kindofgreat

Hi Jeff, I've purchased two Anovas in three months, so obviously I think you guys are doing something right. I previously built my own DIY one based on instructables and the heating element crapped out on me fairly quickly (whether unlucky or otherwise) so I am a bit wary of all ICs for unfair reasons. That is to say, even though it's actually a fairly non-complex piece of machinery, I do not trust that ICs will last very long. This is my own bias, so adjust my opinions accordingly. Here are my opinions of the Anova IC in general, and your questions in particular: 1) The LCD has been fairly easy to use, overall. That said, it was one my hesitations initially. Obviously not your fault, but color touchscreens sort of scream to me "whiz-bang consumer gadget", the sort of feature to attract unknowing consumers. That is my initial reaction, and my second reaction is that it will be the first part to fail. (I've read the things you've written about resistive touch screens, and my smartphone certainly hasn't failed yet despite a ton of use, but still....) 2) I think I care more about design and ease of use, actually. I've resigned myself that the IC will probably fail at some point, but if I get solid use out of it before that happens, I'd be pretty happy. That is to say, if the touchscreen DOES fail in 3 years, then I won't really care. Because maybe the impeller or the heating unit or whatever else will fail, too. For $200, I'm very happy to buy a new one every couple years (and i'm sure the technology/manufacturing process will improve and/or the prices will drop in the future). I really went back and forth between the Anova and the Sansaire, because the Sansaire has a good-looking, simple design that seemed to allow for a quick adjustment and had all the information I would need. I've never used a sansaire, however, and was happy with how the Anova's performed so I decided to get a second Anova. Maybe for my third, I might see how the sansaire works. 3) I don't think touchscreens are out of place. That said, I am a tinkerer and a gadget hound, and things like that don't scare me. I would imagine most IC purchasers right now are like me, and happy to deal with some complexity that perhaps my mother would not be willing to do. If touchscreens were in kitchen appliances for my mother, I think they need a really simple interface; perhaps slightly simpler than the current one.. All that said, since there IS a color touchscreen and since I believe most current purchasers are gadget and tech-savvy like me, I think you've missed out on a bunch of really neat things you could've done with the touchscreen. For example, if the unit were user upgradeable (firmware upgrades don't scare me, or anyone on this forum for example), that would be a huge plus. A simplified interface would make that impossible, but the touchscreen and computer in the Anova seems to make that possible. One feature I would love, for example, is if instead of the countdown timer, there was an option to just have the a timer that counted up -- something that simply told me how long the current bath has been running at the current temperature. This could be an easy firmware-type thing, but as it is, there is no way for me to do something like that myself if the feature were ever implemented in the future. Built-in or user-stored presets (chicken, steak, etc. and/or rare, medium, etc) would be another obvious use for the screen. But anyway, I think ICs are still in their infancy, and the target-market for them are changing, so it really depends. The Sous Vide Supreme, for example, which is all self-contained, I think would be something I would buy my mother and smoething like that necessitates a simpler, easier interface. Something like the Anova IC, where I need to find my own heating vessel, create a makeshift cover, etc., I think can get away with something that was a bit less simple. If you created a profesisonal/consumer line, then I would suggest you also sell a container with cover and right cutouts (easy profit!) for the consumer line, as the DIY-ness of the current solutions just means you'll never reach some poeple. Anyway, love the unit. In the end, I jsut want it to be accurate and to cook. 10 seconds to set the temp vs 2 seconds means nothing to me. So for me, personally, I don't care either way. But as I've said above, they do give me initial impressions that I haven't let go of yet... Andy

sounds more like a 'jarred loose in shipping' as opposed to a 'poor quality control issue' to me. as to the lid not sealing on it's own, check that it's nice and clean, and the gasket is nice and clean, and that you did get the top seal pad in place properly, so that there's plenty of space between it and the pop up seal bar. and call Gary if that doesn't fix it. I love mine, perhaps you were bad in a previous life Maybe quality assurance is a better word rather than quality control. It couldn't have been jarred loose because it needed to be screwed in; the screws were screwed into the lid, the bar was lying on the bottom. In the first one I had, one of the hinges was not screwed in. Clearly these were oversights by whoever was the last person to check everything before packing. Either way, it is not confidence inspiring; nor are my unreturned emails that I sent with photos and videos. It is not a minor lean that I put on it; I have to push down with quite a bit of weight to get it going -- I'd say i push down about 50 pounds of pressure -- and only on the very front of the lid, pushing on the handles does not work. In fact, I can only get enough leverage when it is on the floor; if it is on a table, I am unable to push down hard enough. So this will certainly not be an option in the long haul, nor do I feel confident about the lid holding up to this as the lid has already been documented to fail before other parts. Anyway, I'll clean off the gasket and take a look at the pads and stuff and give Gary a call. I'm glad you and Chris are having such success with yours (and in fact, Chris's review here was key to my deciding on the unit) , but either because I was bad in a previous life or otherwise, I've not had great luck thus far. Too bad I already sent back the first one, or I'd swap the lids, and I'd have one fully functional unit!

