greenmonk

I didn't have the budget, but I got one by asking for Amazon gift cards for everything. Christmas, birthdays, thank you's, etc. Over a 2 year period I had saved up enough to only need to shell out $200 of my money for a Vacmaster VP215. I knew I was going to like it, but didn't realize just how much I would use it for things other than sous vide. I make flash pickles all the time now to snack on and will only eat fruit like pineapple or watermelon if it's compressed. I won't eat it straight anymore. There are so many things I didn't realize I'd use it for that I do now. It was the best purchase I've made in a long time!I had come up with a plan which is the only reason I have one now. You don't realize what you are missing until you get one. I love mine!!!

@Jeff that doesn't explain why you couldn't have come on here a couple days ago to tell us to watch for an announcement. Today was a pure shock. Why didn't you send an email to your followers yesterday to let us know? This blackout excuse is crap. I've backed many other Kickstarters that have sent an email at least a day before to their followers to warn them that the Kickstarter was going live sometime that next day. I'm sorry, but news media should not get first crack over your followers. We're the ones that made your machine successful, not the news media.

It pisses me off that they didn't come on here and tell us it was coming. We gave Jeff a TON of feedback and we didn't even get a chance at the $99 units. By the time I got the email, over 2,200 people had already pledged and all the cheap units were long gone. I can't believe that's how they treat their most loyal customers who just wanted to help them make a better product. Not happy at all!

Any progress with this 2nd video? I have a cooler lid I want to cut and would love to see how you do it.

I'm in DC too! Well, more like Metro DC. The best way to contact them is by phone. I've never had an issue getting through and talking with someone. If you have an issue or question, your best bet is calling them. I hope you love yours as much as I love mine!

On Facebook last night they posted that there will be an announcement about the 220/240 version next week. Maybe you'll find out then!

Jeff, If we filled out the survey, when should we expect the shipping label? I won't be able to send mine until I get back from my trip, but just wanted to find out when to expect it. I filled out the survey the day you posted the link. I hope my responses help!

Thanks Jeff for covering shipping if we filled out the survey! Mine is filled out, but I won't be able to ship it back for 3 more weeks. Hopefully, that doesn't run into your Christmas rush. I'm looking forward to the updated software and look forward to what changes you make in future versions based on our feedback. I also pushed CNET on Twitter to review the Anova along side the other circulators on the market. They said it is definitely on their radar. I would love to see them put all of them through their paces and compare how each one stacks up. I'm sure the Anova will be at the top of the $200-350 circulators, especially with the changes you are making with the software.

Thanks Jeff! The version 2.0 would be cool to have. I won't die without it, but it would be cool to have a beeping timer. Right now my brother is borrowing my Anova while I'm out of town for a month and he and his wife are in love with it. He's been wanting a sous vide circulator longer than I have and now that it's price point it at $200, he is looking to get one. I might be able to convince my parents to get it for him for Christmas, so hopefully you will be getting an order for him soon.

I found that having the water high plus the top of my cooler covered in aluminum foil caused the sound to drop dramatically. The noise never bothered me before, but it got so quiet that I found myself checking on it a lot to make sure it was still on and didn't turn off.

I got some grass fed skirt steak at the store. They didn't have many cheap steaks to choose from, so I got this one. The steak is actually ~2 lbs of meat in not a very flat piece, so that is also why I am letting it go a long time. It's a chunk of meat. We'll see how it turns out really soon. Fingers crossed! The Anova is doing great though!

I'm attempting skirt steak right now. Put it in at 9pm tonight, so we'll see how it turns out tomorrow. It's a big thick piece of steak. I have it in a cooler and covered with aluminum foil, so we'll see how it does overnight. I'll check it in the morning and let you guys know. I was reading that around 20 hours should be good for it, so I'm planning to have it for dinner if it works right. The PolyScience website gives a recipe that calls for 16-24 hours, so we'll see. Crossing my fingers I don't screw this up! Just got up and checked on it. Still running strong after 12 hours, so I'm not worried about it hitting the 20 hour mark. And my water level doesn't seem to have dropped at all while in the cooler covered in aluminum foil.

I'm attempting skirt steak right now. Put it in at 9pm tonight, so we'll see how it turns out tomorrow. It's a big thick piece of steak. I have it in a cooler and covered with aluminum foil, so we'll see how it does overnight. I'll check it in the morning and let you guys know. I was reading that around 20 hours should be good for it, so I'm planning to have it for dinner if it works right. The PolyScience website gives a recipe that calls for 16-24 hours, so we'll see. Crossing my fingers I don't screw this up!

Well, since I got mine 2 days ago, I've been solely using a small cooler with wheels. It's maybe big enough for 3-4 steaks. Since it's only me, that's more than enough room. I don't think I am using the heating element much at all once it gets to tempeture because when I'm done cooking, that water stays hot for hours and hours and hours.The day I got the machine I cooked an egg at 65C and then wanted to make shrimp about 4-5 hours later and the water (with the lid open the whole time) was almost at the temp I was going to cook the shrimp at. That's the way to save on energy! Now if I wanted to cook vegetables and have the water cool enough to then cook steak, I would have to use another vessel or figure out a way to drop the temperature some other way. I was definitely surprised at how much the cooler retained the heat. I purposely kept the lid open for the heat to escape, but not much did.

