Just tried. Anova is not powered on. App comes up normally. At the bottom, it says
“ESTIMATED __º PREHEATING 00:00 SET 52.0ºC”
Tapping the “i” button brings up a dialog after a few seconds telling me that I’m out of range.
So, that all seems fine now.
This is ridiculous. I set the tim eron my tablet to 75 minutes and started it. I carried the timer out to my deck. After about a half hour I open up my tablet and it reads 74:30. Good thing I set the timer on the microwave as I knew the anova’s doesn’t work.Preformatted text
Lately I’ve not even been worrying about a timer half the time. I look at the clock when I start my cook - and note the time it will be done. The nice thing about sous vide is that it doesn’t matter if I’m 15 minutes late taking my food out, so I can watch the clock pretty loosely! 
Not sure if it’s more appropriate to start a new thread or use this existing one. I will use this existing one so that there is less confusion.
I was just curious why the timer does not turn the unit (heating elements) off. Is there a reasonable explanation for this? I’m confused why you have a timer at all, if it is not only difficult to use (without the mobile app), but does not actually turn the unit off.
It is the ONLY complaint I have about your product(s), of which I now have 2.
(Yes, yes… “be attentive to your food. One assumes that once it’s done, you will be there to remove it and turn it off”, but this is not universally true.)
Yeah, I decided that my bluetooth unit is pretty worthless in that regard. It stays connected for about 2 minutes and then it refuses to reconnect until I power cycle the mobile device AND the Anova.
I love the Anova as a kitchen tool. But I would NEVER hire a single developer working on the software.
Oh, and yeah… more than 2 years later, for the love of god… PLEASE…
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE BEEPING.
You have competitors. I have a voice. I really love your hardware, but your software sucks. But that’s not what bothers me. What bothers me, and now has me regretting BOTH my purchases, is the idea that for TWO YEARS, Anova has COMPLETELY ignored it’s customers.
No matter how good a product is, if the company does not respect it’s customers, it’s not a company worth doing business with.
I think it’s time to start making it REAL OBVIOUS that Anova cares nothing about their customers.
I am also disappointed that I bought the bluetooth version thinking it would be a “smart device”, and it’s not. And then, I got the Wifi version because “Well, maybe the bluetooth implementation is just bad”, and while my Wifi version stays connected a LOT more, it still seems like an afterthought, and my unit still beeps at me until I unplug it. Sometimes for no reason at all… and the timer still doesn’t actually DO anything. It’s hard to use from the unit itself, and it doesn’t turn it off, so why would I EVER use it?
So, now I think it’s time to start testing some of the competition, and talk to Guga from Sous Vide Everything about a collaboration project to discuss these issues, and what some better options are!
Hello fellow Sous Vide enthusiasts. I started this thread 3.5 years ago upon discovering the comically un-intuitive way to start the timer. At the time there was no Android app. Then one was released. It sucked. Then the app was totally refactored for both iPhone and Android. Both sucked. Unsurprisingly, Anova was unable to provide a user install-able firmware upgrade to make the timer more usable and, instead, defended the design based upon hilarious and embarrassing reasoning.
Here’s the thing. 3.5 years later I still use and still enjoy my BT Anova Sous Vide. It remains reliable and accurate and does the job. Perfect? Not even close. But I’ve gotten 3.5 years of solid service and countless excellent meals from this device. These days I keep my phone turned off and when the device comes up to temperature I scream across the room “Hey Google, start a 2 hour timer” (or whatever timer I want).
The world is imperfect and companies are imperfect. I’ll happily continue using my Anova until it fails. At that point I’m happy to reconsider other products but I’ll start by evaluating whatever new product Anova has first.
Perhaps it’s time to retire this thread…
-Best,
/Andy
One very simple reason that the Anova doesn’t stop on timer completion… Food safety!
Don’t like the timer beeping? Best solution is don’t use the timer. I know it sounds facetious to new sous vide users, but the timer is superfluous to most sous vide processing. There are very few truly time critical items with this sort of cooking. That’s one of its beauties. An extra hour or two on a steak makes no difference. Four or five extra hours on a roast is no biggy.
Time precision is not required. As an often controversial sous vide advocate says, “Put away the stopwatches, people!”
