Customer Reviews

Flavor Wave Oven Deluxe

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This product is great -- when it works. I'd cook frozen salmon steaks in 20 minutes (from frozen-solid to perfectly cooked), and it basically replaced my microwave oven.
However, the workmanship and customer service are terrible! My 1st unit broke after about a year and a half. I was informed that they don't repair the units, they only sell replacement units. So I spent $55 on a new Heater Control Unit (that's almost as much as the entire oven!).
Less than 3 months later, the brand new Heater Control Unit unit broke. This time, Customer Service informed me that the 1-year warranty only applies to the ORIGINAL, ENTIRE oven. So even though the Heater Control Unit was less than 3 months old, it didn't get its own 1-year warranty. And, since I didn't replace the entire oven (just the Heater Control Unit), the original 1-year warranty had expired.
Since my Flavorwave oven is now useless, I just threw it away with no intention of replacing it. Although it's great when it works, you're out of luck when it eventually breaks.
Too bad their customer service policies are so terrible, because the product itself is great.

I bought my first one and it was great but only lasted about 18 months. I bought a second one and it lasted only 15 months. I called Thane to see if I could get the part that failed and they told me that the part cost $13.00 but they could not sell it to me. I had to buy a new one. So, as good as this product performs, plan on buying a new one every few years. Or, ask them if you can get parts, if there is a failure, before you buy it. I am angry with this company and, even though it works well, I would never buy anything from Thane again.

I was skeptical at first - but now I do practically all of my cooking with this machine! Great tasting porkchops and steaks! The best thing is that yuo can cook FROZEN meats with this machine! You don't have to wait for anything to thaw out!

This is one of the best purchases I've made in a long time. Food is incredibly moist. My 16 year old son uses it to cook frozen burgers. It's very cool.

The only drag is that it takes up almost all of the dishwasher.

This is my second convection oven of this design. The other one, which I purchased years ago, the motor gave out, so I disposed of it.
The Flavorwave Deluxe works fairly well, but doesn't do everything that the company says.
My first gripe is, if you try to cook frozen food, like the infomercial says, it takes much much longer to cook, while they give you the impression that you can go from the freezer to the oven, that's true, but the cooking time increases greatly.

My second complaint, they tell you that it's not necessary for you to flip what your cooking, not true, you do need to flip, otherwise the bottom won't be properly cooked.

And last but not least, because there is not much heat circulating on the bottom, you can't cook frozen pizza in this oven, the bottom crust will not get brown and crispy, but will be soggy and raw.

If you flip your food, and allow extra time for food to cook, because their cooking times are not accurate, then this is a fairly good product.

This is my third convection. The first was a faberware I purchased at a garage sale but the fan motor died a few months later. The second was a Avanti mini kitchen; I gave that away (see my review) and the Thane is my third. My flavorwave oven was a gift from my brother & sister-in-law. She used it once to roast a chicken so never used it anymore (why she never said) so I brought it home and it sat on my kitchen for 2 months until my stove temperature control unit burned out and in a panic I was thinking what to do and staring me in the face was my Flavorware.

First off let me state I have not seen any of the infomercials on this product; so I do not have any expectations and which, I hope will make me more objective.

I believe this is the Deluxe model shown here. It looks just like mine. It comes with the Heater Control Assembly which attachés to a plastic Transparent Dome ( the dome can be removed for easy cleaning). The dome sits on a Glass Tray and all of that rests on the Base. A wire Dual Level Cooking Rack which has two different set of legs, one set is 1" high and on the other a set of 3" legs. A Dome Holder is included ( mine is missing) which allows dome and heater control to pivot open.

