This review has been updated over time. The original portion follows:
August 2007:
I'm amazed at just how well this basic rice cooker does its job! It's easy to clean, can keep cooked rice hot for hours and is extremely easy to use. I shopped around and considered the higher priced models but decided to start with something inexpensive to see if a rice cooker was really an appliance I needed in my kitchen. This one does a great job for a very reasonable price and I'm so glad I didn't pay more. We're using it to cook Basmati rice (bought in bulk) and with this cooker it turns out perfect every time. It really does wonders to help stretch our food budget.
Added December 2009:
Still going strong after years of use and many batches of perfect rice later. I just bought another one and donated the old one to my grown step-daughter's post graduation era kitchen. One of our favorite "new" things to do is make Vigo's Yellow Rice mix. In fact, it's super easy to make ANY pre-packaged (and flavored) rice mix. Here's what you do: Open the rice package and pour it into a measuring cup. Note the measurement, then pour it into the cooker. Then measure the same amount of warm water PLUS one half cup and add to the cooker. (If there are 2 cups of contents from your package you need 2.5 cups of warm water.) Stir well to dissolve & distribute the spices/flavorings and then press start. It's that easy. By the way, you can also do the same method to cook pre-packaged beans & rice, such as the Read Beans and Rice that Vigo makes. It's really good!
Added October 2010:
From time to time I look at the more expensive models and while I'm sure they do things that would impress me, this cooker meets my needs admirably. Just last night it saved dinner. I'd been planning to serve leftovers but noticed that someone had already been at them, leaving little to split among our family members. I added 2 bags of Vigo Red Beans and Rice to the cooker along with 4 cups of water. Then I added a frozen package of cocktail wieners that I had in the freezer (not thawed). The result was a hit with the whole family, though admittedly it wasn't exactly one of our healthier meals. I was impressed that I could add frozen ingredients to the cooker and have such great results using only the most basic of rice cooker abilities. Yes, this cooker was a great buy for our family.
Added June 2011:
We are a year and a half into our second cooker and it still operates like it did brand new. We use it frequently and because we take care to clean and store it properly we can expect to get quite a lot more use out of it. One of the best parts about this cooker is that it is SIMPLE. The more complicated a thing is, the more likely it is that something will break. With few moving parts and a basic programming interface, this cooker is just about as simple as they come and is a pretty good kitchen investment. If you want to get a long life out of this machine, it will be important to make sure that you don't use metal utensils inside the pot as scratches develop over time that will ruin the finish.
Added December 2012:
We are still using the second cooker - it has been about 3 years. Our oldsters have mostly moved out so we don't make big batches of rice very often anymore. I do still use the machine any time I'm making rice because it cooks it right every time and it's easy to clean. (I put the pan in the dishwasher on the top shelf.) Our absolute favorite is yellow rice or saffron rice. I was happy to find that the cooker will do a good job cooking even in very small batches - such as the smallest yellow rice packages that Vigo sells that make just a couple of servings. It's true that the rice at the edge of the pan can brown a little, but honestly, this the very best part! If you like the corner pieces of brownies, you'll understand. It's the cook's portion. Kind of like how the captain of the ship gets to keep the cheeks of the halibut. Know what I mean?