@Stephen Svajian It was a good call to drop the timer. I’ve had the SVS for a couple of years and used it for a few hundred cooks. No more than five times have I used the timer.
It is much better to have a dead simple, elegant interface.
Personally, I think it should have been optional. Almost every sous vide recipe provides a precise cooking time. And some customers won’t be using a sous vide app to connect to the device. If they have a smartphone they can user a simple timer app. However, smartphones don’t have very long battery lives. Their timer might get lost when the battery dies.
Personally I use the timer on the device every time. It works perfectly and is convenient. The timer is exactly where I want it to be: on the device that need to be timed.
I believe it should have been integrated in a more straight forward way instead of just removing it. It’s too late now but this is how it would have been less confusing IMO:
-timer icon not lit when the device starts
-when timer icon pressed: icon lits up. timer flashes with something like 00:00:00
-if wheel is turned within 5 seconds the timer changes to desired time.
-if not turned, timer icon goes dark again and timer disappears
to turn off or reset the timer:
-scroll timer back to 00:00:00. With smart scrolling the user should be able to do this with max 3 fast turns.
-OR long press timer icon for 1 second
Hi all
and greetings from Germany!
I got my developer unit last week and used the weekend for two quick tests - the mandatory eggs,
and salmon. So far so good! 
As the unit arrived with no documentation :-(, and I haven’t looked into
this forum before, I spend some time trying to activate the timer.
Now reading this thread I do understand why I wasn’t able to do this.
Albeit I don’t understand the “removal”!
When I look at a running Sous Vide device I’m only interested in:
- is the temperature on track
- are there any errors
- how long until it is ready
Maybe I’m a bit biased from my work as a developer of medical devices,
but let me say that “reliability” and “autonomy” are key values! (*)
A device that I entrust my food with I personally assign the same.
Having no timer at the device might be feasible in a single device environment,
but I for myself plan to use the new (smaller) cookers for vegetables/side-dishes,
in parallel with my One for the larger meat or fish portions.
We had early this year a cooks meeting where we created a eight course menu during
the evening with five Sous Vide devices in the kitchen.
Imagine that with no timers! To be precise: without the information when and without the
signals that the food is ready. Allowing the cook to concentrate on other things.
Imho you removed some of the convenience that such a device brings to a kitchen.
I agree with you that some typical Sous Vide meat dishes are very forgiving when it comes to overcooking,
but seafood, a lot of fish, foie gras, fruits or tenderloin of deer,… aren’t.
And I agree with you, that such an environment is probably not the one of your typical one-device customer.
But please do not exclude the others. It is such a nice and interesting device!
Sorry that my first comment here is such a nagging, but please reconsider this decision and add the
timer again - maybe as an optional feature - as @pwiltgen or others proposed.
Regards,
Frank
(*) And let me add “update-ability in the field” to the list too. 
Hi,
Apologies for chiming in late. I only received my unit last week and was added to the developer page in the last few days.
My 5 cents on the timer function … probably a bit late but … C’est la Vie … I would have thought he interfaces should have been consistent (i.e you should be able to perform basic setup and operation without the need for a smartphone/app). I appreciate the bluetooth interface is a selling point but you still should not require the user to have a smartphone to activate basic functionality.
You also should not assume the smartphone will nescessarily be present through the entire cooking process.
… for example, setting a timer would be considered “basic” functionality, setting a timer profile (i.e cook X minutes at temp Y then ramp over Y minutes to temperature Z may be considered advanced functionality BUT you should be able to set it and then leave the immediate locale with your phone in pocket without the profile being lost.
also … since one nice feature would be to see how the temperature was running over time … a capability to record temperature logs and upload to a device when it comes back in range would be nice
Cheers…
Mark
I got the newest prototype. Here are my initial thoughts about the product.
Build and interface
The new Anova is a winner! It is very well built. It has a super easy interface to use. I believe it was a good idea to remove the timer although, I must admit, @pwiltgen had some good ideas. The noise level is much lower than what I had expected .
Mouse wheel
To whomever came up with the idea to use a mouse wheel. Good thinking!
Temperature difference
Since I am luck enough to have two prototypes I found out that there is a 0.8C temperature difference between them. That is more than what I had expected. I have done several tests at different temperatures.
Temperature change alert
I think it is okay that one doesn’t need to confirm a temperature change but it ought to alert user that the set temperature has changed.
Circulate only mode
It tried it in an ice water bath. Judging for the warm skirt, it must have beeb heating the water to the set 5C. I believe that during the campaigner it was mentioned that it would get a “circulate only” mode.
Error code
Once I tried to start it below the minimum water level (without success) and once it stop without any indication as to why. An error code would be nice.
Sample app
I have not yet been able to start the sample app on my iPad Mini Retina. Maybe that will change when I get my new iPhone 6 next week.
To sum up. The new Anova is a winner!
Leonard
so I noticed on the kickstarter update #16 just posted that the photo of the production unit still shows the timer icon on the interface!!! Is this real, or just some cruel hoax for us pro-timer users
It looks almost photoshopped back on…
Is it possible to update the device firmware via bluetooth? @"Stephen Svajian" If you're interested I have a few requests that IMO might result in a better user experience:
add dedicated GATT characteristic for current temperature, set temperature and remaining timer
Maybe I’m missing something but with the current firmware the app/client doesn’t know when the user changes the temperature manually on the device (even when connected). Which means the client needs to send a command at a fixed period. That seems counter-intuitive to me. If the user changes the temp on the device, that should reflect on the app asap and not after a certain period or time or manual refresh. The user interface might feel outdated and slow with the current approach.allow to disable or reduce the beep volume. Even for reading temperatures the device beeps 6 times at high volume. Users might get annoyed with the app and stop using it.
the option to turn off the device after the timer ends. When I have to spend the night somewhere else, I personally feel much safer when the Anova is off instead of hoping it turns automatically off when the water level is below min.
I second all of these, but most especially the correct implementation of the GATT. Registering your phone to receive temperature updates and set point updates is critical. Also getting rid of the super annoying beeps is a must!
I see from the manual that the timer function is still there. Yaaaayyyy!!!