ChefSteps 4186JW120B Joule Sous Vide, 1100 Watts, All White, 11 x 1.9 x 1.9"

While just a bit more expensive than some other sous vide machines, it came highly recommended from a chef friend. It's easy to use, heats-up water quickly, maintains good, cooking temp of the water, and has a great phone app for monitoring your cooks - it has never lost connectivity! I have done absolutely wonderful steaks, and even beef tenderloin, sous vide. It's so awesome, as you can NOT overcook your meat! You set the water to the target temp of your meat, and once it reaches temp, you put your vacuum sealed meat in the hot water bath (I vacuum seal the meat, as you do NOT want water getting to the meat, and washing off all your rub / spices), and allow it to cook for the recommended time for the specific meat being cooked. The meat cannot be cooked over the target temp set! So, let's assume your cook was supposed to be for two hours, to reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and you forgot to remove the meat from the sous vide bath in time - let's say you were an hour late taking it out! You meat will be at the desired 130 degrees, as that was the temperature of the water! You can't overcook the meat! NOTE: leaving meat in a sous vide bath beyond suggested cooking times / EXTENDED time, can result in a texture change in the meat (e.g. - leaving a tenderloin in the sous vide for 3 hours, or more, which is about 1 - 1.5 hours beyond the suggested cooking time, could make the meat feel less firm than it would otherwise be!). After I do steaks / tenderloin to the perfect temp, I finish the meat on the grill for a few minutes a side, to get a nice sear / some charring on the outside, and a little BBQ / grilling flavor. I've had so many people tell me the steaks and tenderloin I make are the best all around meat they have even eaten! I'd highly recommend the Breville Joul sous vide unit.

Unit refuses to connect to Bluetooth OR Wireless. Followed all instructions for both - no luck. Had to update the firmware on my router, reinstall the app, update to the latest ios, blah, blah, blah. Still no luck. Their troubleshooting is all canned, and this unit was not behaving like any of their "IF THIS" scenario's. I am an early adopter, and had problems connecting the first one I ordered directly from them - and it eventually connected to my phone, tablet and wi-fi network. The first one works - and was ready to go. It was connected to my iphone The second one was purchased this week to allow me to do white and dark meat turkey simultaneuosly - and - refuses to connect to the very same phones and network - led is flashing colors patterns which require customer support - which is gone for the week - the day before Thanksgiving! I sous vide'd my Turkey last year, and it was great. Due to the connectivity issues, this is going back to amazon. I am in the food industry and have about 6 friends who purchased this unit based on my recommendation - do yourself a favor, skip the gimmicky bs of this unit, and buy a different brand with controls and readouts on board - you'll thank yourself. Sous Vide is great, and when my first one actually connects, it's great. However - check the negative reviews - and be prepared for connection issues and zero customer service support. Cooking my Turkey in an oven this year, and am not very happy about it.Update.Turns out - we did have a defective unit.Chef Steps had a resolution for us the next day - Amazon took the defective unit back with their usual efficiency - crediting my card once the package was scanned at a UPS drop point.Chef Steps responded the next morning and then replaced the unit - which was nice.At the end of the day - I like the Joule - it's quiet - works great - and is fast. I like the app for the phone. It's all very intuitive and works well - once it's connected. This frustrated me because - 1. I have one which I use frequently so my expectations were clear - and - 2. I took this out of the box expecting it to work like my other one and I left no time to work out any issues - so I wound up being stuck when I got a bad one. Given the timing of this - I couldn't go back and do the whole turkey with one unit as I did last year - (which was amazing) - I hadn't allotted enough time for that. So - I guess that's partly my fault. At the end of the day - Chef Steps "stepped up" and went beyond reasonable expectations - and that's important, as every once in awhile there will be unforeseen problems and it really is how they're handled that matters. Give yourself a few extra days before you plan to use this to make sure it's ready and it's an amazing unit.

Ok, I just got the Joule a few days ago, as an anniversary present from my wife, so this is, obviously, my early experience with it.First, it does look good. But, more importantly it works wellIt was very easy to connect to my wifi and bluetooth and, right after doing so, updated itself flawlessly.I had downloaded the Alexa skill for voice command (ok, I admit to be a tech junkie) and it, too, worked without a problem.It does heat very quickly...... yesterday I timed it at slightly less than 14 minutes to heat an almost full 6 quart pot to 155 degrees F (starting temp of the water was 74 degrees)I checked the water temperatures both times I used it with my instant read thermometer and found it to be within 2 or three tenths of a degree of the setting.First thing I cooked in it was a tilapia recipe I found on the site of that "other manufacturer" ;-)I cooked it at 135 degrees for almost two hours to see if it was possible to overcook the fish.It wasn't and my wife thought it deliciousThen last night I made my world famous.... ok, family famous... marinara sauce and both sweet and hot Italian sausage.As another experiment I cooked the sweet sausage directly from frozen at 155 degrees for 3 hours (again based on something I found on that other website).Then threw them on the grill for 3 minutes per side to brown themMy wife, 14 yr old grandson, and 7 yr old (oops, excuse me, "almost 8 yrs old") granddaughter said they were the best ever. Quite juicy.Now, in case anyone thinks they just said that to make me feel good............ er, you need to meet my grandchildren :-)Both cooks were done in 1 gallon Ziplock bags using the water displacement method of clearing the air. And both bags were clipped to the side of the pot with the food being totally submerged..Now if we could only afford a nice thick steak to test it with :-)Bottom line..... I really like the thing so far....... the only problem I would foresee is the obvious one that I can not cook different things requiring different temperatures at the same time....... such as vegetables and meat.More later perhaps as I gain more experience with itCiao.......... and chow!Update evening 8 April:OK, did boneless chicken breasts, at least two inches thick at their largest, from frozen. Cooked at 149 degrees, and ended up about 3 1/2 hours since my wife, who caught a bug, feel asleep....... and being a loving, wonderful husband (ahem, ahem) I let her sleep.I had thrown in some rosemary leaves and thyme (both dried) and a bit of EVOO (of course, I am Italian!). When my wife awakened I took the chicken out of the water, browned it in some butter, and then made a simple pan sauce with more butter, thyme, rosemary, and, of course white wine (er, did I mention that I was Italian? ;-) )The chicken was still quite juicy and firm even after that amount of time, (time, not Thyme) and was delicious.I really love this style of cooking but will, of course, still use my grill and my electric smoker. But there is no doubt that sous vide lives up to its hype!(oh, and if you are tired of hearing my comments....................... never mind, I try never to be rude :-) )