Adjusting Temp to Tenth of a Degree

I just received my Anova Precision and I'm second guessing my decision. My first attempt at cooking something...Eggs! But I can't adjust the temp in 0.1 increments, only 0.5. I'm also wondering about the power of this vs the Anova One. Once a month I throw a dinner party for 6 people. I'm wondering if this has the power to cook enough food. I am now leaning towards returning this and purchasing the One. I do like how quiet the Precision is which could be a deciding factor. For those that have both, is the One as quiet as the Precision? Other features, movable clamp, bluetooth, etc, I don't really care about. I have plenty of containers that will work and don't need to check my phone to see how things are doing. If I can snag a 50off coupon today, I may just pull the trigger...

The interface on the device only lets you switch the temp in increments of .5. I have an android app “Android Sous Vide” that will allow you to change the temperature in increments of .1 - so it is doable.

@ryryonline as @ILikeToCookITCookIT pointed out, the programmatic interface allows a finer degree of control with the precision cooker. Having said that, however, I would try a few recipes first to see if you actually need that degree of precision. So far it hasn’t been an issue for me. While this unit only runs at 800 watts, I have found it to be totally adequate for meals that serve 6+ people.

@ryryonline Eggs aren’t the most reliable indicator of SV effectiveness, I’ve had very inconsistent results - age/freshness and starting temperature of the eggs all seems to play a role, plus some element of randomness. Try a chicken breast at 57c for 90 minutes, or if you have time, chuck/casserole steak at 58c for 36-48 hours, dry thoroughly then sear.

The power of the unit only really comes in to play when warming up the water, there is very little power required to maintain final temperature. There’s things you can do to give the unit a helping hand to get started (boil a kettle?) plus having a fitted lid on the bath helps the unit perform more efficiently.

I have yet to cook anything where 0.1 degree increments made any difference. 0.5 is perfectly adequate.

800 watts is plenty in the right container. I use an igloo cooler with a hole cut in the top and it holds temp in 6+ gallons of water easily. The app is frankly worthless and I feel the bluetooth is just not needed. How hard is it to set a temp and walk away? It’s not silent, but plenty quiet to not be intrusive.

Sometimes I monitor my devices from the toilet. A remote app isn’t for everyone, but it can definitely be a convenience.

The following are why an app works for me:
Being able to quickly look up times and temps is convenient for: cooking different dishes, cooking for different people, recording experiments and preferences.

Being able to have instructions or videos go along with what I’m cooking is helpful when I feel like going that route - even though I mostly don’t.

I work across the house and use the same container of water for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Before I walk to the kitchen, I start the cooker, finish what I’m doing(emails, chats, etc…) and by the time I get to the kitchen the waters almost at target temperature. Sometimes I don’t know what I’m going to cook, so I look it up with my computer and start the device according to some new instructions I’ve found. It saves be about 15 minutes in the kitchen - it only takes me about 5 minutes to season, package and drop whatever I’m cooking in the container.

I get alarmed that the timer has expired and I can eat when I feel like. Sometimes this helps break me away from whatever I’m doing. For me, it’s nice to know I have something hot that’s ready to eat whenever I feel like it.

You could do some of the stuff with a notepad or something, but it’s a lot slower and not a one stop shop. Plus you’re not limited to .5 degree increments/decrements :stuck_out_tongue:

I second @Fudspong, I haven’t needed the device to get down to a tenth of a degree either and I’ve done a pretty wide variety of cooks.

Also, I agree with @celltech’s comment about the 800 watts and you can always heat the water up on the stove a bit or use hot tap water to give it a head start.

I am a new sous vide-er, but I can say with confidence that if I didn’t have the moveable clamp, I’d be in big trouble. This makes the whole process more efficient. Small batches of an egg or two can be done in a small sauce pan, a big roast can be done in a bit stock pot. Not many other machines offer that much flexibility.

Also, I don’t see any reason to not start with hot water from the tap. All of my cooks I filled my vessel w/ hot water from the tap and the cooker took less than 10 minutes to get it the rest of the way. Even if I was over, the cooker would know and allow the water to get back down to temp. Makes no sense to me to start with cold water and wait awhile to heat it up, all while using the energy. (yes, I know, heating water from the tap requires energy also).

Thank you all for clarifying how to use the app for more temperature control.
Three words that justify effortless fractional control using a sous vide…
cocoa butter silk