APC + Nano questions

I’m a current APC customer (wifi unit) and I received a notification via email about the new Nano device. There do seem to be some differences between an APC unit and a Nano and I have a few questions:

-) Is the goal for the Nano to be a replacement for the APC units (as in “APC 2.0”) or is the intention to have both units for sale intended for different use cases + price points?

-) Would there be any possibility of posting up a comparison page that highlights the differences between the two units (size, shape, power consumption, supported water bath sizes, etc.)

-) Would there be any possibility of posting up a “rationale” for why one would choose one unit vs another? Something that says "if you’re going to cook items concurrently, use this device for the multi cook support, if you’re going to cook a Thanksgiving turkey, use this device instead?

-) If the intent is for the Nano to replace the APC at some point, when will the APC be retired from service? From a support standpoint, when would support for the APC end?

-) Is the software that controls the Nano the same as the software that controls my APC? If I were to buy a Nano, would there be two control apps on my phone or just one that can control both?

-) What does the speaker do on the Nano? Is that just for a tone for announcement, such as “when the water has achieved the desired temperature” and such?

-) Just to confirm, the Nano does not have Wifi? Is that the strategic intent or will there be a future Nano coming down the road with Wifi integrated?

-) The APC had bluetooth 4.0 and the Nano has bluetooth 4.2 - does that .2 increase in version offer any benefits?

-) Would there be any trade-up/trade-in program for an APC for a Nano?

-) Has there been any lab testing of the “range” of bluetooth connectivity with the Nano?

-) Will Anova Culinary be offering the Nano for sale via Amazon or will it be facilitated primarily via the company website?

-) Is there any difference in the support model for the Nano vs the APC?

-) How long is the power cord for the Nano?

-) The site notes that a Nano could theoretically be dropped into a carry-on for use while traveling. It’s something I’ve never thought of given the size of the APC. Has anyone ever tested actually going through airport security with a Nano and not get stopped?

-) What does “water resistant” mean? Can I wash the Nano in my sink with soap or should I avoid that?

Thanks,

T.

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The MJC (Meat Jacuzzi Circulator) AKA Anova Precision Cooker, comes in 900W (WiFi) and 800W (BlueTooth). The Nano is 700W. The rated max bath sizes get larger as the wattage goes up. I think the actual impeller motor on the WiFi and the BT are the same, as the original WiFi units only had 800W heaters.

WiFi and BT are the same physical size and form factor. Nano is smaller.

I would guess that the idea behind the Nano is just what the advertisement said “The first Sous Vide cooker that is priced below $100” I have friends who have said that $160 - $200+ is more than they would pay for a sous vide cooker, if it were $100, they’d feel better about buying one to try out. Also, I would bet that a lot of people with the current generations of SV cookers, and not just Anova, are largely just using stock pots, small coolers, large pots, to cook in. I think the people who are using the large cambrio and coolers to cook in are often the exception to the what size container do people use question.

The Nano fills that void. It’s smaller, less expensive and is more than sufficient to work with the stock pot that someone might already own.

“Ours go to eleven.”

BT 4.2 will not bring any noticable benefits.
BT 4.0 is just slightly refined in terms of power and interference wise.

I think you would see better bluetooth range for 4.2, over 4.0.

Also, we’ve seen that ANova has plans to have a “Pro” version that’s higher wattage than the APC and full feature set on a larger touch screen connected to the device.

BT 4.2 will show pretty much no increase in anything - good or bad, over 4.0 in a device like this, it has enhanced ability to minimize 4g interference and energy consumption and some audio codec enhancements. None of witch is important in this case.
The SIG enforces licensees to use 4.2 for new devices, otherwise they could have used 4.0.

With that said, it is possible that Anova will use a better BT chip with better antenna design - This has nothing to do with the version though.

Hey @Tariq!

Thanks for all of your questions. I’ll answer all that I can!

The Nano is not meant to replace the other devices we have. It’s another option for our customers to have, depending on what your cooking goals are. The Nano is smaller, lighter, quieter, and is Bluetooth enabled.

