Looking into buying a sous vide cooker. Looking for your experiences cooking with a sous vide cooker and what brands/specific cookers you would recommend.

I also have an Anova. It has worked perfectly for me. The only issue I had was that the plastic collar on my clamp broke, but I sent customer service an email and they sent me a new one no questions asked within a few days. Great produce, great service.

Also, I have to mention that you missed two of the best deals I've ever seen on a sous vide within the last week. LINK

I'd go Joule or Anova. I picked the Joule for the following reasons:

• Smaller (Kitchen space is at a premium)
• Weighs about 50% less (I use it at tailgates, so every pound of a haul matters)
• Heats 40 liters compared to 20 liters on the Anova - I don't use that much regularly but have for parties and tailgate. 40 liters is basically my small yeti
• High Wattage 1100 compared to 800, primary benefit above but it also heats faster, from a review "To test out just how much less, I heated two buckets of water (4 liters each) from room temperature (around 72 F) to 132.8 F (the temperature recommended for cooking a steak medium-rare). The Joule got there in about 10 minutes, and the Anova took twice as long. The Joule also has a slightly higher maximum volume and a slightly wider immersion range"
• Sexier hardware and software, the Anova app is much slicker quote I agree with from a review "Like the hardware before it, the software for the Joule is a little sexier too. In addition to letting you set temperature and time based on recipe, the Joule has a "visual doneness" scale for most foods, letting you cook an egg based on how you would like the white and yolk to look, rather than using words. You can also choose "fresh" or "frozen" for your meats, meaning you can chuck a steak in straight from the freezer."

It is more expensive and relies on you have a smarty device which are the primary cons I found.

I have the Anova and love it. My friends have the Joule and I'd spend the extra for it if I was buying a circulator today. I gave my mom a circulator for Christmas and got her the Anova, but she probably wouldn't perceive the difference if she had both.

I like both my discontinued Nomiku and the bluetooth Anova. I mostly use the Nomiku only because

I got it first
the hole I cut in the lid of my Cambro box fits it and
it's a little shorter so it isn't as tight a fit under our cabinets, which are lower than most.

I've used the Anova and it's fine. My friends who have them love them.

But if I was buying my first one today I'd get the Joule. In addition to all the reasons Keeper mentioned, the magnetic base is cool.

I have an Anova and a Joule. They're both great, but if I could only pick one, it's be the Joule. It has more features and doesn't have the temperature misread issue that the Anova has (if steam or hot air get in the vent of the unit it can cause it to read higher than actual temps). The Anova issue is avoidable if your water bath is adequately covered. If you like to Anova, I think monoprice has a similar version that may be worth checking out.

Also, I'd recommend getting a cambrio.

I picked joule over anova because of the wattage

Keeper of The Spirits said:

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I'd go Joule or Anova. I picked the Joule for the following reasons:

• Smaller (Kitchen space is at a premium)
• Weighs about 50% less (I use it at tailgates, so every pound of a haul matters)
• Heats 40 liters compared to 20 liters on the Anova - I don't use that much regularly but have for parties and tailgate. 40 liters is basically my small yeti
• High Wattage 1100 compared to 800, primary benefit above but it also heats faster, from a review "To test out just how much less, I heated two buckets of water (4 liters each) from room temperature (around 72 F) to 132.8 F (the temperature recommended for cooking a steak medium-rare). The Joule got there in about 10 minutes, and the Anova took twice as long. The Joule also has a slightly higher maximum volume and a slightly wider immersion range"
• Sexier hardware and software, the Anova app is much slicker quote I agree with from a review "Like the hardware before it, the software for the Joule is a little sexier too. In addition to letting you set temperature and time based on recipe, the Joule has a "visual doneness" scale for most foods, letting you cook an egg based on how you would like the white and yolk to look, rather than using words. You can also choose "fresh" or "frozen" for your meats, meaning you can chuck a steak in straight from the freezer."

It is more expensive and relies on you have a smarty device which are the primary cons I found.

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Mind me asking what food/recipes you sous vide for tailgate?

Another happy Joule owner

Happy Joule owner here. I have only tried steaks so far. What else does it perform well with?

I've got a Joule, only had it about a month (in fact I started a similar thread a few weeks ago,) and I think the best thing it cooks, at least as far as how different it is when you normally cook it is chicken. I don't think I even realized how juicy a perfectly cooked chicken breast could be until now.

It's also absolutely killer with fish which is usually hard to cook because it overheats so easily.

Mother in law has an Anova and it's good too though. The only con to the Joule is like someone else said, you HAVE to use the app on your phone. It's not a huge deal obviously, but you can't adjust the temperature or anything on the device itself like you can the Anova.

The Joule app is great though too. I consider myself a pretty good cook so I don't use the recipes and stuff all that much, but it has like step-by-step instructions (with video) for people that don't cook as much.

https://slickdeals.net/f/11922915-gourmia-gsv138-1200w-sous-vide-immersion-circulator-60-free-shipping

For the tailgate,I often smoke briskets and pork butts the day before, separate the flat from the point, vacuum seal, refrigerate them and use the sous vide to bring them to 165.

I also have done 40 burgers at once, held them at temp and then just seared them as people wanted them.

More for ease of use than anything but a sous vide is really the best way to reheat bbq. It surprisingly enough maintains the bark nicely and alllows me the opportunity to crush Coors Light and walk gameday instead of manning the fire