Kitchen Gizmo Sous Vide Immersion Cooker - Cook with Precision, 800 Watt Grey Circulator Stick with Touchscreen Control Panel and Safety Feature - Bonus Recipe Book Included

Sous vide cooking is amazing and you should definitely try it if you haven't already, but this review is about the product, not the style of cooking. To sum it up, I have been quite pleased with this device. The display is large and bright, the clip seems to grip fine to the pots I've used it on so far, and it's very easy to use. The ease of use is actually one of the things I'm most happy about because I was going back and forth trying to decide between this and the Gourmia GSV140 and many people commented on how difficult and non-intuitive that one was to use. The Kitchen Gizmo, on the other hand, is so easy to use that I used it the first time without even reading the instructions. Every button flashes in sequence when it's time to press it (setting the timer, pressing the power button to start it, etc.). The only thing I had trouble figuring out is that you have to hold the power button for 3 seconds to turn it off (but unplugging it works too!). Another nice thing (for someone living in the US anyway) is that it defaults to Fahrenheit, but if you want to change it to Celsius it will retain that setting the next time you turn it on, whereas the Gourmia defaults to Celsius and you have to press two buttons simultaneously to change it every time. One thing I was concerned about when deciding between the Gourmia and this one was that this one operates at 800W and the Gourmia operates at 1200W. I was thinking I would have to wait a significant amount of time longer to get the water up to temperature. Let me tell you, that is not something you need to be concerned about. I found that if I simply fill up a pot with hot water from the faucet, the temperature is already so close to where I need it that it only takes literally about 2 minutes to get it up to the right level (138 degrees when cooking a steak, for example). I'm not sure how well it would do if starting with cold water or if using a much larger container, but for my needs (cooking for 2) this works great. There's one minor drawback I've found, which is that it doesn't beep when the water has reached the target temperature. But again, this really isn't much of a problem because it gets to temperature so fast (as long as you start with hot water from the faucet) that it will be ready by the time you finish getting your meat seasoned and vacuum sealed. And it does beep when the timer runs out by the way.

I looked into Sous Vide many years ago, but at that time it was an expensive and space-consuming thing to get into. The lure of thick, perfectly cooked steaks from edge-to-edge just wasn't strong enough for the dent in the counter space and the wallet. Fast forward to the modern kitchen, and we now have immersion heating wands like the Kitchen Gizmo that, when compined with a simple stockpot, can provide the benefits of Sous Vide at a reasonable cost of entry and takes very little space to store. I am really impressed with the quality and simplicity of the Kitchen Gizmo heater. The controls are straightforward, it does a great job of heating and circulating water, and gives a nice loud alert when it is finished with the timed cook. I have made chicken, pork, and yes, that elusive 2" thick steak that came out perfectly - once seared on a hot cast iron pan it was one of the best steaks I have ever had, something I would consider restaurant quality. And yet it was also the most simple steak I have ever made. It's practically foolproof. There are other immersion heaters on the market with more features such as bluetooth connectivity, but honestly, I can't see why I would need that - this is pretty much a "set it and forget it" style of cooking. At this price point the Kitchen Gizmo is a great buy.

