Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker, 5.5-Cup, Premium White

Received used/returned unit with paper towel and residual

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2018

Rice Cooking function is good as expected. However, I'm upset because I paid for new unit and received a used/retuned unit with paper towel insert and cooking residual.

I decided to keep it but post a review here to remind the seller on their business ethics.

571 people found this helpful

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CDubya

Best Rice Ever.

Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2018

Size: 5.5-CupVerified Purchase

Okay, I lived in Japan for 10+ years, and have been visiting there for over 30 years, so I have eaten a lot of rice in my time. In all honesty, I'm not even that crazy about rice. Being a former baker, I much prefer bread, and over all this time have always thought that rice is rice, you know what I mean?

Since I moved back to the U.S. about five years ago, I used a cheap rice cooker/steamer/yogurt maker from Costco. It did the job, and cooked rice fairly adequately. It died on me last year, though, and my wife BEGGED me to buy a quality rice cooker to replace it. Though a cheapskate at heart, I'm also a big softie, so after spending hours online researching rice cookers in English and Japanese, we settled on the 5.5 cup model of this one. It lacks all the bells and whistles of higher end suihanki, but it has high reviews, the most modern technology and design features to cook rice well, and Zojirushi is one of the most trusted brands in Japan.

As much as I have wanted to believe that my wife was over finicky about rice (typical male?), I am not too proud to admit when I am wrong. I was so wrong - the rice that this appliance cooks is truly phenomenal! Whereas the rice in the previous cooker had soft and hard spots - some rice overcooked and some undercooked - the rice from this one is uniformly consistent. Each grain comes out glossy and chewy, with just the right amount of stickiness.

If you want to make any popular Japanese dishes, from the lowly onigiri (rice balls), to sushi - everything turns out more delicious with rice from this cooker. I truly don't understand how there can be such an immediate, explicit difference in the quality of the cooked rice. We use the same exact brand of rice every time, and my wife doesn't even use any of the "fancy" features on the device - she just hits "quick rice."

Nearly two hundred dollars may seem like an exorbitant amount to spend on a one-trick pony appliance like this (especially considering our bread machine was only around 50 bucks). Rest assured, though, this is money well spent. I cannot recommend this rice cooker enough.

337 people found this helpful

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Michael

Stick to it like...

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2015

Size: 10-CupVerified Purchase

Whenever I buy a new kitchen item, I tend to do a ridiculous (unhealthy?) amount of research. I research to the point that I go in circles for months trying to determine what is the absolute best item in the category of whatever I'm currently interested in. As a result, I can end up convincing myself I absolutely need the greatest tin foil ever invented and then I have to take a step back, get a grip, and start over with more realistic expectations.

In the case of the Zojirushi, I immediately felt buyer's remorse after I submitted the purchase (but wait, I don't regret a thing). I had only recently begun playing around with Asian cuisine and decided I needed a rice cooker. My only prior rice experience was burning rice to the bottom of a cheap pot or throwing one of those bags of Uncle Ben's into boiling water. I KNOW a relatively cheap rice cooker would have probably done the trick but my aforementioned ridiculously tedious research kept bringing me back to the Zojirushi and, more specifically, to this model (with the "Neuro Fuzzy" technology. I got the 10 cup version only because I imagined myself cooking for large groups of people (hasn't actually happened yet).

Ok, so, here is what I've found: This thing is awesome... not like cure a disease awesome, but pretty darn great. I followed the basic directions and made brown rice for my first use. It came out perfect. I didn't rinse the rice, I didn't do anything special... I just dumped the rice and water in, pressed the button, and perfect brown rice resulted. Since then, I do a lot more sushi rice and jasmine rice which also come out perfect. I like it sticky so I tend to add more than the recommended amount of water. I've steamed vegetables in it as well (with a stainless steamer placed inside - I know, I'm probably destroying the coating on the bowl) and that works flawlessly as well.

So often, I order things online and they might be good, they might be okay, they might be terrible... but rarely do I get exactly what I hoped for. The Zojirushi NS-ZCC18 joins my Wusthof Classic Ikon Knives and KitchenAid Mixer as the only items that truly lived up to the hype.

-Mike

P.S. The only teensiest gripe is that I could do without the odd Hello Kitty-like alarm that goes off when the rice is done... but it's not too loud, so I'll live. ;)
P.P.S. A master Asian chef I know (just a great home cook, really) berated me for hours about the need to wash/rinse the rice first. I have since started doing it before placing in the Zoji... does it make a difference? I'm not sure... but it's better than getting yelled at in Chinese.

