Having recently been placed on a strict diet, I am now eating (and cooking) rice multiple times a day. After much research, I decided to go with a medium-size fuzzy-logic cooker that was big enough for my family but small enough to prepare a meal for just one person.
The price difference between the Zojirushi and other 5.5-cup rice makers like Panasonic and Tiger Brand in our local stores was minimal ($20), so I decided to go with "the real thing". Although I cannot say whether I would have been happy with one of the others, but I am certainly happy with my choice.
The controls are intuitive and simple, especially for a machine with this kind of intelligence and with so many features. The first meal I made without reading the instructions in the manual, and after that, just checked on some of the features.
The one touch that really makes me feel good is the way the timer works - around me, not around the machine. Rather than setting the time to start cooking (like my coffee maker, for example), you set the time when you want to eat - and let the machine figure out when IT needs to start cooking in order for YOU to eat when you want. Two saved timer presets make it easy to tell it that you want your porridge at 6AM and dinner at 6PM. After dinner, I set up the cooker to make me breakfast - and after breakfast, I set it up to make me dinner. I can then go to work, knowing that when I get home, it will be just finishing up a batch of rice, just the way I like it - a bit on the soft side (there are three settings for white rice - normal, softer and firmer).
The cleanup is quick and easy thanks to the non-stick pan. The machine does not take up a lot of counter space, either.
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