14 replies to this topic

[dexterity15]

I came across this site http://www.undergrou...Circulator.html that offers a pretty stout looking sous vide immersion circulator for less than $500. It looks a lot like the high-end polyscience version that is around $1300. I have only been able to find some reviews by looking over their ebay sales and reading what people say about it on there. I was hoping someone could give me their thoughts on it if they have purchased one of these. Thanks a lot!

[gfweb]

Looks interesting. $500 isn't cheap, but it is cheaper than similar stuff. I don't see why it couldn't cost less, actually. The components can't be that expensive. The six month guarantee seems short given the price and the lack of a track record for the product or the company.

[dexterity15]

Yes I agree. Compared to the similar model by PolyScience, it seems like a good deal but it is still expensive. On the site he talks about how he got started by refurbishing used sous vide machines. Are there issues across the board with the machines not lasting long?

[Syzygies]

The PolyScience Creative Series circulator lists for $499, I've seen it as low as $435. The only knock I've read on it is a hard-to-see display.
http://store.chefste...sion-circulator

Anova is coming out with a $299 circulator. No idea what their new schedule is; they were taking pre-orders but no reviews on the web to indicate any shipped:
http://www.waterbath...e_products.html

If these tidy, contained units actually work, then the open construction of the Underground looks too mad scientist for me. I've gone the PID controller, hot plate route and I want to get away from that look...

[EnriqueB]

The PolyScience Creative Series circulator lists for $499, I've seen it as low as $435. The only knock I've read on it is a hard-to-see display.

...and that it's intended for only home/casual use, which they define to be "used no more than 2/3 days per week"

[Syzygies]

The PolyScience Creative Series circulator...

it's intended for only home/casual use, which they define to be "used no more than 2/3 days per week"

Huh, I missed that. I read "home/casual" as not capable of restaurant-sized bath volumes. They'd certainly want to scare restaurants out of buying it (like Wang not wanting to cannibalize their word processor sales by introducing a personal computer, see where that got those fools). So is there anything about the actual specs that would indicate it would be unreliable with frequent home use?

[Syzygies]

like Wang not wanting to cannibalize their word processor sales by introducing a personal computer

Is anyone else as baffled as I am that the $60 slow cooker market hasn't expanded to higher profit margin $100 units with "to the degree" PID controllers? Forty years ago you could notice something traveling in Japan, and introduce a novel product in the United States, but now information travels faster. Did slow cooker management all thaw out of a glacier?

[gfweb]

Rice cookers are more sophisticated than sv units. You d think Zojirushi would come out with a sv product easily.

[Syzygies]

You d think Zojirushi would come out with a sv product easily.

Funny you should say that, I was gearing up to reverse engineer my Zojirushi, to try to figure out what each preset really does. I don't need a rice cooker cookbook, I need a table defining to an engineer what each mode actually does. Their strategy has to be to hit a target temp depending on the preset, then switch to warming mode when it senses the "water is gone"? It must track the current required to maintain temperature.

The original "signature" configuration for the SousVideMagic was to control a dumb rice cooker, so yes, it's baffling that Zojirushi doesn't just build this in.

I find various uses for higher temps using my PID, principally for beans. Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo is my bean God, selling flavorful heirloom beans good enough for Thomas Keller. Steve (he used to come regularly to the SF Ferry Building farmers market) feels that pressure cooked beans taste like canned, don't develop the same pot liquor. So I'm baffled by the school that advocates pressure-cooking beans. Are they expecting little flavor, so they're optimizing some textural quality? I've had the best results at 185 F to 195 F. There must be an appropriate Zojirushi setting, with the timer function and the automatic cutoff as bonuses.

[Charcuterer]

I had one of the underground units when it went by its previous name "Sous Vide Systems" they were under legal pressure from Polyscience to take Sous Vide out of their name and became Underground. What I am going to say is based on that older unit and though they look identical they may have improved on the design and operation.

Out of the box I found that there was a 2 degree C variation between the unit and my calibrated thermometer. The unit only used degrees Centigrade. After a few weeks of use the housing began corroding. The circulator is simply a propeller that agitates the water. I sent my unit back and was issued a refund. I bought the Sous Vide Professional and have been very happy.

[gfweb]

Great example of legal bullying. Polyscience knows damn well they can't trademark sous vide. They also know the little company cannot afford to fight them.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[dexterity15]

I had one of the underground units when it went by its previous name "Sous Vide Systems" they were under legal pressure from Polyscience to take Sous Vide out of their name and became Underground. What I am going to say is based on that older unit and though they look identical they may have improved on the design and operation.

Out of the box I found that there was a 2 degree C variation between the unit and my calibrated thermometer. The unit only used degrees Centigrade. After a few weeks of use the housing began corroding. The circulator is simply a propeller that agitates the water. I sent my unit back and was issued a refund. I bought the Sous Vide Professional and have been very happy.

Thank you so much for your reply. This is what I was looking for; someone that has used one by this company. I'll probably end up going with the Polyscience Creative Series. I just had a few hesitations about the Underground since their website didn't show a lot of detailed information and there were no videos to really display their product. Thanks again.

[Charcuterer]

@gfweb, I agree completely. That was a case of a really big company shutting down a much smaller one that simply couldn't afford to fight. I had more than a little guilt buying a product from the company that did such a thing but in my experience it was a better machine.

@Dexterity15, no problem. Have you looked at the nomiku? I have no experience with it but it looks great.

[Rob Babcock]

We use the Underground circulator at work. It crapped out on us about 1.5 months in but was fixed quickly under warranty. It's worked great since (maybe 6 months or a bit more). It's a little quirky in that there's no choice to read F or C, just C. But it does the job. We use a really large volume of water, much more than you could heat with the Polyscience, and it holds the temps very well.

[Raamo]

Have you looked at the nomiku? I have no experience with it but it looks great.

That's not yet avalible, it's a KS project that's late:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nomiku/nomiku-bring-sous-vide-into-your-kitchen?ref=live

From the updates: http://www.kickstart...r-kitchen/posts
First, the bad news: because of issues that have lined up and the 3-week Chinese New Year holiday, it’s likely that we won’t have the Nomiku on your doorstep until March.

I think I'm going to go with the creative series and pick one up tonight at William Sonoma, It seems this industry for the home use is just getting under way and I feel more confortable buying from a large company with a histroy of these units in the science community.