Avalon Bay Sous Vide Water Oven, Includes Stainless Steel Rack, Digital Display, 10 Large and Small BPA Free Sous Vide Bags, SVC-100

My fiancée knew I wanted a Sous Vide and got me this one for my birthday. It was not what I would have gotten for myself (I would have gotten the immersion circulator) but I am very happy with it nonetheless.It does exactly what you'd want - temperature control and a timer. The Timer works in half hour increments and the Temperature can be controlled in either Fahrenheit or Celsius.It comes with a bunch of BPA-free plastic bags as well.The only reason why I gave this product 4 stars instead of 5 is because it takes up a lot of space when not in use - an immersion circulator is easier to store. That said, I'm very satisfied with the product and would definitely recommend.

UPDATE: I received my replacement unit today (4/17/2018) and the temperature is dead on! (See 2nd picture) Bumped up my rating to 5 stars for the customer service follow-up.So I took the company's word that they "worked hard on getting the digital thermometer to be precise"... well, they're not working hard enough. I just unboxed mine and the temperature is way off. I have two other thermometers that register within a couple degrees of each other. The Avalon Bay temp is off by over 30 degrees (F). Guess I'll be sending this back. I gave this review 10 stars because of the price, but I can't recommend something that will require a second thermometer.

I have cooked pork chops, chicken, bacon and boiled eggs with this sous vide immersion cooker and everything has turned out delicious, even with my learning curve (mistakes), and lack of spicing/seasoning ability! One of the mistakes - I over cooked the eggs, forgot to account for the time needed for the water temperature to rise and put them in too early, but they still tasted better than what I have done before. As for the bacon, after sous vide, I crisped too long under the broiler the first time, but even that early mistake turned out great! After you crisp/sear the bacon properly, it ends up with this amazing creamy crunch texture that I've only ever experienced at higher-priced restaurants.I am so pleased with this device and style of cooking! I feel so proud of the results - for every dish, my mother has asked for seconds. In the first week I cooked enough chicken thighs and pork chops in one go to make 10 entrees - which I shared with family and friends; the second week, I cooked enough bacon and eggs (in one go) to make myself six breakfasts. Easy to use, and at a great price point, the Avalon Sous Vide (and I've checked the temperatures each time I've used it, and it's been right on) seems to be as good as the more popular models. It feels solid and well made and the only thing I wish it had was a storage bag or stand - because right now I put it (after it has throughly cooled off) back in it's original box, which makes it too large to store in the kitchen cabinet space I currently have available.You definitely need a vacuum sealer with this type of cooking for the easiest, best results. Even though the cooker comes with 5 reusable silicon bags, a vacuum sealer is much easier to use. You can do the water displacement method to get the air out of the silicon bags, but they are a little thick for that to be easy. I also tried using the vacuum sealer hose with them, but too much air gets back in when I try to pull the hose out of the bag while trying to close it. So, it all works (cooking with the sous vide) much better with a vacuum sealer and making your own bags I've found.I am in my third week of cooking with the Avalon and it has already paid for itself 3x over, by reducing my eating out. I often eat out because I really like good-tasting food and because of lack of skill and time, couldn't replicate consistently at home. Additionally, vacuum sealing means that I can batch cook everything on a Saturday and Sunday schedule, leave the cooked food in the bags and freeze or refrigerate and have quick 5-minute prep meals ready to go for two weeks or more. I've been using recipes from ChefSteps (fairly easy to follow and has a lot of good community tips and tricks - like beware of easy open and/or papered bacon packages). On the ChefSteps video he just popped the bacon package as is into the sous vide pot, so you'd think you could do that with all bacon packages, but the community discussion warned that because of paper and/or easy open packaging, it is best to pull the bacon out of those types to avoid ruining your dish and/or cooker, and vacuum seal and cook in your own bag, which I did for great results.This is my longest and most enthusiatic review to date and I highly recommend the Avalon Sous Vide immersion cooker. Along with my VitaMix, my Briefton (hand-crank) spiralizer, my easy bake oven aka Sharper Image Halogen Oven and now this Sous Vide (I borrow the vacuum sealer from a family member), I am able to cook a wide variety of great-tasting meals and am enjoying being in the kitchen. On a side note: my family member bought an air fryer, and other than being great for tater tots, results with that device have been very disappointing, some of which were inedible. Not so with the sous vide, as I said, even with my mistakes, everything has been very good.

It's so, so easy. Meats come out of the bag beyond belief juicy and flavorful. Sometimes my wife feels the need to put the meat on a frying pan for a few minutes so the exterior looks more like her eyes are accustomed; however, this is totally for presentation purposes. If you are into cutting edge health, it is much healthier to cook all food with animal muscle under 212 Fahrenheit. Sous vide always meets this health standard. That is, this long, slow heat cooking method totally eliminates heterocyclic amines that have both carcinogenic and mutagenic effects on our bodies. Not to torpedo your joy of searing meat, a Google search of heterocyclic amines might be proactive. This cooking method is a no-brainer, augmented by a community on the net with recipes and heat/time feedback

I received a fancy version, different brand, with Bluetooth and WiFi as a gift that I have and use at another house. This is about half the price and works beautifully. This isn't just a hipster/foodie gadget: It gets your roasts, grilled stuff, corned beef, etc. perfectly cooked and ready for a quick searing on a very hot grill or cast iron skillet. No more fussing over under- or over-cooking, and the juices are all there. Good documentation on times and temperatures. Recipes seem interesting, but I haven't tried any.

Sous vide is such a great way to cook just about anything! I couldn't afford the Anova one, which is the most popular and well known brand, but this Avalon Bay one works great, and it's affordable! I made the best medium rare steak I have ever had using my Anova Bay Sous Vide cooker. If I had more time, I'd use it more often, but I get home kinda late from work a lot and don't have time to soak meat in a water bath for two hours, which is the only downside. I love using it whenever I get the chance, though!

The cooker worked only once. The second time I tried to use it the unit beeped, but the time and temperature displays did not light up. The instructions say to hold the button down for five seconds. I held it down for 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds. No display of either the time or the temperature.

I tried to make chicken breast with this product. The book said 148 degrees for 1-4 hours. The product could not reach 148 degrees. I kept removing water. Still it would peak at 147 degrees. Since I bought this mostly to cook a moist chicken breast this product is useless to me.