLY how long till your waffle is ready. You can holler out to your guests "ONE MINUTE" when it will be ready in ONE Minute!This is very much different that your typical waffle maker. When they beep, it just means that the waffle maker has just turned off after turning back on when cold batter cools the elements.Just like Breville toasters, It has "A Bit More" button. If you selected a setting too light, just press this button for a "Bit More" on the count down timer.There is a "Restart" button also, havent used it yet. Both of these buttons are back lit.If you want a serious waffle maker, and not a toy, this is your waffle maker.ONE MORE THING!!!If you want delicious waffles , do NOT use anything but CARBONS MALTED waffle mix. SEARCH "Carbons Malted" on this site (Amazon).They have been perfecting waffle mix for 100 years. How can you compete with that??? This is what the resturants use.CARBONS MALTEDWith the right recipe (I got mine from my favourite youtube channel), the waffles come like store-bought. The machine itself is very, very easy to use: just rotate the on button to the desire mode and wait until is hot. The overflow feature is very nice, although, it does still requires you to not over fill it because it can still spill. To get the perfect waffles, you may need to give several trials to the different settings, this is normal for every appliance. You can do big batches (10-20 waffles at once) and freeze them. The machine needs about 12-15 minute to heat up for the first time, once it reached it, it can keep going, that is why it is easier to do big batches (it probably saves energy as well).We really try to limit the number of single purpose small appliances in our place, but this one is totally worth it! It can be a bit difficult/time consuming to clean, like all waffle makers are. The measuring cup that is included is very accurate; 1/2 of that measuring cup (marked on the cup) is the perfect amount of batter for one waffle (one side of the waffle maker). I also appreciate the 'reservoir' or 'moat' around the outside of the waffle area, just in case you pour too much batter in. I am really happy with this waffle maker, and would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves waffles! I get that it is a little on the pricey side, but it is a hefty, well-made appliance that makes amazing waffles.It's expensive...but it's also amazing. We actually get perfect waffles every time. We hesitated to buy it because of the price, but my husband and I have a weekly waffle brunch, and this thing is wonderful. We could choose our setting and then just trust the machine to make it perfectly and alert us when it's done. My last waffle maker didn't have a timer, so I had to set my own timer and then was often either too early or too late, depending on how long the iron stayed open in between waffles. It was a guessing game. No guesswork here. We love it. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, every time.You will produce restaurant quality waffles EVER SINGLE TIME with this waffle maker.Just use any other recipe other than the ones that came with it, which have bad measurements and produce batter too thick for use. Watch some videos online to see the consistency the batter for this machine and you’ll be fine.Batter should pour out of the ladle and be just barely runny enough to spread out across the cool area in like 5 seconds, and batter should just barely cover the bottom waffle knobs.Use 1 ladle of batter only to start so you can gauge volume. I totally overfilled mine the first time and had batter expand everywhere outside the machine and it ran over the built in spill catcher - which is usually sufficient but I messed up my first use by adding way too much. Batter will expand to about double the volume of what you pour in!!!I received the waffle maker a few weeks ago after I got frustrated again with my 10 year old cuisinart waffle maker. Since we are stuck in the house I have been cooking and baking much more and waffles have always been loved by the family. Since I was disappointed with the outcome of waffles in the old maker I had we thought we should invest in a new one. After quite some research I settled for this high end model from Breville which happened to be one of the most expensive ones, too. This was however by far the best investment I have made. It delivered quicker than what Amazon suggested so I was happy about that. I have since tried 3 different recipes of which the Belgian waffles, Breville recipe, are the best. They come out perfectly fine on the default setting for Belgian waffles, they are consistently baked each time, the timer is super accurate and won't start running until I closed the lid. I can see how long the baking takes (around 4-5 minutes) and I can sit down in the meantime. Family enjoys fresh waffles each Sunday now. I can highly recommend this product!