The case of the insanely designed air fryer

[Mik]

Well, now. That sounds like bullshit.

[Horace]

Email support's final word on the matter:

We appreciate your thought about the matter.

We do acknowledge your opinion. The cool-down time is designed for the safety of our customers so they won't get burnt after Air frying.

Uh huh. We take the food out immediately after it's done cooking, but we can't put new food in, because we might get burnt. Uh huh. Oh god, burnt? Is Instant a British company? That would explain it. Well, more likely the support person is from India.

[Horace]

I uploaded two videos to youtube, one 15 second one where I start the fryer, and one longer one where I show the cook ending and the buttons becoming unresponsive. The 15 second video now has 1400 views and 5.5 hours total watch time, with 36 likes. It contains no context about why it exists. The longer one, uploaded at the same time, has 7 views.

[Mik]

We share a common delusion, that the world should, at least to some degree, make sense.

[kluurs]

Like you, I use the air fryer - 2-3 times a day. Of course we will sometimes restart the unit after the cycle or add time during the cycle. I would not purchase a piece of equipment that didn't allow an immediate use following the completion of a cycle for the reasons you outlined. I suspect we will replace our air fryer every couple of years based on heavy usage. it is still less expensive than using our gas grill. We're saving money overall.

[George K]

I've had mine for a couple of months now. I have the Instant Vortex as well.

Overall, it's a good, but somewhat limited gadget.

Baked potatoes? Perfect.
Asparagus? Perfect.
Bacon? Perfect, but a PITA to cook and clean up after.
Cornish Hens were good - but small. Gonna try a chicken in the rotisserie.
Frozen Pizza? Perfect.
French Fries? Put them in the rotisserie basket - perfect.
Grilled Cheese? Perfect.

It's sort of like the Instant Pot. What it does well, it does VERY well. But, for meats (steak, pork chops, etc) I'm not sure.

[Horace]

@George-K said in The case of the insanely designed air fryer:

I've had mine for a couple of months now. I have the Instant Vortex as well.

Overall, it's a good, but somewhat limited gadget.

Baked potatoes? Perfect.
Asparagus? Perfect.
Bacon? Perfect, but a PITA to cook and clean up after.
Cornish Hens were good - but small. Gonna try a chicken in the rotisserie.
Frozen Pizza? Perfect.
French Fries? Put them in the rotisserie basket - perfect.
Grilled Cheese? Perfect.

It's sort of like the Instant Pot. What it does well, it does VERY well. But, for meats (steak, pork chops, etc) I'm not sure.

Does yours have this "feature" where the touchscreen goes dead for 8 minutes after a program ends?

[George K]

@Horace said in The case of the insanely designed air fryer:

Does yours have this "feature" where the touchscreen goes dead for 8 minutes after a program ends?

Never noticed it, but, OTOH, I've not tried to cook things in sequence.

[Horace]

@George-K said in The case of the insanely designed air fryer:

@Horace said in The case of the insanely designed air fryer:

Does yours have this "feature" where the touchscreen goes dead for 8 minutes after a program ends?

Never noticed it, but, OTOH, I've not tried to cook things in sequence.

I suspect it is a recent version of the firmware. I found two complaints about it in Amazon reviews, both from the past two months. Both reviews are buried and ignored, but Instant will have to address this at some point. When I asked the question about it in the Q&A section of Amazon's product page, I got two responses, one from Instant indicating it is not intended behavior, and one from an owner of the product indicating that they often re-use it immediately after a program ends. So, I suspect this a recently unveiled 'feature', encouraged by liability lawyers. I can't think of any other possible reason why. This 'feature' makes no appearance in the user manual.

[Doctor Phibes]

It's possible that they had a problem with it overheating if used twice in quick succession, and this was their solution. Pretty nasty engineering, if it is the case.

[Horace]

@Doctor-Phibes said in The case of the insanely designed air fryer:

It's possible that they had a problem with it overheating if used twice in quick succession, and this was their solution. Pretty nasty engineering, if it is the case.

Yes, I suspect a fear of lawsuits is behind this.

[Mik]

I just looked at the 10 qt one, mostly interested in the rotisserie feature, but it can only handle a 2.5 lb chicken. Most fryers are 3-3.5 lbs.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Horace said in The case of the insanely designed air fryer:

@Doctor-Phibes said in The case of the insanely designed air fryer:

It's possible that they had a problem with it overheating if used twice in quick succession, and this was their solution. Pretty nasty engineering, if it is the case.

Yes, I suspect a fear of lawsuits is behind this.

It could be that the overheating caused them to fail prematurely, and this was an ugly fix, or there could be legislative requirements for electrical products needed to avoid 'burn hazard' for unwary users, and it failed the testing, so they bodged it before a real solution could be found.

The fact that it's not mentioned in the instructions would imply that it was a hurriedly implemented bodge.

[George K]

@Mik nope. Mine will do 4 lb.

In fact, I just got a 4 pounder the other day. Gonna try it in the next week or so.

[Horace]

@xenon said in The case of the insanely designed air fryer:

That can't be the design - those idiots are probably just trying to close their support tickets.

Speaking of Cosori - I just picked up this one. We're new to the Air Fryer game - but pretty good so far:

6.8 qt heats from above and below

That looks like a good one. I've ordered it as a replacement for this one. Thanks for the recommendation Xenon.

[Horace]

@Doctor-Phibes said in The case of the insanely designed air fryer:

@Horace said in The case of the insanely designed air fryer:

@Doctor-Phibes said in The case of the insanely designed air fryer:

It's possible that they had a problem with it overheating if used twice in quick succession, and this was their solution. Pretty nasty engineering, if it is the case.

Yes, I suspect a fear of lawsuits is behind this.

It could be that the overheating caused them to fail prematurely, and this was an ugly fix, or there could be legislative requirements for electrical products needed to avoid 'burn hazard' for unwary users, and it failed the testing, so they bodged it before a real solution could be found.

The fact that it's not mentioned in the instructions would imply that it was a hurriedly implemented bodge.

Yeah those sound like reasonable possibilities as well. Definitely a rush job, and not something done in the interest of their customers.

[Horace]

The first few months of my one star review saw a slow creep up to 20 helpful votes. Then the auto-sorter must have started presenting it more prominently, and in the past week its helpful vote count has hit 50. It has reached escape velocity. It's sad that Instant forced me to do this. I take no pleasure in this sweet, sweet revenge.

[Horace]

69 upvotes now. My sense of power ever burgeons. But I am disappointed that the product keeps selling and good reviews from insane people keep getting added. If I could please ask a favor, please do NOT buy an Instant air fryer for the rest of the day. Let’s make an impact together.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Horace said in The case of the insanely designed air fryer:

69 upvotes now. My sense of power ever burgeons. But I am disappointed that the product keeps selling and good reviews from insane people keep getting added. If I could please ask a favor, please do NOT buy an Instant air fryer for the rest of the day. Let’s make an impact together.

Done. ️️

[George K]

I didn’t buy one today, but I used one yesterday.

Am I a bad person for that?