REASONS TO BUY
Easy to use
Relatively inexpensive
Excellent with prepared frozen items
REASONS TO AVOID
Struggled to defrost the ground turkey
Toshiba EM925A5A Review
This product had mixed results overall, failing to distinguish it all that much from other products
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
RELATED: Best Microwaves of 2023
Our Verdict
The Toshiba EM925A5A has distinct strengths and weaknesses, which ended up giving it a middle-of-the-road score. It performed very well in our frozen foods metric and is very convenient to operate but had an abysmal showing in our defrosting tests. Heating results were also somewhat varied, contributing to this product's so-so results. It's an affordable appliance that gets the job done, though we feel it is far from being the best microwave you can get.
Editor's Note: This product review was updated on January 11, 2022 to include further product comparisons and purchase suggestions.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product
Toshiba EM925A5A | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards | |||||
| Price | $115 List $102.99 at Amazon | $110 List $119.95 at Amazon | $127 List $126.99 at Amazon | $120 List $124.00 at Amazon | $90 List $99.99 at Amazon |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Pros | Easy to use, relatively inexpensive, excellent with prepared frozen items | Good at defrosting meat | Great popcorn, convenient one-touch buttons, quick water heating | Good at reheating, does well with premade frozen foods | Did well at defrosting, fairly inexpensive |
| Cons | Struggled to defrost the ground turkey | Not the most convenient to use, heating performance could be better | Inconsistent heating, lackluster defrosting, underwhelming | Didn't defrost frozen turkey well | Struggled with some frozen foods, so-so heating results |
| Bottom Line | This product had mixed results overall, failing to distinguish it all that much from other products | This product pairs average results with an average price, failing to stand out from the competition | This microwave performed average overall with a higher price tag than products performing similarly | This larger product did decently well but we don't think it quite matches the performance of the top-tier models | This product failed to impress us too much, ranking close to the bottom of the overall |
| Rating Categories | Toshiba EM925A5A | Panasonic NN-SB458S | Farberware Classic... | Black+Decker EM031MB11 | Black+Decker EM720CB7 |
| Heating (40%) | |||||
| Frozen Foods (30%) | |||||
| Defrosting (20%) | |||||
| Ease of use (10%) | |||||
| Specs | Toshiba EM925A5A | Panasonic NN-SB458S | Farberware Classic... | Black+Decker EM031MB11 | Black+Decker EM720CB7 |
| Wattage | 900 watts | 900 watts | 1000 watts | 1000 watts | 700 watts |
| Size | 0.9 cu. ft. | 0.9 cu. ft. | 1.1 cu. ft. | 1.1 cu. ft. | 0.7 cu. ft. |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 19.2" x 11.5" x 15.9" | 19.1" x 11.5" x 14.8" | 20.2" x 12.1" x 16.5" | 20.2" x 12.1" x 15.6" | 17.3" x 10.3" x 13.0" |
| Turntable Diameter | 10.6" | 10.6" | 12.4" | 12.4" | 10.0" |
| Internal Dimentions (WxHxD) | 13.7" x 8.7" x 12.3" | 13.9" x 8.1" x 12.4" | 12.9" x 8.1" x 14" | 14.5" x 9.1" x 13.9" | 12.1" x 8.1" x 12.0" |
| Child lock | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 45 Sec Heating Temp Rise | 89 F | 89 F | 109 F | 83 F | 73 F |
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Our Analysis and Test Results
If you don't have room for many appliances in your kitchen, the Toshiba EM925A5A may be an attractive option, as it's on the smaller side.
Performance Comparison
While it's far from the best, the Toshiba EM925A5A performed decently during most of our tests.
Credit: Laura Casner
Likes
This product gave its relatively best set of results with the Hot Pocket and the small frozen burrito in our prepared frozen foods metric. It did an impeccable job heating the burrito, with the left, right, and center areas only varying by an average difference of 1°F and all three measurements were well above the requisite serving temperature listed by the package.
This Toshiba model did very very well in this test, heating very evenly.
Credit: Laura Casner
This microwave did equally well with the Hot Pocket, though our judges noticed that the right side was slightly crispier than the left. Unfortunately, that about sums it up for overall top-tier performances when it comes to this product. It did well in other tests but never really placed at the top.
The Toshiba EM925A5A heated our control volume of water fairly quickly in our time trial speed test, increasing the temperature almost 90°F after being heated for 45 seconds. It also performed decently in our leftovers assessment, though the breakfast sausages were significantly hotter than the green beans or potatoes.
This appliance did a good job of heating up different types of food at once.
Credit: Laura Casner
It effectively heated the canned soup to the proper serving temperature upon following the reheating directions. In addition, we like that the Toshiba EM925A5A has all the typical convenience features, like one-touch buttons and an auto-start +30 seconds button.
The Toshiba EM925A5A is convenient and easy to use.
Credit: Laura Casner
It has decent lighting, doesn't easily slide around on a countertop, and the popcorn preset performed fairly well in our tests. Most of the kernels were popped and none were burnt, though a few areas were a little overcooked.
The Toshiba EM925A5A.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Dislikes
Regrettably, we found that the Toshiba EM925A5A doesn't seem to heat up all that evenly, at least based on our heat map test. There were very distinctive patterns burned into the marshmallow fluff; some areas were completely uncooked while other sections were fully blackened.
We were also not impressed with how this microwave heated up pizza. The crusts and centers remained cool while the rest of the pizza was piping hot. It delivered similar results with the single-serving frozen lasagna, with the right side remaining much cooler than the left or center.
There were some very distinct temperature differences across the two slices.
Credit: Laura Casner
However, it was in our defrosting metric where we found the performance of the EM925A5A to be the most disappointing. This product not only failed to defrost the majority of the pound of ground turkey we placed in it, but it also cooked a small section. We scraped less than 7 ounces off the block after the defrosting cycle, with the reminder still far too frozen to break apart.
This Toshiba model left more frozen than thawed turkey after our test.
Credit: Laura Casner
Should You Buy the Toshiba EM925A5A?
Though this product failed to earn any of our awards, it still shined in several aspects, notably in reheating leftovers and heating frozen convenience foods. If those tasks are mainly what you use a microwave for, this will be a decent product at a decent price. It also has a small footprint, although it's not the most compact option out there. If you use your microwave to regularly defrost meat, however, we'd suggest looking at some other top-ranked microwaves.
What Other Microwaves Should You Consider?
The Toshiba EM925A5A is a fairly ordinary microwave, but it is affordable. If you want something a bit more well-rounded, we'd point you toward the high-scoring Toshiba EM131A5C, which carries the defrosting power that the EM925A5A lacks.
—
David Wise and Austin Palmer
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