I owned another 5.5 cup rice cooker (form a brand you likely know) that was still under warranty for repair (it malfunctioned about 8 months into use, remaining at cooking temps on the “keep warm” setting), but opted to buy this one instead, and I’m VERY happy & pleased with my purchase—I was also surprised at how little the price difference was. Zojirushi products really ARE the gold standard, being solidly-built & feature-rich.
Even before cooking your first pot of rice, you can see & feel the difference in the quality of the machine. I didn’t read the user manual myself, but was chatting with Google Gemini about my new rice cooker, and it told me that it had a REHEAT feature, which is brilliant when it’s been on the “keep warm” setting and you want to freshen it up quickly to taste like just-cooked rice (9 min). You can select for different types of rice, TIMED cooking (same amount of water is fine), and it even has a SELF-CLEANING feature (which I haven’t used yet).
The standard cook time is 1 hour, which is literally DOUBLE the time of no-frills cookers, but what this gentle cooking process does is produce fluffy, chewy, glistening rice—in other words, PERFECTION. 🍚
I highly recommend this cooker—don’t bother with the “other” one. And my cooker also arrived a few days earlier than estimated (I’m in SoCal).
I've owned Zojirushi rice cookers for decades, and the quality has always been first-rate. I really like the matte black rectangular cooker I just bought. I miss the retractible cord, but otherwise the shape is great for storing and the back looks really nice and the matte finish resists finger prints. The rice cooker works great. The only suggestion I'd make is that I wish Zojirushi sold affordable replacement cooking pots for their rice cookers.
This is a great little machine! I love that you can do so many different things with it. Works really well and great rice every time. Plus, it doesn't spray rice goop everywhere like other rice cookers I've had. Work the higher price.
I absolutely love this Zojirushi rice cooker. The quality is outstanding and it makes perfect rice every time. The rice comes out fluffy and evenly cooked with no effort at all. It is easy to use reliable and clearly well made.
You can tell this is a premium product and it has quickly become one of my favorite kitchen appliances. If you eat rice often this rice cooker is worth every penny. Highly recommended.