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the cambro "doesn't work as well..." as the carlisle. I've got both and use both. to summarize again: the carlisle is less expensive than the cambro.the carlisle has straight front and back sides which gives more clearance for the anova so it doesn't press against the back of the container, and might give slightly better waterflow by not having some of the inlets blocked by the back wall.the carlisle has an easier to trim lid so that you can make a nice notch to fit the anova.in my opinion

because anybody can put anything on amazon for any price, just like on ebay, check the buying options: http://smile.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00GT753W8/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all%C2'> someone just trying to cash in.

first, I think there's a problem with your technique, not with your unit.gaps in the seal lines are not normal, I only get them when I've crinkled the bag, or when I don't get the bag flat across the seal bar.bubbles in your water are what you'll get if you don't get the air out before sealing, watch carefully when you seal it, and you'll see any bubbles in there expand hugely, if those bubbles can't escape the bag, then they'll just shrink back to their former size. I've seen some widgets people have used that were like ramps in the chamber, so the back end of the bag was lower than the open end, allowing the gas to escape, instead of just puffing up the bag.Try putting an empty bag in there and seal it, you should get a nice flat even seal all the way across, that's how they're supposed to look. you don't have to pull the bag as far into the clips as you're doing, (I can see the holes in your pic) I often just barely have the edge of the bag in mine, if I use them at all, sometimes it works better not to use them. if you pull too much of the bag over the seal bar, the bag will tend to puff up while the vacuum is being pulled and you won't get as tight a vacuum on the bag, watch for that happening and adjust your bag placement. I went down to the local restaurant supply place and bought myself a couple of half inch thick cutting boards, and then chopped them up, making filler plates to put in the chamber, this raises the bag so you've got more of a straight shot from bag to bar. Vacmaster used to include the plates, but now they're a 30$ extra. fortunately, they detail the sizes on their web page, so I made similar out of my cutting boards, I recommend it. raising the bag helps to get a good seal in my experience, and filling up the chamber leaves less air to suck out. the http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ and shop.vacuumsealersunlimited.com/3-MIL-Chamber-Bags_c67.htm are the best places I've seen to buy bags, so far... though you're going to be sad when you go to the webstaurant store and see how much less you could have paid for the vp112 than buying it at amazon. fwiw, I bought a case of 6" x 12" bags, and 8" x 10" bags, when I got mine, but then found that I use the 10" x 13" bags, more often, so had to go get a pack of those off ebay, I'll end up buying a case of those too, fairly soon, based on how that stack of bags is dwindling. (pack=250,case=4 packs)

I've got both, I expressed my opinion that the cheaper one is better.

is there clearance between the unit and the back wall, or is it resting against the back wall? in the carlisle, there's clearance, so the water flow is (presumably) better. plus the carlisle is cheaper, and the lid is easier to notch out to fit. but, it's not worth throwing a cambro away for.

discoloration of the two water sensors (the shorter and longer straight rods) is normal, according to a post Jeff from anova made in the first anova thread here, it's a byproduct of the way the unit senses water level. Essentially they pull ions out of the water as a byproduct of sensing the water level. just wipe them off.

I got mine at acemart, looks like they've got four houston locations: http://www.acemart.com/store-locator I haven't had my anovas as long as you have, but I've been using them quite a bit, two 24 hour cooks on one so far, and have had both going at once doing different things a few times. I also used the red one as a humidifier when it got quite cold up here a couple weeks ago, I put it in one of the 22liter long tubs, and set it on 175, and left the lid off and let it steam. with the crappy water up here in plano (north of dallas) after 24 hours of working the evaporation, I took it apart and toothbrushed crap off the heating coil... by then amazon had delivered a steam vaporizer.

first, when you start the anova in your video the first time, you can hear it 'clunk' as the impeller hits the frame, and it's *clearly* not circulating. second, it's normal for the impeller to not be exactly centered in the hole. thirdly, you should disassemble and clean the unit now and then. fourthly, vinegar is fine, or a solution of CLR (recommended in the manual) to clean up the crud. fifthly, the cambro isn't the best container, because the stepped sides cause the anova to push against them, which tends to push the bottom off center, and make it more likely that the impeller will rub (the scraping sounds you've heard, which are not normal.) I suggest either putting a small wedge under the bottom lip of the anova clamp, or using a better container, I like the carlisle 1072407 12 qt, it's got straight sides, front and back, it's cheaper, and the lid is easier to cut a notch in than the cambro. I have one of those cambros, and I took some sugru and made a mounting pad on the side to compensate for the step in the side, then I got the carlisle for my other anova unit, and i like it a lot better.

I've done compression of citrus fruits in my vp112, orange slices turned translucent, I haven't gotten around to doing vacuum infusions yet, but it's on the list

1) your soapboxing has nothing to do with the anova, and very little with sous vide in general. 2) you apparently won't be happy until everybody is prepping food in a walkin and the food never spends any time between 9c and 55c for safety reasons, though how you're going to get it past that terrible pathogen divide, I don't know. 3) you say you're coming from the perspective of an expert, what is your PhD in? 4) please explain how taking something from frozen to workable temp in 20 minutes in any way violates acceptable safe food handling practices?

hmm, I just set mine to 20f and it jumped up to 32f when I hit the check mark.

I haven't tried setting my anova to lower than 32f, and seeing what it reads in an ice bath, I don't even know if it can be set that low. might have to try that. I know I can set it to 60f and just use it to stir up the water.

er, so? not everything is in spec, electronics drift in calibration.

I'd noticed that mine was reading about .6f lower than my non-thermopen fast digital thermometer... which is close enough for me, then I got a second anova yesterday, and notice that they're both reading about .6f lower than my digital... either both my anovas are off by the same amount, or it's the thermometer. I suggest getting a second (third?) opinion.

There's three small rods that come down from the top, the longest that ends near the middle of the heating coil is the temp sensor, the other two are the level sensors. I'd try wiping them off, maybe they got coated with some gunk while partying in chicago unscrew the bottom, then carefully twist and remove the stainless skirt as per directions in the manual.

I'm with Harold McGee on the issue, actually. your method sounds great if you've got a couple days to get things defrosted, though

well, in my case, we were thawing frozen turkey breasts so that they could be butterflied, pounded, and rolled up with the right herbs and seasonings, to then be rebagged and cooked the next day.

I'm sure others have done this, but I used my anova last night to defrost frozen turkey breasts. I just set the temp very low and turned it on, and dropped the packages with the breasts in... as Alton Brown said, the best way to defrost things is in slowly running cold water, well, a room temp circulator bath works even better!