Review on 🍚 Premium White Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker 5.5-Cup: High-Performance Cooking at Its Finest by Ken Ventura

I only bought this old model in 2019. It seems to be very successful as it has been in production for a long time and is still listed as a "current" model on the Zojirushi website. I don't regret buying it as it's probably the best for me in the 1 liter (5.5 cup) range (same goes for 1.8 liter) but as I'll note below it does have some downsides, from which I was a little disappointed. I was intrigued by the spherical heating element, the handles on the inner bowl, the advanced keep-warm function, the retractable power cord, and the many rice adjustment options. I would recommend something cheaper and/or newer if you intend to use it primarily for white rice. But if you like the variety of rice, including varying degrees of "browniness" and firmness, then this really is one of the best in this price range in my opinion. Maybe that's why the model has stayed on the market for so long. BUT newer models have a "steam" feature that doesn't exist. So the current item description on the Revain site is WRONG. A similar, newer "Made in Japan" model at about the same price (with a detachable cord, fewer rice varieties, and a newer steam vent design) has a "steam" function, and the description for it is incorrectly duplicated here. I'm still glad I got these. I have a 3 cup Zojirushi, NS-LAC05, which I bought about 10 years ago, it is very similar to the current NS-LGC05 and NS-LHC05 and I wanted more. My 3 cup cooker is made in China like most Zojirushi models and if you want that 'neuro-fuzzy' because it's 'Japanese' then in my experience that's a bad reason to go for a Zojirushi- model to decide. (By the way, my old stove also had "Neuro-Pechko" on the manual cover, so not a unique technology for this model.) They're all Japanese (just like the iPhone isn't "Chinese"). phone, it's just there, masterfully put together - so in that sense, yes it's Chinese). You only pay extra for "Made in Japan" printed on the front for no good reason. Or rather, for a very bad reason, because my old stove seems to be taller. - Quality construction. This one is made a little less thoughtfully to offset the more expensive labor cost I think. For example, when you open the door, you can see that the screws are sticking out and the plastic part of the cover is sticking out inside, which looks ugly. The Chinese-made models have an extra piece of plastic that covers the screws and makes the inside nice. I pay attention to aesthetics and details like that. And I like to leave the lid open most of the time, with the inner lid tucked neatly over the bowl when not in use because it looks better for pods and aerates things. But this model looks too ugly in this form, so I guess I'll leave it closed. (I'm not sure if open or closed is better for padding, or if it matters.) Also, my 3 cup model has nice metal hardware on the outside, and this one is all plastic, albeit a nice smooth one , high quality plastic. And the lid release button is nicer and maybe stronger on Chinese-made models. But what I like most about my 3 cup coffee maker compared to this model is the steam valve. I think it's an improvement over that old model. It has a top compartment to collect excess moisture, so there's an extra lid and padding at the top. In addition, the new design makes it easier to wipe the steam valve in the lid. Again a fancier design with more detail, perhaps that's why the simpler design of the NS-ZCC models is still cheap to produce in Japan. And better designed lids are almost certainly more resistant to heat warping. It's important to note that this model was designed for the Japanese market, where "regular" rice is short-grain or medium-grain rice, not long-grain rice. I'm used to it, I often buy good quality organic jasmine or basmati. My old cooker had a "white/mixed" setting and a separate "sushi" setting, while this one has a "normal/sushi" and a separate "mixed" setting. I think my long grain rice cooks better on this model in "mixed" mode than in "regular" mode. The first time I cooked it with regular it was a really disgusting mush so I tried "mixed" and it was nice at the time. But I also made sure to rinse the rice very well (at least 4 times, not 3 like last time) so maybe that helped too. And I used water up to the mark, not a bit more (the manual says to use extra water with a long grain, but nothing about choosing the right menu). The "Mixed" setting does not heat to avoid overcooking. Anyway, this might explain the mixed reviews for this product, many people love it and some have had very bad experiences. "Normal" in Japan is not really "normal" in most places as most places tend to use long grain rice. One downside to using "mixed" instead of "white/sushi" is that you can't set the extended heat retention to "mixed" because they want you to keep only white rice in it for a long time. But I don't keep rice for more than 10 hours, and the usual "heating" was fine for me for a few hours. [UPDATE: The mush on the first try was my fault; The rice I used just needs to be rinsed very well as it contains a lot of starch. If I rinse very well, it works even with the "Normal" setting. American Long Grain had no such problem. So it's not a stovetop issue at all, and long-grain rice can be cooked normally and used over longer heats.] Two bad things about Zojirushi models, probably all of them: That means after a couple of years you'll have to plug in when you watch the clock don't want to reset. Yes you can send it in for service but it's very expensive just for the battery and I don't (and won't) do it for my 3 cup model. One reviewer wrote (can't remember which model) that this is consumer unfriendly and I wholeheartedly agree. Which watch (or watches) should you send to the manufacturer for battery replacement? This is rude and thoughtless. I could have figured out how to solder a replacement battery myself before spending so much money (and without my stove) on a replacement. 2) The second minus is the super expensive interchangeable shells and other parts. All non-stick surfaces wear out over time, and a replacement Zojirushi bowl costs $50-$70. You can buy a regular (non-fluffy) rice cooker for less than $20! And plenty of good cookers, slimmer than normal, for the price of a replacement bowl (although the bowls are very good and high quality). Replacing the inner cap (which may be necessary if the seal is damaged) costs $22-$28. A tiny spatula holder that seems to cost less than a dollar costs almost $5, although to be honest all the prices on their website include shipping. Also, you at least have the option to order a replacement. The spatula holder is not easy to remove without damage (because it has plastic hooks that allow it to slide in one direction) and I broke mine ripping it out to clean. But not worth the cost of replacing. How do the prices of spare parts compare to the prices of, say, an Instant Pot? And with expensive kitchen appliances, wearing parts really should have spare parts. I wouldn't buy from a company that doesn't offer this. But the prices for Zoji parts are completely unreasonable. As with the battery, this is very consumer-friendly and for this reason I seriously considered buying another brand. But otherwise the stove is excellent, so I chose this brand. One final note about a non-stick surface: it's not so much the material that comes in contact with it as how smooth it is to protect it. Unsmooth metal utensils are more likely to cause damage than rough plastic utensils, but plastic utensils can also cause damage. The plastic spatula that came with my 3 cup model was not very smooth and hence my 3 cup bowl got damaged as I never used any other utensils in the bowl. The new spatula that comes with this ZCC model looks almost the same but is made of softer plastic and is very smooth. So feel the rim of the utensil you are using in the bowl and do not use it if it is not smooth, even if it is plastic. And be very careful with plastic or wooden utensils. Teflon coatings produced since 2013 are said to be safe in terms of toxicity (and probably most manufacturers gave up the dubious way of coating long before that). If you research this topic from reputable sources, I think you will find that there is no evidence that the inert material even in these coatings is harmful. Almost everything is poisonous in large enough quantities that you don't consume clumps of coating. So this is something to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to replace your old Zoji bowl.