Just got my hands on my neighbor's brand new Anova and I have to say I'm utterly shocked and disappointed with the device, especially given all the build up to its release. It came in an all black box with just "Anova" on the outside. No list of contents, no address or phone number or website, nothing. Feels very much like off brand computer parts I've ordered in the past. Opening the box reveals simple, fleshy black foam, with quite a few unused compartments. I wonder if there was a plan to include more at some point. The immerison circulator itself looks nice upon first glance. Further inspection of the metal housing at the bottom led me to believe that it was already heavily used - it was stained and dirty. There was also some rust on the inside of it. The included pdf manual is a joke - a very poorly written, unfunny joke. Some of the highlights include "Only you can prevent forest fires and not get food poisoning." "The pump generates “waves” – sometimes these waves will cause the water level at the sensors to fluctuate up and down." "Your pump has formed a water vortex like when you are emptying out a bathroom sink or tub." "If this is your first time at Sous Vide, you have to Sous Vide……" Most notably, the Anova has no UL, CE, etc. - not a single compliance mark anywhere. That, plus the fact that I could see wires almost protruding from the rear of it, made me leery enough to move to the garage before plugging it in. I certainly would not trust any appliance that has no third party compliance marks to run while I was out or my family was in the house, especially over night. It's hard to tell if the power cord was ever properly inserted, the connection is really loose, no matter how much force was applied to it. Turning it on resulted in a simple interface - This is the only part of the Anova I'd say I was satisfied with. The major flaw here is that you can barely read the display. Step away or to the side and it goes from barely readable to not readable at all. We ran it at 185C for a few hours and cooked some veggies. It worked. Pressing the power switch with one hand is impossible as it's so rigid you almost push the Anova off your pot and the pot off the counter. So you have to hold the unit. Problem here is one's natural inclination is to wrap a hand around the metal cylinder just below the control interface; right about where steam collects and the motor sits inside. This area gets quite hot. At least Anova put a CAUTION label here...just make sure to pay attention to it. We then took the unit out of the pot, tilted it just a bit to help water drain, and the metal pipe heater housing fell off and onto the floor. We were able to reattach it but it remained loose, like the plastic it attaches to shrunk. We stopped using the Anova and packed it back up. My neighbor said he was just going to throw it out; he was so bothered by the experience, I think the thought of dealing with a return was more than he could handle at the time. Anova clearly is not taking this seriously. What a shame.
