Ready to jump in the pool.

[Jfrosty27]

Hey everyone. I am ready to get a sous vide set up. Best choices for the circulator?

[USMCCrashCrew89]

I don’t know what you’re looking to spend or what features you’re looking for but I have an Insta Pot branded one. I like it because you don’t need a phone to operate it. It doesn’t have wifi, blue tooth, or any of that but at the price point it does what I need it to do well. I picked mine up on Amazon Day sale for about $60.

[RichieB]

I have the Anova Precision with BT. Has not let me down.

[Jfrosty27]

Budget is no issue. Just want best performance and reliability.

[JCGrill]

I have an Anova as well. Like the simplicity of it. I just put it in the crock of my bigger slow cooker, but if you need an even larger vessel it will adapt to whatever you want.

[Sweaty Paul]

I have an Anova. I do like it and have no regrets. I’d get another if something happened to this one. Good luck on your search.

[rickgregory]

I can't recommend Anova for long cooks. I've had mine flake out on them and on high temp (170+) cooks. And mine, which uses a collar that's clamped to the container has had 2 clamps flat out break.

You ask a bout performance... there really are only two dimensions to this in a SV circulator... 1) How fast can it heat the water and 2) how precise can it maintain a temp? The former isn't that important but it's nice to have water heat up in, say, 20 mins vs an hour. Precision is KEY. that's the whole point of the technique, and so it's what I'd focus on.

[MBMorgan]

I have the Anova WiFi/Bluetooth (neither of which I use often). It’s been utterly reliable for over three years for all cooks ranging from 2 to 72 hours.

Don’t sweat the time needed to heat the water. Just start with hot water from the tap and you’ll cut the heat up time down to minutes.

Heard good things about the Joule, too and, based upon the build quality of our Instant Pot, I imagine it would also be a good choice.

[Hulagn1971]

I've had the Anova for about 5 years now. Never malfunctioned and have used it a lot. Even 72 hour cooks. Treat it well and it will reciprocate. Don't torque the set screw to the pot and you'll be fine. It won't come loose and swim away.

[willxfmr]

I've used the Anova for several years, and will buy another one if this one should fail.

A quick note on having the unit flake out on higher temp cooks. I had this problem a couple of time as well, but finally traced the problem back to user error. Before I had a Frankencooler, (https://anovaculinary.com/sous-vide-cooler-guide/) I would use a large stockpot as my vessel. In an attempt to reduce evaporation, which is a real problem at higher temps, I would cover the top of the pot with either foil or plastic wrap. That helped seriously curtail the evaporation problem, but caused a larger more serious issue. Since it is almost impossible to get either foil or plastic wrap to seal tightly around the circulator itself, the only place the moisture can escape is directly below the controls for the circulator. while this has never caused a long term problem, it has caused mine to shut down mid cook a couple times.
With the cooler however, I can run a 160 degree cook for 12+ hours, lose no meaningful amount of water out of the cooler, and the control top is completely dry.

[Skip]

I've had an Anova for a few years. No Wifi or Bluetooth. No problems either. Don't need to complicate things by running it through my phone IMO. I also Agree with MBMorgan on the issue of heating water-just start with hot tap water and you'll soon be up to desired temp. I'd buy another Plain Anova if mine fails.

[58limited]

I bought the Anova a couple of years ago mostly because I could use it manually. I had an old flip phone so I could not use the bluetooth features and the Joule could only be used that way. So far I have had no problems with the Anova.

[willsands]

The Anova works well. I have an Anova and a Sous Vide Supreme. I prefer the Supreme for higher temps (vegetables) because of the insulated enclosure. Both have been flawless for my use.

[Davek8282]

My first Anova WiFi/Bluetooth was involuntarily gifted to my daughter where it is still performing flawlessly, I purchased when the WiFi/bluetooth model came out so it is getting up there. I of course replaced the gifted unit almost immeaditly and that one is also performing and I do both proteins and vegetables with it. I always liked the Anova because you can control manual or with your phone whichever is your preference for a particular cook. I hear great things about the Joule but I prefer to have the manual option.

[Jfrosty27]

Ok guys, looks like the Anova is the way to go. I like the Frankencooler thing too. Thanks!