650 people found this helpful

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Ski9

Great for people who like many rice varieties

Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2019

Size: 5.5-CupVerified Purchase

I just bought this older model in 2019. It seems very successful because it's been manufactured for a long time, and still it is listed as a "current" model on Zojirushi's website. I don't regret the purchase because it is probably best for me in the 1 liter (5.5 cup) range (same for 1.8 L), but as I note below, it has some downsides that made me a little disappointed. I was interested in the spherical heating element, the handles on the inner bowl, the extended keep-warm function, the retractable power cord, and the many varieties of rice settings. I would recommend something cheaper and/or newer if you mostly want to use it for white rice. But if you like a variety of rices, including different degrees of "brown-ness" and hardness then this is really one of the best in this price range, I think. That's probably why the model has stuck around for so long. BUT, the newer models have a "steam" function which this does NOT. So, the current description on Amazon's page for the item is WRONG. A similar, newer "Made in Japan" model for roughly same price (with removable cord, and fewer rice varieties, and newer steam vent design) does have "Steam" function and the description for the two is incorrectly duplicated here. I am still glad I got this one.

I have a 3 cup Zojirushi, the NS-LAC05 that I bought about 10 years ago, which is very similar to the current NS-LGC05 and NS-LHC05, and I wanted a bigger one. My 3-cup cooker is made in China like most Zojirushi models, and if you want this "Neuro-Fuzzy" because it is "Japanese," then in my experience that's a bad reason to choose a Zojirushi model. (Incidentally, my old cooker also had "Neuro-Fuzzy written on the manual cover, so that is not a tech unique to this model.) They are all Japanese (just like iPhone is not a "Chinese" phone, just expertly assembled there -- so to that extent, yes it is Chinese). You just pay extra for the "Made in Japan" prominently printed on front, for no good reason. Or rather, a very bad reason, because my older cooker seems like more high-quality construction. This one is in some ways less thoughtfully made, to make up for the more expensive cost of labor, is my guess. For example, when you open the door, you can see exposed screws, and exposed inside of the plastic part of the lid, which does not look nice. The Chinese-made models have an extra piece of plastic to cover up the screws and makes the inside look nice. I care about aesthetics and details like that. And I like to leave the lid open much of the time, with inner lid gently placed on the bowl, when the cooker is not in use because it seems better for the gaskets, plus it airs things out. But this model looks too unpleasant that way so I will probably keep it closed. (Not sure whether open or closed is best for the gasket, or if it matters.) Also, my 3-cup model has nice metal parts on the outside, and this one is all plastic, although nice smooth high-quality plastic. And the lid-opening button is nicer and possibly sturdier on the Chinese-made models. But the thing I like the most about my 3-cup one over this model is the steam vent. I think it is an advancement over this older model. It has an upper compartment to collect the extra moisture, so there is an additional cover-piece and gasket on top. And it is easier to wipe the steam vent clean in the inside of the lid for the newer design. Again, more fancy construction with more parts, which may be why the more simple design of the NS-ZCC models is still cost-effective to manufacture in Japan. And the better-constructed lids are almost certainly more resistant to warping from heat.

One important thing to note about this model is that it was designed for the Japanese market, where "regular" rice is short or medium grain, not the long-grain I'm used to. I often buy nice quality organic Jasmine or Basmati. On my old cooker, there was a "white/mixed" setting and a separate "sushi" setting, whereas on this one there is "regular/sushi" and a separate "mixed." I think my long grain rice cooks better with the "mixed" setting rather than "regular" on this model. The first time I cooked it with regular setting, it was really disgusting mush, so I tried the "mixed" and then it was nice. But I also took care to rinse the rice super well (at least 4 times rather than 3 like last time) so that may have helped, too. And I used water up to the mark rather than a bit extra (the manual says to use extra water with long grain but says nothing about proper menu selection). The "mixed" setting does not get as hot, to keep it from boiling over. So anyway, this may explain the mixed reviews for this product, with many people loving it and some people having very bad experience. "Regular" in Japan is not really "regular" in most places, because most places tend to use long-grained rice. One downside of using the "mixed" instead of "white/sushi" setting is that extended keep warm is not settable for "mixed" since they want you to keep only white rice for extended time in it. But I don't keep rice for more than ~10 hours and the regular "keep warm" was fine for me for several hours. [UPDATE: The mush on my first try was my fault; the rice I used just needs to be rinsed really well because it has lots of starch. When I rinse really well, it turns out excellent on the "Regular" setting also. And American Long Grain did not have this issue. So it is not a cooker problem at all, and long-grain rice can be cooked on regular setting and used with extended keep-warm.]

