If you can upkeep the maintenance they are fantastic! We used to use ours daily. It was very cost effective but it was a pain in the bottom to clean. Now we use it once a week or so for fresh bread & soup together.

We have a breville I think.... (that would mean getting up and walking down the hall.... sorry ) Cost effective.... I think renting one & seeing how they feel about cleaning it etc works.
We use an electric carving knife to cut bread slices for a handy hint.