Our store website also has specs listed for our different cookers and you can compare all the details. Right now, we don’t have a side-by-side comparison. I think the rationale is also similar to the comparison. Let me see what I can come up with for this.

No, the Nano is not meant to replace any of our current cookers. Because our current APC are here to stay, support will remain.

I want to get the nitty-gritty details on the speakers for you! I’ll look into this.

The Nano will be Bluetooth enabled only.

We don’t have a trade-in program for the APC/Nano. But I will forward this suggestion on and see what we can do about this.

Yes, we have tested all functions and features of The Nano.

Can you expand on the “support model” question”?

The power cord is 39 inches

@acs. 700w is powerful enough to run a big bath of water the same way a 900w unit can. The only difference is that the 900w unit will bring up the temperature quicker. That’s it.

I have the APC BT+WiFi (i.e. 900w). When heating up the water, it draws between 1000 to 1100w (I have it plugged into a watt-meter). I was actually a bit surprised that it drew more power than it is rated for, but anyway. Once the desired temperature is reached, the unit throttled down to drawing anything between 100 to 300 watts to maintain the temperature. If your water container is sufficiently insulated (mine isn’t), it will draw even less power. So a 700w unit with a nicely insulated container will run just as well as the 900w unit would. Only slower in bringing up the temp initially.

If the heat loss of your setup exceeds 300w, you should really think about insulating the tank… and your electricity bills :wink:

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@zqushair thanks - you’re right!

The one caveat that I would issue here is that these units are engineered for specific load ranges. You could compromise the longevity (MTBF) of the device by over-tasking it with larger vessels / workloads than it was designed for on a regular basis.

Curious what you found with your meter. Makes you wonder if the Nano can actually draw 900w. :slight_smile:

Now, I never said that it couldn’t. I simply said that the bath size rating from the manufacturer went up as wattage did.

There is a difference.

@acs You’re right. Sorry, I wasn’t disputing what you said. I was just talking about manufacturers’ concept of linking wattage to bath size. In my mind, it is wattage vs heat loss from the system that matters. If the heat loss is kept low I think the Nano would perform just as well.

@fischersd, I agree with you that generally if one runs equipment at close to its max rated power for extended periods of time, the longevity of it might be affected… but in this case the bit that’s “working hard” is the heating element. Everything else (circulating pump etc) runs the same. I don’t think the MTBF of the heating element will be affected much by this. 700watts is anyway a lot of power, and one would have to have a very poorly insulated bath to require drawing that much power constantly. Consider a bath setup that requires 400 Watts to keep it warm (I would consider this to be borderline on a quite poorly insulated setup). A Nano would be running at 57% of its max rated power whereas the APC 900w will be running at 44%. That won’t make a difference to the life of the Nano imo.

I don’t disagree, I’d be curious to know what formula they used to come up with the sizes.

I’ve used a 12 gallon insulated “ice chest” with 18-20 lbs of meat in it and the BT model. Of course I filled with hot water to start and as it cooled initially from the meat being added I bucketed water out and added more hot water until the temp stabilized at 134, where it sat for 14 hours iirc. External submersible temp probe to check temps around the tub and it stayed even. I haven’t seen a Nano, so I don’t know if the impeller could push that much water around, but I figure it could do more than the rated size with the right insulation.

My 3 Nanos finally arrived this week! I will be comparing it to my APC. However, I always fill a stryofoam cooler with lid and cutout for unit with hot water from a electric kettle… My unit almost does no work to get to cooking temp and therefore has very little wear and tear and work to do to keep the temp at cook level. Will do the same for Nanos…

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Definitely let all of us know how your experience goes with your new Nanos. I am really curious!

Alyssa I’ve placed the link to the spec page for the nano below. There’s no mention of whether the unit is fully enclosed/water resistant/waterproof. I’d like to know if it would survive if I accidentally dropped it in a tub of water and left it for five minutes!