Two bad things about the Zojirushi models, probably all of them: 1) the irreplaceable battery, which means after a few years you will need to keep it plugged in if you don't want to reset the clock. Yes, you can ship it in for servicing but that's very expensive just for the battery and I did not (and will not) do it for my 3-cup model. One reviewer wrote (I forget for which model) that this is consumer-hostile and I absolutely agree. What kind of clock (or watch) do you have to send in to the manufacturer to replace the battery? It is outrageous and inconsiderate. I might figure out how to solder in a replacement battery myself, before I would spend so much money (and be without my cooker) for replacing. 2) The second bad thing is the super expensive replacement bowls and other parts. All non-stick surfaces will eventually wear out, and Zojirushi replacement is ~$50-70 for the bowls. You can buy a normal (non-fuzzy) rice cooker for under $20! And many nice fancier than bare-bones cookers for under the price of a replacement bowl (the bowls are very nice, though, and high quality). An inner lid replacement (which you may need if the gasket is damaged) is ~$22-28. The tiny spatula holder, which seems like it is worth under a dollar, is nearly $5, though to be fair, all prices on their site include shipping. Plus at least you have the option to order replacements. The spatula holder is not easily removable without damage (because it has plastic hooks that allow it to slide in one direction) and I broke mine when I yanked it out for cleaning. But not worth the cost of replacement. How do the parts prices compare to those for, say, Instant Pot? And expensive cooking equipment really should have replacement parts available for parts that wear out. I would not buy from a company that did not offer that. But the prices are totally unreasonable for the Zoji parts. So as with the battery, this is very consumer-hostile and for this reason I seriously considered shopping for another brand. But the cooker is excellent otherwise, so I stuck with this brand.

One last note about the non-stick surface: the important thing for protecting it is not so much the material that comes in contact with it but the smoothness of it. A non-smooth metal utensil is more likely to cause damage than a non-smooth plastic one, but plastic utensils can cause damage, too. The plastic spatula that came with my 3-cup model was not very smooth and that's why my 3-cup bowl got damaged, since I never used other utensils inside the bowl. The new spatula that came with this ZCC model looks almost identical but is slightly softer plastic and also very smooth. So, feel the edge of the utensil that you use inside the bowl, and don't use it if it does not feel smooth, even if it is plastic. And in any case be super gentle even with any plastic or wooden utensil. As far as toxicity, the Teflon coatings manufactured since 2013 should all be safe (and probably most manufacturers phased out the questionable type coating long before then). If you do research from reputable sources on this topic, I think you'll find that there is no evidence that the very inert material in these coatings is harmful. Almost everything is toxic in large-enough quantities, and you are not consuming gobs of coating. So that's something to keep in mind when considering whether or not to replace an old Zoji bowl.

77 people found this helpful

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NMFW

Works great BUT

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2019

Size: 5.5-CupVerified Purchase

I LOVED this for a year...and then the inner non-stick pot bubbled, scratched and flakd. We only used the spatula that came with it and only hand washed. very disappointed. A replacement pot cost $69.00! I think I may just buy a small instant pot to replace it. I feel like the stainless steel in the I.P. is safer than cooking teflon that flakes into your food.

47 people found this helpful

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Enoch

The lid doesn't tighten.

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2019

Size: 5.5-CupVerified Purchase

I purchased this rice cooker about 4 months ago. I've never had the same taste of rice that I used to have with other products over 30 years. We found that the lid got loosed as you see in the attached pictures. The rice gets dry when it's warming and it cooks rice with more dried texture, probably due to the loosen lid issue. It appears that it's was a defected item. I really want to return this product because it's useless, neither warming nor cooking function. Let me hear from the factory division regarding this problem.

40 people found this helpful

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C. Falkner

Buy the Zo

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2019

Size: 5.5-CupVerified Purchase

30 years ago I was in the market for my first rice cooker, so I asked a friend who happened to be half Japanese which one I should buy. He said, "Craig, just buy the Zo". I discovered that he was referring to a Zojirushi. I bought one. It served me faithfully. Years went by and technology progressed and my old "Zo" died. I bought another brand. It lasted a year and never made me happy. This time I decided to "buy the Zo" again and chose the ZZC10. It reeks of quality and advanced technology. It's made in Japan, the pot is superb, its easy to use, and it makes excellent rice. Its a Zo. Buy the Zo.

33 people found this helpful

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Daniel the KingTop Contributor: Fashion Design

Zojirushi is the best rice cooker. It has a real cool retro spacey look, kinda like an appliance from the Jetsons.

