Hi all - I’ve had the APC 900w Wi-Fi model for several years and generally had good experience with it, but found it a bit flakey recently, and I decided to take advantage of the recent discount price on a new 1100w APC 3.0, AN525-US00. While I’m looking forward to using the new cooker, I was a bit alarmed to see how the clamp on the new one is much flimsier than the clamp on my old 900w model. Even the stout metal clamping screw has been replaced with a slender plastic screw. This is really disappointing on a device like this. I’d love to find an alternate if possible, but it seems there are no after market clamps that fit this model. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
There are a bunch of threads within this forum & beyond which cover anova clamp fixes, replacements etc…
You will easily find them.
I broke mine forgetting the effects of thermal expansion on plastic. ANOVA kindly replaced it with what I requested, the holder for a marginally larger ‘stick’. Then I made an zip-ties adapter to make the new holder work and eliminate the circumferential clamping.
I anyway have no need to prevent rotation, but only to maintain position relative to the bath water level. Works fine, lasts a long time, don’t rust, bust, or collect dust. It fails safely and drains to the bilge.
The zip ties look like a nice neat / unobtrusive solution - and I agree, rotation isn’t an issue. Curious - was the holder they sent the one for the gen 1 APC? That one is a really nice sturdy holder, designed for the older 900w Wi-Fi APC that was about 3/16" larger in diameter than the new one (3.0 / 1100w). I really like the way the old holder was made - super sturdy, robust metal screw. I don’t see the old holder on sale on the Anova site…but frankly, I’d be afraid to see what they’d charge for it, considering what they’re charging for replacement parts.
I believe that it may be the use of language like “robust” and “clamping”, connoting perhaps forcefulness that led me to cause the my failure.
Things are robust ONLY to known stressors.
Read about anti-fragility, perhaps first mentioned by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his 2012 book Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder and his professional papers.
Thanks Doug. Fun to engage in topics like that, but I’m not a fan of Taleb’s writing. He’s latched on to some interesting observations, but he’s certainly not the first to note some systems improve through engagement with stressors. Martial artists figured this out ages ago. Nietzsche summarized the concept pretty well. I was building self-improving expert systems decades ago that started out naive and “learned” through experience - good, bad, random. Back to sous vide cooker bracket mounts - “robust” seemed appropriate in the context of the general topic - stick-style sous vide cookers. Robust in this context should imply sufficient strength to support the weight of the cooker and reasonably expected force vectors that might occur during use of the cooker and over the course of a normal product lifetime. The clamp that came with my original 900w Wi-Fi APC was quite robust in consideration of this definition. Anti-fragile is a nice idea, but I have a feeling a sous vide bracket clamp would never reasonably be expected to be used as a hammer or pry bar. I’d be happy to simply have a robustly constructed bracket / clamp with my new 1100W APC 3.0. There’s a KitchenBoss replacement bracket on the market for about $25 that’s almost a perfect fit for the APC 3.0 - might be every so slightly loose on the shaft of the APC but that can be fixed with something snugged between the clamp and APC, maybe as small as 1/10". That’s more robust than the new APC clamps, although it too apparently cracks when over-tightened. Sad to see that product engineering takes a back seat to tiny increases in profit margins.
Wonder how simple & cheap it would have been to simply use a metal tightener jubilee clip design & finger knurl with a neat silicone cover (for metal to slide through without scratching other metals) to satisfy design aesthetes, thus reducing the chance of degradation via overtightening plastic & associated age / heat weaknesses in a kitchen environment & hard floor drops over that time.
Jubilee clip being a homebrew solution here for some as is when the original fails.
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Really…had they incorporated a standard one within the plastic frame, it would have been rock solid. Seems that good mechanical engineering concepts weren’t considered in this design. 
Like I say, plenty of detail on here about the exact same original vs updated …which sucks.
Don’t throw your clamp, if it is an easy split it can also be glued & clamped easily, I did consult with Anova as to plastics & glues elsewhere.
The newest nurl type is next to useless, likely designed by someone with a grudge who was leaving soon as payback for something they felt slighted for, thus we all suffer.
lol re engineer with a grudge… but it really is bewildering why a high end sous vide circulator / cooker would come with such a flimsy clamp, especially when the clamp with earlier models (like my old 900W Wi-Fi model) was great - heavier plastic, and metal screws. The clamp I’m complaining about is the one that’s included with the newer APC 3.0 1100w unit – I just received that (still have my original 900W model) and was amazed to the flimsy plastic mounting screw and how thin and flimsy the body of the bracket / clamp is on the new unit. I’m bewildered.
Finally used the new APC 3.0 AN525-US00 (1100W) tonight. The Wif-Fi connection is remarkably better than with my 5 year old 900W unit, as it can connect via 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz WiFi bands. Major improvement in this part of the experience. I used the APC 3.0 with my Everie 12qt Sous Vide container (with insulating jacket and silicone cover. I was careful to NOT crank the screw too tight against the container – it held well. The thin plastic screw still makes me cringe a bit and it likely won’t last as long as a metal screw, but if I’m careful, perhaps it will last a while. The Precision Cooker itself seems great.