Features:

Nice and Roomy:

  Lets take a look at the space inside the microwave and see if our poptarts, pizza rolls, etc will fit nicely in here.

 
The carousel tray in this microwave is very sturdy, it does
not constantly fall off the rails like my current home microwave does.

  The plate and bowl you see in the microwave are typical size. The plate is actually larger then your average plate.

  The plate did not seem to cook right though, after heating it for about 20 minutes it was scalding hot, but it did not become tender. I had to use a dremel tool to cut out pieces small enough to eat. Man nothing burns like red hot ceramic going down your throat.  ( I am not liable if you actually try to EAT a ceramic plate)

  As you can see there is plenty of room in this microwave for all of your snacks and microwaveables.

Lights, Panels, Scanners, Action!:

  Now for the geeky, unique features!

 
Here is an upclose pic of the control panel with the Scanning
Wand docked. Also a pic of the nice light inside the microwave.

 
Close up of the LCD with the lights off.

  The control panel contains all the typical buttons you would expect on a microwave, except for one. The SCAN button activates the attached retractable Scanning Wand. ( I did think the buttons on the control panel could be a bit bigger or easier to see, if they were backlit that would be perfect )

 
Pulling out the retractable Scanning Wand.

  After you press the SCAN button and pull out the wand all you have to do is quickly run it back and forth over the UPC on your chosen microwaveable goodie.

 
The Evil Red Eye decides when your burrito is done!

 
and in the dark, so you can see how cool it looks. Yes it will
impress your friends. Click to zoom in, the thumbnails are dark.

  The Beyond Microwave comes with 4000 UPC Barcodes already programmed into it. When you scan the UPC of your microwaveable product it just grabs the corresponding time and settings from its database.

  If it is not programmed in there already the LCD will read that it's not in memory. Then you can press the learn button and punch in the correct time. From then on it will remember the time settings when you scan that products UPC again.

SANI Card, Home Hub, Wi-Fi for your appliances:

  I thought I would mention this real quick before I talked about the testing.

  The SANI card that was mentioned earlier is basically a wireless network card that inserts into the Beyond Microwave. If you have one of their other products the "Home Hub" or "iCEBOX" it will allow you to
update their databases evenmore by automatically downloading UPC barcodes of new products, or new Recipes for your "iCEBOX" unit.

  The Home Hub is also a neat product, I will include a link at the end of this review. Onward we go...

Testing:

  For testing I scanned and microwaved several different Major brand microwaveable products. The burritos you saw in the pictures are the always tasty El Monterey Bean and Cheese burritos.

  Surprisingly all of the products I scanned were in the memory! I scanned some products I knew would not be in the memory ( non-microwaveable products ) to verify it was working correctly and it was, the non-microwaveable products showed up as not in memory.

  I have microwaved a lot of products in the short time we have had it here and it seems to be working great. An occasional weird off brand product will not be in the memory but then it only takes a few seconds to program the time in for a product.

  The carousel tray works great also, does not wobble or fall off it's rails like some microwaves are prone to do.

Conclusion:

  Overall this is a great gadget and microwave. The design, looks, and features are competitive with current microwaves. The innovative Scanning Wand feature makes it a bit quicker to microwave your food but it does not revolutionize anything. It looks like it would be great for people who love new technology with practical shortcuts. I would definitely recommend the Beyond Microwave for any Geek or Gadget lover.

PROS

• Quality, solid construction.

• Unique Scanning Wand, makes it quicker to get your snack in the microwave and cooked.

• Has a nice Futuristic look that is not overbearing and could probably match with any kitchen.

• More than enough space for what the majority of people would need

CONS

• A little pricey for the space and wattage but not too bad.
• Control panel buttons may be a bit small but no more than most other microwaves.

SCORES:

Design Quality:   5
Style:                  4
Performance:      5

Price:                  4

BeyondConnectedHome
Go here to see Salton's other products, including their interesting "Home Hub".