Update 2019: Company sent me a brand new unit for free. Happy again. UPDATE: OCTOBER 2018. Regrettably, I had to return and change my review. About a month ago, I went to use my beloved Gizmo and noticed the bottom clear plastic piece had come off of the unit. Assuming it had somehow become dislodged (no idea how) I tried to put it back on. No luck. The part that latches onto the unit is broken. It can not be reattached. Bummer. So I emailed the company to find out if they could sell me a replacement part.... Crickets...... Then I emailed again and left a message with the Chat feature on the website..... Crickets.... Nothing. I then tried to see if the unit would work (hoped it was just a cosmetic thing). Nope. Will not work. It actually errors out. The plastic piece apparently needs to be on in order for the unit to work. I believe it has something to do with the spinner that ciruclates the water. So now I am totally PO'd. I just bought in April and loved it. I have the Chefsteps Joule and actually prefer the Kitchen Gizmo. But if the Gizmo is inoperable and the company has no solution after 4 or 5 months, I cannot recommend it or leave a rating of 5 stars. I live alone. I guess it is technically possible the cleaning woman banged it when she was cleaning but I doubt it. I am wondering if the heat of the unit caused the plastic latches to break on that bottom clear piece. Either way, I am not happy. I wanted to buy another Sous Vide "stick" but I will look elsewhere. I have friends who have asked me about the Gizmo and I have told them the same. All this could have been solved by a return email from the company. I wasn't even looking for a freebie. I was going to pay for the part. What a shame. ORIGINAL REVIEW Received this about a week ago and I have used it a half dozen times already. I am new to sous vide cooking but having a blast trying out different things. So far, I have made steaks, boneless chicken breast, eggs and pork ribs. I have been watching tons of videos to pick up tips. I would like to try a tougher cut of beef to see how that turns out but have not found anything thick enough in the supermarkets (I live in México). When I visit the US I will bring it with me to try out some flank steak or plain old chuck steak. I have made sirloin and, honestly, it was almost too tender after just over an hour. I like some bite in my meat which is why I might seek out a different cut. The eggs were great. I have been on a quest to conquer the not too runny egg and the KG has helped me achieve that. I noticed that flavors are enhanced with this type of cooking and much less seasoning is needed. I popped in some smashed garlic with my steaks and chicken and the results were incredible. Who doesn't love concentrated garlic flavor??? The KG is a solid piece of equipment that seems to be well made. I purchased a12 L container and lid that are suggested on Amazon but the lid just fits OK. It is actually a lid for the Anova. Oh well. BTW I am going to purchase another immersion cooker, the Chef Steps Joule, as I now realize I need to be able to make different things at the same time. My KG was tied up for 24 hours so no eggs for breakfast this morning!! I have not tried the Anova so I can't say that this one is better or worse. The Joule will allow me to have one cooker that is connected and one that is not. That is good enough for me. I recommend this product.

I loved this sous vide machine so much that I bought a second one after a few months. It's very easy to use, and it maintained proper temperatures for extended periods of time (roast for +36 hours). It has one fatal design flaw, though, which is why I gave it one star. The bottom plastic piece that covers the motor has three lips that lock into place. These small plastic pieces break very easy. After about a year, I noticed they were wearing and breaking off. I've reached out to the company multiple times by phone and email, and haven't received a response. I would be willing to pay for replacement of this part if the company would offer. I've since had to throw one of the machines away, and my second one is on it's last leg. I love the cooking method, though, and am going with another brand next time.

I've had the Kitchen Gizmo immersion circulator for two years now and can say that I have been more than pleased. I chose this over the Anova 800W as that is more expensive merely due to the inclusion of bluetooth, which I find to be wholly superfluous for sous vide cooking. While the Kitchen Gizmo at 800W is not the most powerful circulator you can buy, I've found it to be more than adequate for consumer-level needs. I regularly test the water temp with my Thermapen and have yet to find it differ from the setting by even a degree Fahrenheit. The small pump on the bottom of the unit is as quiet as can be while simultaneously keeping the temperature uniform throughout. I've only used the Kitchen Gizmo in a stock pot, so I can't speak to its ability to maintain a uniform temperature when in a larger box. Another great feature I've found is the ease of cleaning heating elements and pump. The outside cylinder unscrews with a simple turn, revealing the coils underneath. The one large criticism I have for this immersion circulator is the controls. The buttons are incredibly difficult to press and the interface doesn't make much sense to me. Nonetheless, it's not really an important factor as when cooking sous vide, it's pretty much set it and forget it. With two years of use so far, my Kitchen Gizmo works like new. At its current price point, I can't recommend it enough, especially over the Wancle, which seems to be its main competitor for consumer immersion circulators not carrying superfluous features like wifi and bluetooth.