I continued to get inconsistent seals so I went ahead and got an exchange from Amazon. I received the replacement today. The good news: The new one made a perfect seal the first time and every subsequent time I've tried it; two perfect lines with no gaps in between. Glad to know it wasn't my technique and that there really was something funny going on with the first machine. The bad news: The machine doesn't pull a vacuum unless I push down on the front part of the lid pretty hard to get it started. Also, it arrived without that top seal bar pushing thing installed to the lid; it was just lying inside and I had to put it together. Sigh. The quality control of ARY is really not up to par. I'm going to send the second machine back, but I don't know if I should try to get a third unit (third time's a charm?) or just give up on ARY, and maybe see what the reviews on the new Polyscience 300 series unit is like once people start getting it. (Though that one is quite a bit more expensive, and since it's a newer product I bet it's going to have some first-run problems as well.) Any suggestions? And thanks for all your help so far.

Hi, Thanks for all your responses. SleeperService, the price at amazon and webstaurant is the same ($549), though I had to pay taxes for the amazon. I knew it'd be slightly cheaper with Webstaurant, but went with Amazon anyway because of a) free 2-day shipping with amazon prime, and b) I've always had very easy returns/exchanges with Amazon when I've had problems... Anyway, I've been trying a bunch more today. But I still have weird problems. Let me show you. I am using the vacmaster 8 x 10 bags here as I bought a case of them. This first photo is when I tried to do an empty bag using the clip. As per your recommendation, I tried to put the clip as close to the edge of the bag as possible. I set the vacuum at 5 seconds since the bag was empty, and seal at 7 seconds. I also put a cutting board in there to take up some space. As you can see, it's not really a perfect seal on the upper right there... I cut that seal off, and tried to do it without the clips at all. The empty bag was basically abutting the clip, and all of the bag is over the seal bar. Again 5 second vacuum, 7 second seal. However, as with the other times I tried to do it without the clip, the bag moves around when sealing and I can't get it to stay on the bar: Finally, I wanted to make some chicken tonight. So i put some thighs in a bag, and set the vacuum to 35 seconds, and the seal at 7 seconds: Finally a good seal! However, the hit rate for good seal is pretty small. (I have tried 35/7 seconds with stuff inside and not gotten a good seal.) Anyone know what else I might be doing wrong? Maybe I should just exchange it anyway... (this is, after all, the reason I got it from Amazon and not elsewhere. But I don't really want to take another day off to be home to receive the package; and plus I want to use it now!) I can't figure out if it's the seal bar, the top thing that the seal bar touches, or maybe it's the motor that pushes the two together... I've flipped the seal bar right-side to left, but it's the same thing. The bar itself feels fine, so I don't know. I also wrote Ary customer service on Wednesday with some photos, but they have yet to respond, which isn't very confidence inspiring. Thanks for all your helps.

I just purchased a VP112 and I am wondering if those who have one could help diagnose whether there is a problem with mine or not. I have attached a photo below. My worry is that it doesn't create a perfect seal. I've done a couple dozen for testing, and they all are similar to the image below where you can see gaps in the seal. Often, these gaps are near where the pouch clips/spikes are, but not always. Are these gaps normal? There are items (some cookies) where the next day, it seems like there's more air inside than the night before but maybe this is just normal "bloom" or gas escaping from the cookies? I've also tried sealing a pouch of water, and though there's the same gap in the seal, I can also flip the pouch upside down and squeeze, and no water will leak. So from that, it seems like a good seal. I'm just afraid that if I leave a pouch of food in a water bath for two days, maybe it won't be okay... Also, for whatever reason, my pouch of sealed water has quite a bit of air bubbles in it, even though I pulled a 30 second vacuum. It was enough to get the water bubbling/boiling, but not enough to get all the air out? that's odd. Anyway, I can probably still return the unit to amazon or get a replacement as its only been a couple days. Or is everything operating correctly and I am just paranoid?