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Bought a sous vide setup off a van, lost 80 bucks in Denver | Chefs - Free To Speak

Bought a sous vide setup off a van, lost 80 bucks in Denver

Last month I saw this guy selling immersion circulators out of his van near the farmer's market. He had a demo running, chicken looked perfect, price was 80 bucks so I figured why not. Got it home, plugged it in, the thing would heat water but the temp reading was off by like 20 degrees. Cooked a steak and it came out gray and rubbery, completely ruined dinner. Should I just stick to my old probe thermometer or is there a decent budget circulator that won't cost a fortune? Has anyone else gotten burned by sidewalk deals like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

thomas_sanchez1mo ago

...and honestly that first cheap circulator taught me more about patience than cooking. I got one off Amazon for like 60 bucks a couple years back, same issue with the temp being all over the place. What finally worked for me was using my old probe thermometer to check the water temp after an hour, then just adjusting the target temp on the circulator to match. Took some fiddling but it got close enough for decent results. That said, if you can swing 100 to 150 bucks, the Anova Nano or a used Joule off eBay will hold temp way better and save you the headache. I know it stings to lose 80 bucks, but honestly the sidewalk gamble is almost never worth it, the guy probably buys broken returns from auctions and flips them.

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jessica7071mo ago

Same thing happened to me with a cheap one from a discount store. Spent a whole weekend fighting it, finally realized the temp sensor was just garbage and there was no fixing it with adjustments. Walmart had the Anova on clearance for like 90 bucks not too long ago, so that's another place to watch. You can also get lucky with open box deals on Amazon if you check the used section. Just don't waste your time messing with those sidewalk sellers, they're always hawking the same junk.