I bought this at boingboing’s suggestion a couple of years ago. It slow cooks fine but a wider surface area on the bottom would be nice. The pressure cooker works initially, but I rarely use it and despite that the plastic bit that makes it pressurize broke off after about a year. Also, the issues mentioned above about ‘did I actually press the correct buttons to actually start this process?’ can waste a lot of time in the kitchen and I HAVE to have the manual on hand for this reason.
Rice is a problem as you often need to go through multiple rounds. The process of depressurizing, checking, closing, re-pressurizing is much more complex than simply setting a basic $12 rice cooker and only slightly faster.
I do use it for slow cooking all the time and it was indispensable during my kitchen remodel: healthy cooking without an actual kitchen is awesome. The fact that it locks is great for making bone broth, since my dog can’t get into it when I leave the house.
I got it because I had a small space, but I still find I prefer a separate rice cooker so it didn’t really serve its purpose for me. Since I can’t use the pressure cooker feature, I’d have been better off with a $30 slow cooker and a $12 rice cooker. This unit is also tall and doesn’t fit well in many shelf/cabinet arrangements.
It’s really not for everybody. If somebody knows where I can buy a replacement for the 12 cents worth of plastic let me know.