Since I had a $20 gift certificate to Williams & Sonoma, I got this: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/camwear-professional-container/ I think it's the same thing that is in the video above because they give it free when you buy a Polyscience and that's about the same size. It's huge! It holds 6 gallons, so it's the max the Anova circulator can handle by itself. Will also be good for a very large ice bath. As for the sound in the video, that is what it sounds like, but it might not be as loud. It's hard to tell because it's a video. That is definitely the hum you will hear. I used mine in a small cooler and it wasn't very loud. Maybe since it was a cooler, the sound was dampened because of the insulation. Either way, I didn't think it was too loud at all. It didn't bother me one bit.

Mr. FedEx man came about a 45 minutes ago, so I'm testing an egg right now. I have it in my kitchen and I'm sitting in the next room. I'm maybe 20 feet away. It's got a hum, but it's not loud at all (at least to me)! I'm having no problem sitting here on my computer. It's not distracting me at all. I wouldn't say it's loud. One thing I did notice and maybe someone else can correct me or confirm it, but I'm not seeing a way to change F by 1/10 of a degree. I can only change the C by 1/10 of a degree. Am I missing something or is it just not necessary? Will .5 degree F make a big difference in sous vide or is changing by 1 degree F only not such a big deal? I guess I could just always keep it on C if I want a more precise temp.

If you call them and say you have a question about the Anova, they transfer you to the same Jeff that has been posting on here. At least that is what happened when I called a few days ago. He can answer any questions you have. I did ask him about the temp variance that was discussed much earlier in this thread and he assured me the issue was solved. Someone was hitting + instead of - to adjust the temperature. Since their main business is lab equipment, I sure hope they know how to calibrate temperature on a circulator. Mine gets here tomorrow. I guess I won't be leaving the house until Mr. FedEx gets here!

I suspect the oven timer works as it does because it's not a functional oven timer. It's an independent timer that is incorporated merely for convenience of not having a separate timer. i suspect that professional ranges don't have a timer. Actually, many ovens have 2 timers. One just is like any old egg timer, while the other actually does shut the oven off. Mine has both of those timers PLUS a Sabbath mode timer to delay the start of cooking. One is called "Oven Timer" and the other is called "Cooking Time". The Sabbath function is called "Delayed Start". I mentioned to Jeff the idea of a delayed start on the sous vide. You would crate an ice bath and the sous vide would start at a specific time so that the food would be ready when I got home from work without having to cook for 12 hours. You don't want everything cooking that long!

If you watch the unboxing video that's been posted, near the end he goes through the manual. He stops on some pages and skims through others, but that's what the pause button is for. That's what I did before I ordered mine because the manual was the first thing I searched for on Google and couldn't find it anywhere. I'll try and post it whenever I get mine. It will hopefully ship out this week. (fingers crossed!)

I can ask him when he thinks he can start taking orders from people who didn't back him on Kickstarter. He actually doesn't live far from me. We've been emailing back and forth, so I'll ask him when I email him again. He supposed to start shipping to backers in the middle to end of October, so if you really want one, he may be able to put you on a list for like a "pre-order" or something and ship to you after he ships to all the backers. I'll ask for you.

If you do decide to use zip lock bags and don't mind buying a cheap vacuming device, this Kickstarter just ended, but he's going to sell them in his online store around Nov. I'm supposed to get mine by the end of Oct. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1066541019/thriftyvac

I hope this means mine will be shipped out tomorrow (crossing fingers) since Monday is a holiday. As for starting with something simple, that's definitely happening. I'll make stuff that can normally cook in water, so if the bag leaks it won't matter. Like you mentioned corn is one option. I always experiment when I'm trying something new. Before I made my first batch of creme brulee, I made some vanilla ice cream to make sure I could make the custard right and not burn it. Once that came out beyond perfect, I went straight for the creme brulee. Now I'm in trouble because I make it as vanilla-ee (sp?) as I want and to me it tastes better than what I get at most restaurants. Since I've never eaten at a high class place, I don't know how it would compare to that. All I know is that I've been sitting twiddling my thumbs waiting for a sous vide machine with a circulator so I could start learning how to cook with it. It's FINALLY within my price range. I only had to wait 2 years! If they could ramp up production and get it into those store, they would fly off the shelf. Polyscience wouldn't be too happy, but they can cater to the more professional level cooks who need a huge $1,000+ product. This will cater to us newbies who don't want to spend much money or those that want multiple units. For me, I learned about sous vide online. Then when I started reading more about it and wanted to try it, I researched where I could buy a machine and how much they cost. When I saw that Polyscience was carried by W&S, I went straight to their store to look at it just to be able to physically touch the product. There was no way I could spend that much money, but I wanted to get my hands on one to see dimensions and such. If the Anova was on the shelf at the same time at the $200 price, I would have bought one right away. Now that the circulator versions are hitting this price point, I think a lot of people who have been holding off will be willing to buy one. Doing the math, I'll just drive less. That will pay for it very quickly. The cost of purchasing the Anova costs less than 3 tanks of gas for me. lol!

Thanks for letting us know! I ordered one late Tuesday night and was wondering how long they take. So it takes +/- a week before it even gets shipped? Will it ship from TX where you guys are located? I'm just trying to estimate how long until it reaches my door and I can try it. This will be my first adventure with sous vide, so excuse my excitement. ;-) It's always been out of the range of what I was willing to pay until now.I hope you guys are planning a way to handle the influx of orders you're going to receive after reviews start coming in about your product.