I've owned, and worn out, several bread machines over the years since I use them almost daily. This West Bend was a great deal! It's quiet but takes a little more room on the counter than I'd like it to. The paddle only turns one way, in the Cuisinart it would go one way and then reverse itself, over and over. However, this doesn't seem to be a problem. The pan only has one paddle, where some of the new ones have two. The settings for a one pound or one and a half pound loaf are the same, the default setting is for the 2 lb. size.
It makes a beautiful loaf of bread, nice and even across the top. The pan is very deep so a recipe for a 1 1/2 pound recipe doesn't even come close to the top. The crust is perfect set at medium.
The instructions say to put the pan in the machine empty, lock it in place and then fill it with the ingredients. I fill it on the counter and then put it in the machine with all the ingredients in it. That way I don't take the chance of spilling anything into the baking chamber.
Overall, I'm very happy with it and thought it was a wonderful value for the money. I hope it lasts a long time! Replacement pans are about $20, which is a fair price. The "basic" setting is 3 hours for a 2 lb. loaf, for a 1 1/2 lb. loaf it is 2 hours 53 minutes.
Jan. 2013 update. This machine continues to produce great loaves of bread. After owning it for about 6 months the stem that the paddle sits on started to turn stiffly, so I ordered a new pan to have it on hand for when the pan failed. All of my other machines went through pans and paddles, the bread would stick to the paddle and it would get glued inside the loaf of bread, the pans would lose their non-stick and the bread wouldn't slide out nicely and/or the pans would start to leak water out the bottom. NOT THIS MACHINE! The new pan and paddle are still in the box a year later. Every loaf of bread slides out of the original pan just the way it did the first time I made a loaf, the paddle is equally non-stick after hundreds of loaves of bread. I'm IMPRESSED! Would I buy this one again? You bet I would!