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2017

Size: 10-CupVerified Purchase

OMG, this rice cooker is awesome. I just got it and cooked up 6 cups (which was huge amount of cooked rice), but it can do a max. of 10 cups. I eat a lot o brown rice and it cooks it to perfection (soft, but not mushy). Out of all the rice cookers here, this model is the best. Like another comment stated, its the only Zojirushi model to be made in Japan so the quality is excellent. I would opp for the 10 cup vs. 5, as you can keep the leftover rice the cooker a dau or more with the lid shut. Cooked rice will keep at room temp, up to 48 hours but check to see or smell if anything is off before consuming. I would not recommend keeping it on extended warm, as you have a warm up feature. You can also take the pan and keep in the fridge, but the rice will get hard and you'll have to fry it (which is good too). I've had lots of rice cookers before, but this one is the very best. I you are looking for a rice cooker, especially one that cooks up to 10 cups, this is the one for you. You won't find any better high end 10 cup model anywhere. Be warned, the 10 cup isn't small, but will still fit nicely on the counter (its the size of a oblong flat basketball).

32 people found this helpful

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Wakon

Did I get a lemon? - Nope.

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2020

Size: 5.5-CupVerified Purchase

Update Sept 2020:
My baaaad ... I have not noticed until now that - even the bag just says brown rice - that I actually did cook *semi*-brown rice. And guess what, the machine has a setting for that ... So with that selection the rice came out just as it is supposed to be. And the cooking time went down from about 90 minutes to a little over 50 minutes. Lesson learned and the machine gets its proper rating (from previously 1 * to now 5 of them).

I finally replaced my old National brand rice cooker, which served me well for about 15 years. Since I love rice I thought let's get a really decent one ... Zojirushi I decided it to be. When it arrived I was pretty excited, it seemed well built with nice features. First surprise was the cooking time of about 100 minutes, 1:40, for brown rice. Wow, that was more than double the time it took with my National one.
That would have been ok, BUT ... the rice was mushy and seemed pretty overcooked. Reading the manual again, making sure settings are right and yet again, not fluffy and simply soft, no, junks of rice sticking together. I was absolutely precise with the measurements of rice and water but then experimented with a little more water, a little less water, etc ... the result pretty much the same. I am using premium quality Japanese whole grain brown rice. The result with Madagascar pink rice wasn't much different.
I regret that I did not return this rice cooker right away because now I am stuck with it. Every time I eat rice I also eat disappointment together with it. With all the 5 star ratings for it, I can only assume that I somehow got a lemon. I tried whatever possible but never got the rice the way it should be.

10 people found this helpful

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Taylor S

... say initially I thought having a rice cooker wasn't useful. However

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2015

Size: 10-CupVerified Purchase

I've gotta say initially I thought having a rice cooker wasn't useful. However, after reading reviews, and trying my hand at cooking perfect rice repeatedly, I began to be interested in getting a rice cooker.

I looked at a variety of different versions, from the cheaper ones at Costco and Sams, to the zojirushi, and the more I reviewed and looked into it, I decide that investing in a good machine that I would own for many years was the way to go. While the cheaper versions might be able to cook things reasonable well, if I was going to have a device for years and years, I wanted it to be the best it could be, which lead me to the zojirushi.

I weighed the benefits of the 5 cup vs the 10 cup, and for the price and the size footprint on the counter, the difference wasn't enough to push me in favor of the 5 cup because over time, with a family of 4 and growing, our need for larger portions of rice would likely grow. And that's not even considering all the various other things you can do with the rice cooker, such as cooking rice, veggies, and adding meat all at the same time. I've made sushi rice, basmati rice, rice pudding, cous-cous, and a lot of different rices with mixed veggies, butter, and meat right in the cooker itself.

It can really be thought of as part rice-cooker, part crock-pot. The zojirushi website has a lot of creative recipe ideas as well, and in other reviews you see a reference to a good rice cooker recipe book that's also useful.

Regardless though, if you're going to have this rice cooker for almost a decade, the price difference per month of ownership of this vs the cheaper ones, versus the type and variety of rice you can cook in this, justifies the additional expense.

Oh, and let me just say that cooking brown rice in this is incredibly easy and helpful. It's great to be able to set things up, in a matter of 5 minutes in the morning (rinsing the rice, programming the time, adding the butter :) ), and know that when I get home, at a pre-arranged time, it will be done to perfection, just waiting for me...it's great.

So in summary, the extra cost of the Zojirushi is justified by the quality of the meals it produces, the variety of things you can do with it, and the per-month cost over the lifetime of owning it isn't much different than the cheaper ones. Splurge a bit in quality cookware, and get this device, and do yourself a favor and get the 10 cup version. The minimum cup sizes aren't different, in any significant way, between the 10 and the 5, so there are really minimal reasons to go with the 5 over the 10 unless you're single and will be forever, or will only ever be cooking for 2, and never entertaining folks where more rice might be useful.

44 people found this helpful

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5 star		88%
4 star		8%
3 star		2%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker, 5.5-Cup, Premium White

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