I did a ton of reseach before deciding to go for the Ritter bread slicer. It is defitinely not cheap but considering that it is something I will use for a long time and that it involves a sharp blade that can potentially hurt the user, I decided to invest in a machine that is well designed and well thought off. First off, there are several safety guards. The thumb guard on the bread cart, the plastic leftover holder to push the last bits of bread without risking your fingers!
Also it is extremely well thought in regards to maintenance, it is very easy to assemble and dissassemble with one coin, no tools needed. You can tell this is a German design.
So as the saying goes, spend once and cry once. Don't go cheap on things where you may lose your fingers.