Best Sous Vide Cooker

furythree on 07/01/2017 - 02:02

Hi guys

does anyone have any experience with sous vide cookers?

I really like the avona culinary cooker, but its like $300 and youre just paying for the brand

there seem to be other lesser known branded versions for much cheaper, but ive never even heard of them (im talking the stick types)
like this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Logik-Sous-Vide-Immersion-Circula…
or this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Sous-Vide-Immersion-Circulator-Ad…

THen theres the all in one cookers which is just the standard rectangular block design. kogan sells one for roughly $153 or a bit more for the sunbeam one

anyway, is there any pros/cons with either of these?
obviously can get a further $20 off with the current ebay deals as well which brings the kogan one down to $133. Thats basically 4 steaks away from return on investments for cooking restaurant quality steaks at home

Electrical & Electronics

Comments

  • RobMel on 07/01/2017 - 07:40

    Got 2 Anovas.
    One flaw they have is open vents for cooling.
    Usually you have steam rising n that creeps into the Anova which has caused my safety switch to trip a few times.
    Now I always place towel to deflect rising steam.

    For others I would no longer recommend Anova.

  • John Kimble on 07/01/2017 - 07:52

    Anova was under $200 recently… Maybe they will go on sale again?

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/product/anova-sous-vide-precisi…

    No first hand xp, but been thinking of buying one as my friend got one when the crowdsourced Anova when they first came out. He hasn't had any issues, but doesn't mean other brands are not better?

    There are a few comparison reviews online I've seen if you get no joy here.

  • Dink on 07/01/2017 - 11:16

    Have had the Sunbeam Duo for about 12 months now, it's been great.

  • Janko on 07/01/2017 - 11:45

    Reasonably happy with the non-Wifi Anova - haven't had the steam rising issue RobMel speaks of yet. Boy do sausages taste good.

    But what were they thinking when they designed a constant high pitched alarm when the water level dips below minimum, until it's rectified? The house isn't burning down.

    Anova have also been criticised widely for taking long delivery times - mine took 6 weeks.

  • bobkin on 07/01/2017 - 13:21

    Also very happy with anova. Have had excellent customer service from them too

  • steeevo on 07/01/2017 - 13:44

    Not sure if you are also into homebrew, but I use a grainfather for sous vide. Bought it for homebrew, but given that it is a system designed to maintain a large volume of water at a constant temperature it is perfect for sous vide.

  • pcolby78 on 07/01/2017 - 15:22

    I've had my Anova Precision Cooker (ie Anova's second generation sous-vide wand) for a bit over six months, and I've found it to be great so far.

    It can have issues maintaining high temperatures (we're talking 85 degrees C) if the container is not insulated (eg throw a towel / or blanket around the container, or use an eski). But that's pretty understandable… there's not much you would want to sous-vide at that high temperature (I use it to denature milk before incubating my own yogurt… so handy for that!!).

    Anyway, Anova has had various AU$70-off deals going over the past couple of months - definitely good value in my opinion. And now they've just announced (at CES 2017) the new Anova Nano and Pro models - https://www.cnet.com/products/anova-nano/preview/ The Nano, in particular, is meant to be cheaper, and "more appealing to folks who want to give sous vide a try without throwing down a lot of cash".

    Personally, if I'd bought a Nano first, and then "upgraded" to the Precision later, I could see that I would probably still use the Nano for a lot of stuff, since its smaller and more convenient (or so it seems), and the Precision for the larger stuff, and sometimes both at the same time :) So that's probably the path I'd recommend to friends (pending any reviews of the Nano, that might indicate issues).

    Well anyway, good luck, and have fun using whatever you end up with :)

    • furythree on 07/01/2017 - 21:03

      where do you actually go and buy one

      • pcolby78 on 09/01/2017 - 20:16

        If you mean the current model, I bought mine directly from Anova website (https://anovaculinary.com/store/), and had it shipped to my door. If you mean the new ones, like the Nano, then presumably the same place eventually, but they're not available yet.

        • furythree on 10/01/2017 - 16:52

          had no idea you could buy direct!

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