Monoprice Sous Vide Immersion Cooker 800W - With Adjustable Clamp And Digital LED Touch Screen, Easy To Clean, Black and Silver - Strata Home Collection

This is my first sous vide cooker, so understand that I have nothing to compare it to. But I will say that it works REALLY well. The mount, while made of plastic, actually feels sturdy and high quality.Pros:- Very accurate temperature readings. I have a food thermometer that I calibrate regularly, and this cooker was within about half a degree of that.- Good circulation of the water. The water moves around quickly enough to cook the food evenly, but also gently enough to be sure the bags don't move around too much.- Incredibly quiet operation. I keep finding myself going back to the kitchen to be sure the cooker is actually working, since I can't hear anything happening.- The mount, while made of plastic, feels really high quality. No weird wobble or anything, and feels sturdy and secure while in use.Cons:- Using the timer feature can be a bit confusing at first. I thought my unit was malfunctioning the first couple times I used it until I realized I hadn't been setting the timer correctly. I normally would just blame that on user (self) error, but I do feel like there could be a better way of confirming that the timer is active. But, to be fair, once you figure it out it's easy enough to use.- It does take quite a while to warm up to cooking temperature, so I recommend using the smallest container possible (I have been using stock pots) or being sure to add 30 min or so to your cook time to account for the warm up period.When I shop around for items, I always try to find the best product I can without a lot of unnecessary nonsense. That's what this cooker accomplishes perfectly. No bluetooth, no wifi, no weird cooking bells and whistles. It warms the water up, holds the temperature for as long as you need, and you get some amazing results! I recommend starting with a nice steak!

When I first learned about the Sous Vide cooking technique, I couldn't justify spending the $$$ on an Anova or Joule; so I initially was going to go the DIY route. But like all things DIY, there's the cheap route and there's the CORRECT route. To build an immersion circulator capable of sous vide cooking the right way would've been just as much $$$ as buying the Anova. Then this guy popped up in my searches, and it was ON SALE for $70.So first off, this is definitely a knock-off of Anova's product, but doesn't support Bluetooth or Wifi. For my purposes, that was no big deal. It beeps when it's reached the correct temperature, and it beeps when the time's up; I don't care if it pings my phone too. So with that out of the way; Monoprice did pretty good with this thing. I'd read some reviews about how the unit arrives DOA, but mine worked fine out of the box. I put mine in a stock pot full of water, set the temperature to 160F, and let it rip. A few minutes later it beeped to let me know it had reached the target temperature, so I double-checked it with a candy thermometer. 160F. Excellent! I let it run for 3 hours, rechecking the temperature every 30 minutes. It fluctuated, but never more than 1/2 a degree. Okay, cool - now how does it cook?Quite well! I dropped the temperature to 140F, and set in a pair of chicken breasts I had seasoned earlier in the day. Being a bit nervous about how "done" the meat would be, I left the chicken in for 3.5 hours (the recipe stated 1-4 hours). I seared the breasts in a cast iron skillet for about 1:30 on each side, then let them rest before slicing. Not only was the center done, but it was some of the JUICIEST chicken I'd ever eaten! I was so happy, I threw in a set of pork ribs I had intended to smoke when the snow cleared. 150F for 26 hours (I ran late) yielded the most succulent, fall-off-the-bone ribs I've ever had. The ONLY downside to this was the lack of any sort of smokey flavor that you'd expect in BBQ ribs. I think next time I'll either add in some liquid smoke or finish them on the grill instead of a skillet.I'm a happy boy!*Addendum*One month later, still happy! I made a grilled herb chicken dinner for 6 the other day, and EVERYONE loved it! Also made a dozen hard boiled eggs for various dishes - each one was perfect. You really don't need WiFi or bluetooth if you know how to set a timer. Save your $$$ and get this!

Product worked great for the first 4 uses. Steak, Salmon, vegetables, etc. I have had if for almost a month. Today, I started to sous vide some beets and set the thermostat to 185 degrees. The hot tap water never heated and then the temp started dropping. Checked with a manual thermometer Heating element appears to be shot. Contacted Monoprice support and was told they can support this product and that I should contact Amazon for a return. Thankfully, I had 3 days left in my return window. I purchased this based on the overall reviews. I did read the low scores that described similar issues. Opted to give it a try based on the price. You get what you pay for.... I would not suggest paying for the item from Monoprice.

I used this to get started with Sous Vide cooking. I like the fact that it has no fancy bells or whistles - just a simple electronic display and a thumbwheel to adjust temperature and time. It seems to hold the temperature quite steady over the cooking time.The directions it comes with are bare bones. It supposedly has a removable plastic pump cap that makes the direction of water flow adjustable but mine doesn't come off and I am afraid that if I force it, the plastic cap will break.