Good for small spaces

For the past two weeks, the thought of buying a waffle iron has been stuck in my craw. So, I began the usual round of searching and researching, and chose the Presto Flip-side based on all the good reviews. WallyWorld's website was where I first found it, but no one within 100 miles of Austin had it in the store. No one within 100 miles of my girlfriend's house in Houston had it. But Sears did. Same price, too (40 bucks). So, I coughed up the cash (tightwad that I am), then picked up some multi-grain waffle mix from Sun Harvest, and dashed home to try it out. For a single guy with limited space, this is the one to get. What I noticed about other Belgian waffle makers was the sloppiness in the hinge. Not this one. And the plates align for a good fit, too. The battery-operated timer struck me as being a bit odd, though...why it wasn't wired to the circuit is beyond me. And why don't any of these things have removable plates anymore? It'd make clean-up a little easier. It works, though. I didn't have a big problem about sticking. I mean, yeah, I had to pry the waffle out with a fork, but it came out easy and didn't get tore up. Better than the old Teflon plates. I like the idea of the plates locking in the upright position for storage, and the non-slip base is just that, non-slip. I still need to play with my batter and timing and stuff, but the first waffle was evenly browned and crisp. For half the price of other "flip" type wafflers (other than the one Target has, which didn't get high marks), the Flip-side is a pretty good deal. (Review and ratings based on first-time use and initial impression.)

Update: After making a half-dozen or so waffles, one drawback I've found is the lack of a heat control. This thing cooks fast. Using a 10-grain mix and mixing it a bit thin (2% milk) usually takes less than 2 1/2 minutes. You can't go by the "wait 'til it stops steaming" rule on this. No problem at all with sticking; a gentle nudging with a fork, and waffles pop right out. I still wish the timer was hard-wired to the rest of the circuit instead of battery-operated, though.