My first cooking adventure had mixed results. I cooked a thin crust pizza on the 3" legs and set the cooking temperature @ 375*. After a few minutes a saucer size of the topping did bake in the center of the pizza while the rest didn't. Puzzled, I contemplated on what I did wrong. A few days later I baked a "rising crust" thicker pizza on the 1" legs with much better results thought not perfect. The topping came out perfect but the pizza dough on the underside was not throughly cooked and was just a little to soft to pick up; but I felt I was making progress. My conclusion was to bake the next one on a slightly more reduced temperature. I did bake some of those biscuits in a tube at the recommend temperature and time of 375* on the label of the biscuits container and they came out just a little over done. The second attempt ( again on 1" legs) with a reduce temperature of about 9% or 355* turned out perfect. So I recommend do all baking on the 1" legs. Tonight I just baked some a package of chicken thighs in a coating mix for the first in my unit ( think it was 6 or 8 pieces which pretty much took up the entire rack space) on the higher level of 3" at full power of 400* for 20 minutes on one side and about 6 minuets on the other. Some reviewers say the infomercial says you don't have to turn your meat but yes you do. What I noticed on the higher rack setting (which was recommend in the recipe book which came with the Flavorwave) , some, not all, of the pieces of chicken on their outside half (of the skin) did not brown quite the same as the inside half which was crisper; this did not affect though, the meat which was nice and juicy and oh so tender. The next batch of chicken I will reduce the power or temperature to 375*; and what nice about the FlavorWave is it also eliminates time consuming preheating or defrosting

On full power of 400* the heating lamp pretty much stays on the entire cooking time while on any lower setting the heating unit reaches it desired temperature then goes off for a few seconds then come back on and so on. Kinda cool really to watch your food cook right in full view.

Now you may wonder why I gave this appliance a 5 star rating with such mixed results; because I giving it the benefit of the doubt. I'm not an accomplished cook by any stretch of the imagination and if you guessed I'm a single guy who eats to much prepared food then you are right on. I've lost interest in making and preparing meals for myself until the Flavorwave came along. Now I'm really exited. I went grocery shopping this morning and did not buy any prepared food ( had a lot of fun in the meat department).

So I thought what is a regular conventional oven? It is a metal box, that you have to preheat with X amount of cubic feet inside (which you have to preheat)used to heat food which is mostly only a X amount of cubic inches. Which begs the question, what is wrong with this equation. Conventional ovens are inefficient, waste energy and so 20Th century. A microwave cooks differently than a conventional oven (and cant brown meat) and the convection oven cooks differently then the two preceding. But back to the Flavorwave; I have come to the conclusion that with some trial and error ( not on it's fault) I will become more proficient with my unit as time goes on. Consider you have three variables in cooking with this unit. The hight of the rack, temperature and cooking time. I believe the convection is the wave of the future. It's a great unit for almost any family especially for the kids who are on their own in college etc. with limited space. But there is one looming issue yet resolved; durability. Many reviewers have complained about their units breaking down. Now this is only a theory on my part. The heating element which produces a tremendous heat in a short amount of time may break if it comes into any contact with the food it is cooking i.e. grease, food particles etc. so take all possible care that this does not happen; again its only a theory.

In closing, I'm delighted with my Flavorwave and if any new developments arise I will update this review. Give me my Flavorwave and Cuisinart Griddle Gourmet and I can take on the world.

UPDATE: Spoke to a Thane customer Rep and they said that this model will be phases out

I bought flavor wave oven deluxe about 2-3 years ago, I use it less than once a month. It works perfectly. now that the heat element does not work. I do not know where to have it fixed nor how much will it cost to be fixed. If this is the end of my oven , $ 150 that I paid for, compared to about 30 times of use, is a total loss. I cannot say yes or no since other might work but not mine.

My flavorwave quit working after 3 years. The halogen bulb was blown. I found one on ebay for 25 bucks. Easy to install, quick fix. It now works great again. Here is the link!!@! [...]

This product was not what it was represented to be. I have owned the actual flavor wave oven & I have owned this imitation. I found the quality to be inferior in this one & parts of lesser quality were used to justify its less expensive price tag. Most notable was a plastic cover to supplement a skimpy glass bottom---which is a complete glass bowl in the actual flavor wave to cook in. The plastic is not durable doesn't last long.

This product worked okay for me. The ads should not make such a big deal about cooking frozen food because that was my worst experience with the oven. Does a good job on most thawed foods. Cooks quickly, browns nicely. I would not recommend buying it to cook a frozen chicken if you have a bad temper. You will need to break something to vent your disappointment.