This thing is a total piece of crap, there should be an option for zero stars. I unpacked it, filled the reservoir with water, set my temperature and waited for it to heat up. 30 minutes later the water in the reservoir was colder than when I put it in. Nothing I did would heat the water and its not like this thing has a lot of options. Now I have to pack it up and send it back, what a pain in the ass. DO NOT BUY THIS, unless you like trying to repack items back in their original styrofoam and plastic.

Update:I dropped my review from 5 -4 stars.A little past the warranty and the pump has stopped working. There are no parts available to fix this. I could send it in, but it will cost me more than this is worth. I have looked at the unit and it's a simple brushless pump like what's used in brewers or solar water circulator systems. it would be an easy fix if Tribest sold parts, sigh. $300 for a bit over 2 years of use. If you get an error 4, you can throw away a $300 sous vide for a $20 pump...Original reviewThis is awesome. I have poached eggs almost every morning now and they are perfect every time. I have made chicken breasts with rosemary and sage and it was amazing, every part of the chicken was perfectly done, no dry spots. and about 10 minutes on the grill gave them a good browning and added a nice smoky flavor.it makes perfect med-rare steaks too. the low and slow cooking process really makes for tender meats, and the fact that it holds the temperature just right means I can be cooking other parts of the meal and not have to worry about overcooking, or burning the meat.

I've been looking for a sous vide machine for a while after watching all these youtube videos about how cooking through this method could be super easy and clean. I enjoy cooking but the cleaning up part is something that I dread. Hearing my friends rave about cooking with a sous vide machine made me look into various products. Other machines looked like little handles that you put in your own clear pot or whatever, and I guess that its nice that its portable...but I kept thinking, where the heck am I supposed to find a clear bin that won't melt? I guess I could've just bought the portable machines and used a pot, but that just seemed like too much work. Then, I looked at other machines, and it wasn't clear. You just put it in the machine and check on it hours later. Personally, I like visuals and so when I saw this machine, it had everything that I wanted. It came with the "clear bin" and it was just big enough to fit everything I wanted to fit in, and small enough for me to store away. Also, it looked like this product had a lot of solid reviews, so I trusted them. And, like the saying goes, "a poor man buys twice" -- so why not splurge on a nicer product?When I received the package, I was super excited. (Side note: they wrote a personal handwritten note stating that they hope I enjoy their product, which was a nice touch). I already knew I wasn't going to purchase a vacuum sealer and had my freezer ziploc bags ready to go (can't splurge too much). I had all the ingredients for my chicken and it was seriously so easy to assemble. Although the product didn't come with any ingredients or temperature guidelines (which would've been helpful) I was easily able to find recipes online.To be completely honest, I was super excited when I took out the chicken to eat. Personally for me though, I felt like the chicken tasted fake haha. My brother on the other hand kept raving about how moist it was and how he's never tasted chicken like it...but it took me a while to get used to it. I think its really preference, and I was just initially weirded out that the chicken wasn't stringy. But I guess that's the whole point of this method of cooking. I threw some in my pasta and it made me appreciate it more.After trying chicken, I tried cooking red meat, and oh my goodness!!! Melts in your mouth! I actually was more excited about cooking steak with this than the chicken because of the Gordon Ramsey video of cooking steak with a sousvant machine. But really, I was so impressed! I didn't want to use really nice steak in case I didn't like the texture, so I started off with sirloin, and it delivered. My brother was skeptical about it because he likes the sear to be thick, but I seared it after cooking it in the machine, and it was perfect for me. I guess it really is about personal preference.The biggest benefit I feel like for this machine is for meal prepping or just cooking in advance for the week. Its so easy just popping in a couple chicken breasts and cooking it, and taking it out of the bag and eating it throughout the week without spending more time or cleaning.

We’ve been cooking with this sous vide for about 3 weeks and I must say it has CHANGED OUR LIVES! Here are some notatable/tasteable differences with the sous vide which you can’t get with any other cooking method.1) Chicken breast: I am not a fan of chicken breast, as most people/restaurants tend to overcook them, making them dry and rubbery. But with the sousvant, its been a game changer. I never realized how moist and soft chicken breast can be! It MELTS in our mouth. For those who are curious: sousvide the chicken breast with a little bit of olive oil at 145 degrees for about 1-1.5 hours. Finish off with pepper and salt seasoning, and sear it 1 minute on each side on a hot cast iron skillet. You will never be able to eat chicken any other way again!2) Carrots: Again, not a fan of cooked carrots, they tend to always be undercook with very little flavor profile or overcooked with mushy texture. But with the sousvant, I was able to cook carrots just the way I like them, with a good mouth feel and bursting with flavor!3) Steak: My wife and I are pretty picky about our steaks and have been cooking our steak in our cast iron skillet for a while now and we’ve gotten pretty good at it too. So we had to attempt making a perfectly medium rare sous vide rib eye steak. It surpassed our expectations. Especially with steak cuts that are thick, it was able to cook through the steak in perfect medium rare fashion without overcooking the outside. It definitely takes the guess work out of cooking steak.4) Pork Belly: This saves me a lot in the amount of marinade I need versus the typical method of braising pork belly. I believe this would translate well with any marinated meats (short ribs). So far I’m still figuring out the timing but the past few attempts have been over 12 hours. Its come out delicious every time!Now, why the Sousvant compared to any other sous vide machine?- Easy to clean; just dump the water out!- The see-through, removable carafe allows you to see your food cooking (for those who are impatient and are curious) and it also allows you to fill up the water right from the sink and mount it on the circulator.- The top is handy for using it as a clip if you don’t have a vacuum sealer and are using a Ziploc bag.- It heats up a lot quicker than wand-type sous vide devices- Water bath is fully sealed and does not lose volume to evaporation- I have to admit that I am a huge fan of Tribest! Their customer service is always excellent and I knew that if I were going to run into problems with the machine, they would take care of it.Things that I think they can improve on:- I wish there was an alarm for when the water is at the right temperature. I’m usually doing something else while the water is heating up it’d be nice to know when it was ready.- Bluetooth or wi-fi connectivity in conjunction with a timer function.- A better repository of recipes; I had to figure out by looking up other recommendations and finding the right temperature/time by trial and error.Overall I am very happy with the Sousvant and would recommend it to any friend who wants a legitimate sous vide machine!