It is a lot bigger in person than it might seem in the pictures. About the same size as my forearm. Not hard to use, just push the power button once to turn it on, press the set button to adjust your temperature with a dial on the side, press set again and use the same dial to adjust your time and lastly press power again and off it goes. The unit displays the current temperature of the water you are using afterwards so you know when it's time to drop in your bag of goodies. I didn't try to get too fancy on my first attempt. I used a little plastic bucket and the water was ready in about 5-6 minutes. I dropped in three skewers of shrimp, three tablespoons of butter, two cloves of garlic and a dash of salt into a zip lock bag and dunked it down in the water to get the air out leaving just a crack of the bag open above water to let the air escape. To make sure the bag stayed fully immersed I weighted it down with a knife and let it cook at 135 degrees for 25 minutes. The recipe said it could go up to an hour but needed to be at least 20 minutes. It rendered perfectly cooked, tender and succulent shrimp with just the right amount of snap. And there is just no shrinkage. The sous vide cooker did a fine job and I can't wait to do a brisket with it. Couldn't be more pleased with this unit.

Pros: shorter, with greater slope of face, so a short person does not have to stand on a stool to see the controls. Love the dial. When finally set up, works fine. I like that it is slightly smaller than my other sous vide tool. And it was very inexpensive, so possibly worth the hassle described below if you're not sure about sous vide but want to give it a try. Cons: The "buttons" are not really buttons, but some kind of conductance deal where it senses your finger, but not very well. Result: very difficult to set the controls. Have to keep touching it and touching it until it finally senses my finger. Terrrible! I sent the first one back because I could never get it to advance to the next setting. Another "con": the demonstration video shows a person using it, but does not show HOW to use it. I would have appreciated some tips on how to get it to sense my finger and actually advance from on/off to temp control to time control to cook. The company replaced it immediately, that was great. The second one worked a little better (I could occasionally get it to sense my finger) but still very frustrating to use the controls. USER HINT: use a tea kettle from the stove to add hot water to get the water bath up to the desired temperature. It will take all day if you rely on the tool to heat cold water. This hint applies to any sous vide tool.

I am new to Sous Vide cooking, I have seen lots of cooking shows where they made all these delicious dishes but I was a little apprehensive about actually spending money on one. I had looked a few times but decided I didn't want to spend that much money. Then I saw the Kitchen Gizmo one for under $100 and it had good reviews and seemed easy enough to use, so I finally ordered one. I ordered it from Amazon prime and received it in 2 days. It was in a nice box and the directions were easy to follow. It also came with a small recipe book and approx times to cook different things. I started off with something easy and inexpensive and went from there. A cheese omelet. I plugged the unit in and it came right on. I turned the dial to the temperature I wanted and then to the time. I did make a mistake but quickly caught myself. I set it for 41 hrs instead of minutes-I'm sure the eggs would not have been so good after 41 hrs. LOL . Making an omelet was as easy as putting it in a pan but using a bag instead made cleanup so much easier. I cracked the eggs, added a drop of butter, some cheese and sealed up the bag. I cooked it at the temperature and length of time the book instructed and went about my business. It does take a while to cook things, so you need to be patient. When the timer was up it beeped. I went in and took the bag out of the water and put the omelet on a plate. It was so creamy and delicious I was amazed and excited to try more. Next I decided to make Salmon with vegetables. Everything is so easy to get ready. Just put your ingredients in a bag, close it and put into the water. When the timer was up it beeped and our dinner was ready. I put everything in separate bags and just had to open the bags. Salmon was cooked perfectly, the mushrooms and baby bok choy were just how we like it. The zucchini could have been a bit more done for us but it was still delicious. Oh and the cleanup is SOOOO easy. Just throw the bags away and your done. I love it. I also made over night oatmeal which was really really good and again, as easy as filling a bag with ingredients, getting a pot of water, putting the machine on the temperature and time you want and go to bed. What could be easier?. Only down side I can see and it's on all the Sous Vide machines is that it takes a long time to cook. It's like a slow cooker in that you have to plan in advance and just go with it. I am looking forward to cooking more and more things and experimenting more. I may buy a container for it as I can just keep it on my counter while it's cooking and not in a pot. Overall I LOVE IT.