Panasonic SR-3NA Rice Cooker

Although I've only owned this cooker for a lil over a month, I feel qualified to speak to it's usefulness. A bit pricey for the capacity, it's effectiveness can't be overstated. For family of 3 or less this cooker makes plenty of rice. I especially like that it can make one serving of rice fairly quickly. No fancy electronics, just a plain timed cooker. Mix the rice and water (or stock), flip the switch and when it turns off you have perfect rice. I found domestic packaged rice like Uncle Ben's to need proportions of 1:1 water to rice. Imported sticky rice from India or Asia needs a lil less water, like .8:1. You'll find the proportions you need. I hope this cooker lasts longer than at least one reviewer claimed. Once outside the warranty period, if the timer fails (I'm sure it uses a simple bi-metal timer), I just wire in a cheap electronic timer from Radio Shack.

i am a flight attendant. most of the time there is no meal service. also, we are runing from plane to plane no time to stop and get a hot meal. also, it's get expensive. room service is over-priced, and it's the same old stuff at every hotel. with this little work horse i can bring food from home and heat it up so i can have a hot meal. i have used it to heat up more than rice. i use it for soup, chili, oatmeal, even left over pasta with sauce. this may sound expensive, but will pay for itself if you use it as often as i do.

After almost a year of perfect operation, with the rice cooker being used about twice a week, suddenly it wouldn't switch itself off. Nor could the on/off switch be operated manually. The rice just kept cooking and cooking. After about 55 minutes we pulled the plug out of the wall and tipped out what was by now a solid block of rice. It was lightly burned underneath and a bit on the sides. It seems to me that if we had been relying totally on the auto shut-off feature then there must have been a very real risk of fire. This is not only a big concern but also a big disappointment. The compact size and excellent non-stick finish had been just perfect for us.