We purchased ours in 2008. Here's what you can expect and why. Yes, I have torn into ours to see what is really happening.
 First, we only use ours for cutting fresh bread, a loaf or two a week. No hard use at all.
Plan to have the switch quit working within the year, every year! We have went through four of them and now our guarantee is out. It has cost us a $5.00 bill and the trouble of shipping each time. All total it has probably cost us $70 to own this knife for four years and now it's done for. Not to mention the aggravation!
 The switch is not really a switch after all. Under the small press button is a very thin piece of flat metal which acts as the spring as well as the contact "points" for turning it on. The metal is formed into two tiny, thin tabs that actually make contact with wires from the motor and "acts" like a switch. This a bad design because the small spark that the electrical contact makes each time it is turned on quickly burns through the thin metal and it will no longer close the circuit. No way to repair this because of molded plastic parts, etc.. Take my word for it! Just to get into the case requires "breaking" the glued gray end off of the case before the two main halves will separate to expose the problem contacts. I had hoped to find a real micro switch inside that I could replace. Not so! If you do get the gray end apart fairly cleanly you will then have to glue it back together which is not nice.
 We never had the gear that everyone talks about give us a problem because we never tried to use the knife for carving. But, I did look it over while inside to see what others where having trouble with and sure enough we would have too if we had tried to carve anything. Just normal running in bread had already caused plastic shaving to be mixed with the grease from the gear and it was for certain the gear would have bit the dust if the switch hadn't first.
 I promise you, I am very handy with fixing most things but this is NOT worth the trouble even though we love the basic design of this knife and wanted it to work out. Save yourself the headaches!
 Cuisinart, use a METAL gear and a micro switch before this thing cost you your reputation! Selling your "name" and a "nice" design is not what we need!
We purchased ours in 2008. Here's what you can expect and why. Yes, I have torn into ours to see what is really happening. First, we only use ours for cutting fresh bread, a loaf or two a week. No hard use at all. Plan to have the switch quit working within the year, every year! We have went through four of them and now our guarantee is out. It has cost us a $5. 00 bill and the trouble of shipping each time. All total it has probably cost us $70 to own this knife for four years and now it's done for. Not to mention the aggravation! The switch is not really a switch after all. Under the small press button is a very thin piece of flat metal which acts as the spring as well as the contact "points" for turning it on. The metal is formed into two tiny, thin tabs that actually make contact with wires from the motor and "acts" like a switch. This a bad design because the small spark that the electrical contact makes each time it is turned on quickly burns through the thin metal and it will no longer close the circuit. No way to repair this because of molded plastic parts, etc.. Take my word for it! Just to get into the case requires "breaking" the glued gray end off of the case before the two main halves will separate to expose the problem contacts. I had hoped to find a real micro switch inside that I could replace. Not so! If you do get the gray end apart fairly cleanly you will then have to glue it back together which is not nice. We never had the gear that everyone talks about give us a problem because we never tried to use the knife for carving. But, I did look it over while inside to see what others where having trouble with and sure enough we would have too if we had tried to carve anything. Just normal running in bread had already caused plastic shaving to be mixed with the grease from the gear and it was for certain the gear would have bit the dust if the switch hadn't first. I promise you, I am very handy with fixing most things but this is NOT worth the trouble even though we love the basic design of this knife and wanted it to work out. Save yourself the headaches! Cuisinart, use a METAL gear and a micro switch before this thing cost you your reputation! Selling your "name" and a "nice" design is not what we need!