Swan STM200N Teasmade - Rapid Water Boiler with Clock and Alarm Featuring a Reading light and LCD Analogue Clock Light with Auto Dimmer and a 600ml Water Tank, 780-850W, White

Terrific and stylish item to have. It keeps time and makes our morning cups of tea a great start to the day. This one replaced our 1975 teasmade.

Spoilt for many by ergonomic issues. Scored 0 to 5, serious to noteworthy. 1) The manual. eg No mention of how to change lamp bulb. No mention of importance of setting tea pot handle forwards as shown on cover picture. Spout only fits over small angle. null pointe. 2) The lamp. Still using 15 w pygmy bulb. On/Off switch needs hard push. Using one hand can push whole caboodle off table onto floor. null pointe. 3) Hinge to kettle cover seems flimsy. quatre pointe. 4) Alarm . Bleeper so boxed in you will not hear it unless awake. flashing blue light might attract attention. Bleeper auto stops after three minutes. null pointe f5) Tea pot. my sample the pot is a tight fit over the lip in the unit and needs a push to get it to sit firmly on its base. cinq pointe. 6) Tea pot lid. With a 30mm hole in it it is all but redundant. the lugs on the lid look fragile. The lid can be a little fiddly to fit and even more trouble to remove.. trois pointe. 7) Blue light. Far too bright at night. une pointe. 8) The Clock. Viewing angles badly set. Can only read time if eye level is above clock centre line. trois pointe. 9) The Clock. Restarts automatically from 12 when power is restored. Alarm setting lost. Why is it not radio controlled. trois pointe. 10) Time they had a voice operated version. Will Littlewoods (swan) take note of reviews? Not a snow flake in hells chance. I have owned several Swan Teasemades. The best died short of five years of daily use. Will this one do better? On taking the bottom cover off for a visual inspection this is what was seen. Loose wiring, the kettle separated from the clock and its back pack by a heat shield. The clock and its back pack are a single sub assembly with the push button switches and some logic and clock software. This assembly is clearly not intended to be replaceable. The labour cost would be prohibitive anyway. It essentially follows that the durability of this device depends heavily on the quality of this sub assembly.. The kettle has good fault protection. Some wires pass over a sharp edge on the heat shield. The mains cord is sleaved inside the unit but can get close to the kettle. But there is no evidence of any likely safety hazard. Any fault with the wiring external to the clock sub unit is repairable.. In summary the wiring is amateurish and I would not have passed it for production. Will this device be more durable? I think it has a good chance but be aware that any sub unit failure renders the device a write off.

It is a good looking machine. Very efficient. Easy to use.

I’ve had 3 Teasmades which between them have spanned over 50 years. The replacement looks like a worthy successor. It makes excellent tea as (unlike many restaurants) it understands that the water has to be boiling. The only downside is the LED backlight which is far too bright. It makes an effort to dim it at night, but nowhere near enough. A towel draped over it is an effective but annoying workaround.

I bought one of these for Christmas however had to return that one (Amazon's return service is incredible - just a few clicks and the new one arrived the next day) as, there was a faulty safety switch which I believe has blighted other people's. Essentially, when you place the teapot in the side, there is a pressure safety switch which depresses enabling the Teasmade to function. Ours however would only depress if I wedged a teaspoon next to the pot, pushing it against the thing which would obviously not do. Our new one works perfectly. It huffs and puffs quite a bit towards the end of the brew however, I find that more effective than the alarm itself! The blue clock face is illuminated constantly and can't be dimmed however, I personally find the shade of blue quite pleasing and it doesn't interrupt our sleep. It is very simple and basic to use - the clock has no indication of pm or am - and makes nice tea. Which is the important thing. Very pleased with it and thumbs up for the return service.