@Ember is right - the unit doesn’t turn off when the cook is done because of food safety. We heard all of the feedback regarding the beeping/notifications, and because of it, we were able to make the sounds from the Nano much softer and kinder to the ears. This feedback will also apply to future products. In a perfect world, all products we push out would be flawless - but as we continue to make new things, we’ll improve along the way. Keep the feeback coming - we’re listening. I always document it and let the rest of our team know what our community wants.
Hi @earlten
While I agree that the implementation of the timer needs work I’ve found Anova to be very responsive to customer issues when it comes to problems that prevent units from actually cooking food. I guess I’m just saying this because you went from not realizing why the unit does not turn off when the timer completes (which is explained as a food safety issue) being the only problem you had to practically calling for a boycott of Anova in the space of three posts! I’m right on the bandwagon regarding software improvements, but so far I’m pretty darn happy overall with the WiFi unit I’ve purchased.
I see you also follow the “Sous Vide Everything” YouTube channel (An excellent source to learn more about sous vide cooking!) Did you happen to catch the review of various sous vide units they did a few months ago? When they tested the competition the Anova came out as their favorite. At this time after considering build quality, performance, customer service on hardware issues, and price - at least for me - if I were to buy another sous vide unit at this time it would be another Anova.
PS -I’m NOT saying that the problems you noted should be ignored - you’ve listed real concerns that should be addressed!
The timer is junk. I would not recommend this device as it does not do what it says it is supposed to do. I like doing sous vide, so I’ll time it by hand and get a different brand in the future.
If you operate the unit manually, without the app, and set a separate timer on your phone or some such, it works fine. It’s quiet and, so far, has been reliable for me. Even if the timer worked reliably, it doesn’t actually do anything, except beep (forever). So, not having the timer is no great loss.
It’s much like an old-fashioned kitchen oven: turn it on, wait until it’s up to temperature, put in your cake or roast or whatever, and set a kitchen timer so you know when things are done.
That’s not so hard, is it?
The not so much annoying, but embarrassing part of this story is how, whoever writes software for the Anova, has managed to repeatedly botch the timer function over many months and over many releases.
Just forget about the timer and the app. Set the temperature on the device, use a kitchen timer, and move on. Your life will less complicated, have one fewer annoyance, and your blood pressure will thank you for it.
I’m in complete agreement with @michihenning on this issue. Set a timer on your phone, or use a standard kitchen timer. Personally I just note the time when I start my cook and set an alarm on my phone for the time that it should be complete. Not using the timer on the unit a non issue for me.
Or just forget about the timer. It’s not super critical with sous vide cooking.
For cooks shorter than 10 hours I’ll just stand there and count… 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi…etc. Works like a charm every time.
Ember may be right, but the notion is wrong-headed. Shorter protocols (thinking eggs) DO rely on timely shut-off for proper cooking. I am not always available to hit Stop within a 5 or 10 minute interval, which can make a big difference with eggs. Plus, ALL modern electronically-controlled cooking devices with timers shut off when the timer is finished. Sous-vide is NOT more susceptible to poor time management of the end user than any other cooking method- if your crockpot shuts off 10 hours before you get to it, it’s not safe food either. PLEASE GIVE ME THE OPTION TO HAVE THE TIMER STOP THE COOKING!!!
If you’re not there to pull eggs out they’re going to keep cooking anyway sitting in a nice warm bath.
Do a little research and take a look around at any other sous vide units on the market. You won’t find any that turn off when the timer shows completion…because it’s not worth the inevitable lawsuit some idiot would instigate when they got sick after leaving their food in the bath for hours after it was finished. It’s a food safety issue.
If you really want to have it turn off by itself you can plug your APC into one of those home automation plugs. These can be set to turn off automatically at whatever time you want. This removes any responsibility from the manufacturer of the sous vide cooker yet will still give you precisely the control your asking for. (I just bought two plugs for 20 USD on Amazon a couple months ago. They work well.) Let me know if you’d like more info.
True, but I have a protocol which works perfectly, which incorporates this factor, developed using manual shutoff. I just can’t predict when I’m going to be unavailable or out of range when the timer hits zero. Why does legalistic wimpiness limit technical capabilities in the sous-vide world, but convenience and user control rule, eg, in the crockpot world? Along the same lines, why cannot these be programmed to turn ON at a given time, and program for different stages? Programming-wise, it’s a pretty simple job.
I think there’s a bit more to it than ‘legalistic wimpiness’… Remember food poisoning can be deadly