My family is korean so the idea of using a rice cooker is not new to me. My mom got me this rice cooker and I love it! I love the pot inside, it is nice and durable - I've had mine for 4 years, through college, and it's still like new with no scratches or burns. I love the handle and retractable cord cause it becomes very portable and I can just take it to a picnic or for a potluck dinner without disturbing the contents. I also like the programming functions, and it makes it pretty fool-proof with the automatic shut-off and warming. The ONLY thing I don't like about it is I feel like I can't get the lid as clean as I would like to, Usually you can just wipe it with a sponge but I really want to take the lid apart to clean under it too. The best thing to cook in this cooker is rice & beans - it comes out flawless!

This is my third rice cooker and by far the best albeit the most expensive. I cooked brown rice perfectly on my first try! There was never any smell except the wonderful smell of rice cooking-similar to bread baking that waft through my kitchen. It REALLY kept the rice hot to warm for a couple of hours without drying it out at a dinner party buffet. Another plus was that it was a snap to clean since there was no boiling over experience that I had w/ my other 2 rice cookers. I also found the carry handle a great idea that I wish all similar shaped counter top appliances had. Based on my experience w/ this appliance I cannot understand the negative reviews-I love it and use it just as much for steel cut oatmeal as I do rice. I plan to make soup in it this winter.

Always wanted to try one of these and finally got one.

First of all, after a simple soap/water wash before using there was no chemical odor, even on first use, as some others have reported. None. The only odor was a pleasant cooked rice odor.

Have used it for un-washed white rice. It takes 40 minutes to cook 2 cups (dry) rice to perfection...slow. Texture is uch better than the boiling water rice steamer that we had been using (and that was highly rated by Consumer Reports). Keep warm feature is very nice.

This is a very nice device, but at $100 you better like rice a lot to justify the price.

I think that it is on the small side for steaming vegetables. As a soup slow-cooker, it is over kill as a crock pot can do the same job for a lot less money.

The scarey part is that there are other, even more expensive, rice cookers!

Rated it a 4 instead of a 5 only because price is high.

This machine is a real disappointment. I know it's half the cost of the Zojirushi's, but I'd say it's also half the quality. When I first saw that this has a sprouted rice setting, I got all excited thinking it was the same as the GABA rice setting on the Zojirushi IH cooker, which heats the rice at 104 degrees for 2 hours before cooking so that it begins to sprout, and makes a much healthier brown rice. Well, the first thing I noticed about the Sanyo is you have to sprout the rice BEFORE putting it into the machine, which is really dumb. But I figured I'd try cooking just regular brown rice in it to see how it turns out. Well, big let down again. For one thing there was a constant bubbling of liquid out the top, and the top of the machine gets REALLY hot. Then when the rice was done, I noticed the bottom of the rice was completely burned and all stuck together. And the taste wasn't all that great, and the texture was more chewy than it should be. Luckily I can send it back and get the more expensive Zojirushi machine. One more thing to be aware of if you do decide to buy this, there is a piece of paper under the bowl, make sure you remove it BEFORE you plug the unit in, because as soon as I plugged this one in it turned on to full heat without me even pressing any buttons. Oh, and the inner lid is made of aluminum, which may be a concern for some people trying to avoid aluminum cookware.

My cousin had this rice-cooker before and I know how great it worked. I purchased another one and still it never let me down.

Although it's kinda expensive for a rice-cooker, but it really worth. I bought a cheaper rice-cooker before, but it broke on the first time I use it.