Costco is offering in some stores this Zojirushi Micon NS-WSC10 5.5-cup rice cooker for $89.99... bought one in Houston area over Thanksgiving for my sister-in-law... performed very well... Saw the same unit at my local store in El Paso today...
Very similar to the
NS-WRC10 unit sold at Amazon [amazon.com], but that cooker lacks the Gaba brown mode of the Costco unit...
Yes, this is made in China, but for $90 its a great value from a very reputable brand... a definite step-up from those cheap $30 cylinders (aka Aroma, etc.) you get at Walmart...
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The Panasonic I have still works great. Very similar design to this one. The Panasonic would keep going if it wasn't for this wire that wraps around the hinge. With repeated opening and closing, that wire keeps breaking, and throws an error code and will not work. I've fixed it 3 times already, only a matter of time before that wire breaks again, and it's not going to survive another surgery. The Panasonic was Made in Japan, so I was a bit surprised by this design flaw when it first failed.
I see a couple of organized big mouths from japan here.
First of all, cheap labor doesn't bring quality work, that's simple. I'm an engineer and I've traveled around a bit and visited some manufactures.
Big brands might have better quality procedures and also quality sources for their parts. Smaller businesses buy parts from different sources and.... good luck with that. In China you can find a piece of junk that stops working right after the seller releases it, or if you're lucky, it might work for a little while... beside all kinds of lethal chemicals they use. so think about it.
Do more research or have more experience in the real world.
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I see a couple of organized big mouths from japan here.
Re the health comment, I'm staying on topic.
To the person implying that the coating on this rice cooker induces autism in children, I think that is a little harsh and unwarranted - and definitely not productive to this thread. We all understand that you are trying to point out a POTENTIAL health hazard, but your position is poorly supported and does more damage than benefit.
No offense, but even if some materials in this product were sub-par, the microscopic amounts getting into your system probably have a negligible effect on child autism. Intentionally delaying child birth into your 40s so you can pursue a career and do other things in life according to your timing and convenience probably has a 100X impact on child autism versus this rice cooker. Let's not forget the decisions we make and take personal accountability for.
Do more research or have more experience in the real world.
We have some plants that are better than others - really depends on the local leadership and their management of the workers... We have world-class plants in China, but we also have world-class plants throughout the world... Generalizations like "Chinese made crap" are uneducated and do not represent reality... Any company in any place in the world is capable to be world-class or crap - just depends on the company and their abilities/policies to produce good quality products regardless of the location...
Again, as I stated previously I believe Zojirushi to be a good company with good products... Would I prefer a unit built in one of their Japanese facilities - sure... but they seem to reserve that production for their higher-end units (has to be - they are the ones with sufficient margins to afford the higher cost to produce in Japan)... For 90 bucks you're not going to get a Japanese built unit from Zojirushi, but that doesn't mean that all their China produced units are crap either...
I own several Zojirushi products (rice cookers, bread makers, water boilers, etc.)... Many are made in Japan, but a few are not... They've all performed to exceed my expectations... I purchased and used the rice maker in this thread several weeks ago... for the money it was well-built and performed very well - a great value... Was it as nice as my induction-heating Zojirushi? Nope - bowl was not as heavy duty, the inner removable lid was not as robust, no removable cord, etc... But it didn't cost $250 either, so you have to align your expectations to what you're paying...
I won't delve into the arguments regarding the bowl coating... most kitchens contain many pieces of cookware with "non-stick" coatings... making this rice cooker a scapegoat for the sins of all other culprits is silly...
If you're looking for a good overall rice cooker (which is capable of so much more than a $30 rice steamer) and you don't want to break the bank, then I'd highly recommend you consider this unit...
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Very similar to the NS-WRC10 unit sold at Amazon [amazon.com], but that cooker lacks the Gaba brown mode of the Costco unit...
Yes, this is made in China, but for $90 its a great value from a very reputable brand... a definite step-up from those cheap $30 cylinders (aka Aroma, etc.) you get at Walmart...
I dare someone here to buy both of these units at costco and prove me wrong
edit: Here is a Cook's Illustrated [cooksillustrated.com] thing but it requires a login. Pictured is an Aroma cooker but I would be curious what their actual results are. If anyone has a login and can print the page as PDF that would be awesome
another comparison [pressurecookerportal.com] which does rate three Zojirushi models ahead but Aroma as #4. With the Aroma costing $30 and the three other models costing $140 - $215 I don't know why anyone wouldn't seriously consider the Aroma if it rates nearly as well.