This is a very handy kitchen gadget that does save me time, especially when it comes to standing over a frying pan or poaching pan to cook my eggs. Now, there are some things that you need to know in order to get the most out of this device. Here’s what I’ve found:

1. If you are poaching eggs, you may find that they completed poached eggs are too watery and loose. One unusual aspect of this cooker is that the more water you measure and put into the boiling tray, the longer your cook time will be. That’s because the unit works by continuing to cook so long as there still is water present which the built-in sensor will detect. I had to experiment to get poached eggs to where I like them which ended up being either around the Soft line or between the Soft & Medium line on the poached eggs side of the water measuring cup. When I cook poached eggs I like to carefully take out the plastic poaching tray (it’s hot use pot holders or similar) to slightly tilt it so that excess water from the steam is removed around each of the eggs prior to me taking them to plate. Also, when I remove poached eggs I use a spoon to take them out of the plastic poaching tray instead of just turning the tray over on a plate. I do this because if you don’t you’ll invariably end up with extra water on your plate.
2. Do not spill any eggs whites on the sides of the cooking plate, on the cooking plate, or even on the plastic cooking tray. That’s because you’ll have one heck of a time trying to clean the burned egg white off of the machine without damaging it. I had this happen once and I had to use a mixture of water and baking soda (let it sit for 20 minutes) in order to get things back to normal. It also took a heck of a lot of Magic Eraser and sponge scrubbing to complete it all.
3. When you’re using the cooker, be sure to make sure that the small open hole of the plastic cover is pointed towards the back of your unit. You don’t really want hot steam blowing out towards the front near your face.
4. Follow the directions in the manual and for the cooking suggestions use those as a good place to start, but fine-tune based on how you like your eggs.

This is really a very handy machine. It works well, though one side does get a bit warmer than the other so one egg may be a little less/more cooked than the other, but no big deal. The size of the unit is perfect - not too small, not too big and easily cooks six hardboiled eggs at a time. Washing the plastic plates is very simple and takes almost no time. Ingenious little device and with the right fine-tuning information (like what I’ve tried to enter here) you’ll be well on your way to a really nicely cooked egg. It’s a recommend from me to anyone who likes eggs, but doesn’t like to deal with the standard cook time and process.