Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsSuch good results. So much awkward design.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 19, 2022
[UPDATED AT SEVEN MONTHS - SEE END]
Okay, I'm a convert: air fryers are a great kitchen accessory. But to tell the truth, I would have tried or bought one long ago had they been more accurately marketed. Since their appearance, they've been pushed as "fryers," specifically some kind of magical deep-fat fryer that doesn't need any (dangerous, unhealthy, messy) fat or oil. Great, and that's sold ten million of them to make french fries, but a big market (like me) is probably being missed, because while we've never really wanted any kind of "fryer," we sure do adore our convection ovens.
And that's what "air fryers" really are: compact, convenient convection ovens. Anyone who's used a real convection oven knows the magic they can do; having a small one for the very specific job of turning out perfect chops, chicken breasts, fish, roast veggies and, yes, french fries without the long preheat times and energy waste of a full-size oven is a real asset. An asset to good cooks, not just someone turning out corn dogs and baskets of french fries.
So: idea of air fryer/compact convection oven: a winner. And this midsized Cosori excels at its tasks. In two weeks and ten meals, the only fault I can find with its abilities is that it sometimes takes one attempt to learn the precise time and temp needed for a particular time... but the second time is perfect.
However.
As someone with some design engineering background, I have a few less than sterling comments about the design and function of this make and model "mini convection oven." None completely dampen my enthusiasm or approval of the thing, but I will certainly shop carefully, and hands-on, should I ever buy a replacement. Let's go from least to worst faults.
PRESETS — most air fryers make a big deal of how many modes and presets they have. My judgment is that they are absolutely worthless, never turning out the best possible result, and good only for rushed or indifferent family members who want to do three other things while whipping up some fries for a snack. A chart of foods and settings, a time and temp function, a preheat button... nothing more is needed and I doubt I will use anything but these controls for the rest of this device's life.
TOUCH PANEL — it's 2022. Touch panels are a perfected technology. So why does this device have one that appears to be from the dawn of the tech and/or seem as if it's old and worn out as well, right out of the box? The buttons are impossibly — pardon the pun — touchy and erratic. They need exactly the right light, on-center touch to work. Not a press; that won't work. Not a tap; that won't work. It has to be a precise, well-aimed, downright loving touch in exactly the right spot... and even then, it fails about one time out of five. The many taps needed to set time and temp can turn into a frustrating game of Whac-A-Mole as the buttons respond like a badly-trained puppy... when they want to, and how they want to. Really, this panel should work perfectly for every user and every touch style, but instead it's an aggravating finger-puzzle every time. I have no idea if this is universal among either Cosoris or other air fryers.
BASKET (part 1) — once again, it's 2022. Air fryers have been around a while. So why is the basket assembly on this one like using something an inventor cobbled together in his garage? To start with, the release button is dangerously placed, right under the natural thumb-grip position, and too easy to press at the wrong time. I strongly recommend all new users practice handling the basket for a good long time, until the urge to press the button, on purpose or not, goes away. Because if you press it at any time except when the base pan is on a counter, said pan will fall. Hopefully not full of scalding-hot drippings. The button should be positioned and work only with a more deliberate action, not one all too easy to do by reflex.
BASKET (part 2) — not only is the basket unbelievably slippery on the bottom (from its teflon coating) but the heavy front lip of the faceplate makes it awkward to set down and keep in one place. If you pull it mostly out, such as to check the temp of cooking meet, don't let your grip on the handle weaken, or it will slide out of the fryer towards you like an attack dog. And don't take it all the way out and set it on the counter, because if you pull or tug or bump it even a little, it will slide towards you (slick as teflon, remember) and if the front lip gets near the edge, it will pull itself into a fall in the blink of an eye. You have to use maximum caution in opening, removing, and doing anything in the basket while it's hot. Yes, you should be careful, but this is like a coiled rattlesnake waiting to get you. And unless you develop a practice of removing it and setting it well back on the counter, it will. (Simply making the front lip flush with the pan, so that it doesn't have this tendency to slip-drop-fall over an edge, or not coating the bottom of the pan with teflon, would help a lot.)
And TOUCH PANEL (part 2) — if you remove the basket from the unit, whether the unit is turned on or not, the display goes into the "standby" mode, brightly lit up with dashes all across. It stays that way until you put the basket back in. You can't turn it off. The basket may be soaking in the sink, or too dirty to put back (and forget about), or in the dishwasher... the display stays on. All day, all night. Very annoying.
And TOUCH PANEL (part 3) while I'm at it. The POWER button and the GO buttons should not be side by side. Whoever designed this layout did it from a graphics perspective, not a usability perspective. Even after two weeks and much use, I keep hitting POWER — turning the unit off and erasing any settings — instead of GO... and I doubt I'm the only one. Very poor interface design.
But it cooks wonderful food, every time, once you get past these design flaws.
-- UPDATE 7 MONTHS AFTER PURCHASE --
I'll stand by all of my above (unedited) comments. The basket is still sometimes awkward to handle. The touch panel has gotten a little better, or I've adapted my technique to its quirks, but I still have to stop and wet a fingertip sometimes to get five more taps on a time or temp setting.
But I'll add the following points:
1) I have used the hell out of this gizmo and probably do 90% of my cooking with it. Every kind of meat, toasting buns, fries (of course!), roasted veggies, even 1/4 frozen pizzas and pierogi. The only thing I cook in the oven any more are long-simmer stews and meats that really have to be broiled (steaks and burgers).
2) Don't use any kind of cooking spray (an ingredient in it is what causes that gunky, nearly unremovable buildup.) Use an olive oil spritzer instead. And hand-wash the baskets after every non-dry item, and run them through the dishwasher occasionally, especially after a goopy/fatty cook like sauced chicken legs. And NEVER RUN WATER OVER A HOT BASKET — that's why your teflon coating starts to peel. Too hot to touch is too hot to run water on.
3) Buy a good probe thermometer so you can reliably check doneness. Recipe times are only a starting point.
4) The zillion presets are useless. Maybe if you have kids who are old enough to use this but not old enough to have judgment about times and temps, but not a one has cooked to my satisfaction. When and if I replace this unit, it will be with one that simply has a quick-set time and temp dial. The time/temp set feature is the only one I used after the first two weeks. and all those touch panel issues make that operation more tedious than it should be.
5) The WiFi feature is ridiculously useless AND requires you to sign up with a Chinese-based internet service that demands to access your location information. No, thanks. It's quick cooking; just how far away do you get and still need control, fachrissakes?
6) Wishing again I'd bought one of these years ago. As I said above, it's so so so much more than a "fryer" or just for french fries.
Thanks for reading. I'm here all week. Try the veal!
