Bear Mini Rice Cooker 2 Cups Uncooked, 1.2L Portable Non-Stick Small Travel Rice Cooker, BPA Free, One Button to Cook and Keep Warm Function, Blue

First off, I bought a Bear yogurt maker a few years ago and I love it so much. I loved the attention to detail, that real glass was used over plastic to make my yogurt in. So, when I needed a very small appliance of course I turned to Bear. I call this my Baby Pot. And goodness, do I love the attention to detail Bear put into this little pressure cooker! It is so cute to use, it makes me smile. I already own a 6 quart instant pot, and a three quart instant pot. But, they are just too big for the two of us. And when I saw Bear had this product I didn't hesitate to buy it. There are no recipes in the manual. It is a simple manual. Others have complained about it. I have discovered which functions are pressure cooking settings and which are not by a simple process - if you turn it on, select a function button then remove the lid, the pressure settings give you a LID warning error on the digital display. I also discovered that the slow cooker setting, (there is no low or high for this), seems to cooks on high, so I shorten my cooking times accordingly.This appliance comes with a little rice measuring cup, and the max is 3 cups of rice. That totals to to 2 and 1/4 standard measuring cups of rice. Each button has a preset time, you just press the same function button to increase that time, once it reaches its maximum time, the counter will roll over to a smaller time on almost all the buttons. That is fine with me.Rice isn't the only thing that can be cooked in this pot. What I love is that I can pressure cook 1/4 of a cup of dried beans, with 3/4 cup of water. There is a start cooking delay button, but the smallest time delay you can set is for 2 hours. (I don't recall the maximum delay time, but you can set it before bed, and have breakfast, or lunch ready the next day.) Since each button has a set minimum time, if you need to pressure cook veggies for less time, just set a timer. The pot makes a sound when it has reached the correct heat or pressure, so I start counting my time from that point. Also, you will see the display change to the count timer. I can just do a simple math and figure out if it's gone a minute or two, hit the cancel button, and release the pressure manually.Talking about releasing the pressure manually - I simply love how that is done. I press a button on handle! So simple, so neat and clean. You need to hold down the button to continuously release the pressure, which is okay with me. If I see any sputtering, I stop releasing the steam for a few seconds, and let the pressure out in short bursts. All without getting near the pressure weight or vent.I have small hands, (painful hands on some days), and the pot handle is great. It is comfortable for me to use. It doesn't cause any extra pain on my bad hands day. Everything in this little pot seems well thought out for ease of function. I also love that appliance has a handle, just like a bucket, and can be carried like a bucket...so cute! AND that was a function I didn't know I was missing and is useful. I can move the pot around with ONE hand. :)Customer service is really great. They are very responsive to any questions via Amazon's web site. I didn't respond for a few weeks, (sick), but they acted like no time had passed. I appreciate that. Things pop up in life and sometimes you can't immediately respond. They have a great deal of patience,to . I REALLY appreciate that.I originally thought I would learn how to cook with this pot, (and use it for traveling only), in the hotel rooms, since it is so small and won't take up a lot of space in the car. (Keep the original box to pack it for travel!) But this Bear Pressure cooker has become my go to appliance at least once a day, and I have had this for a few months now. I think this would be the perfect gift for a college student. Just buy them one when they are in 12th grade, and teach them how to use it, so by the time college rolls around, or they move out, they will have experience in using it without worry, (or should I say without your worrying about them using a pressure cooker?!). I feel this is the safest electric pressure cooker, or stove top pressure cooker, I have ever owned. I love it.Oh, and if you do have a larger family, you can use the Bear pressure cooker to make a side dish easily. It takes up very little counter space; you should be able to squeeze it in somewhere. I also found that this Bear appliance does not over heat my counter top. I don't need to put a trivet under it. It would have been perfect back in the day when I was making baby food. Just the right size if you prep baby food ahead of time, like I did. And it also is the perfect size that a finicky eater who doesn't like what you have cooked for the family. He or she easily can go fix themselves something in the Bear Pressure cooker. It also works if someone in the family is on a special diet. Easy to make a small portion just for them in the small cooker without a huge amount of left overs.Ease of cleaning is great. I don't like to put my non stick pots into the dishwasher, so I just hand wash the inner pot, and I also hand wash the little lid. I don't soak the pressure cooker's lid in water, I don't like the idea of water in hard to reach dry places; I don't do that for my Instant Pot lids, either. That is just personal preference.Over all. I do so love BOTH of my Bear appliances. They are good at what they do. And it does make my life easier. :)

I love the size - it's easy to store and move around. For the two of us, it's perfect - and simple/fast enough to make more rice the next day if needed so it's fresh. Really impressed with this rice cooker - the rice itself (have only done brown rice so far) comes out well and better than in the pot.

Great little rice cooker that is cute to boot! A nice choice for singles or couples. Not large enough for family style cooking.

FYI Stuff:If you lose included measure cup it holds 2/3 cup or 160ml of rice.Sealing ring wide part seals against inner pot when putting sealing ring back on after cleaning. Narrow groove clips over top plate.Do the half pot water cook when received to get rid of initial burner heating smell and steam clean inside.Pro:Mini rice cooker with a nice inner pot. A lot of these have an inner pot so thin that it bends with slight finger pressure. The inner pot in this is at least a couple millimeters and has no deflection from pressing. Nonstick coating looks decent and working fine. Will have to see how it holds out.Takes up little space and and great when just needing two servings.Removable cord is nice and has a standard D type connector like used on computer power supplies. I used an old 5 foot computer cord as I needed longer cord than 3 foot included one.Silicone seals seem good but would like heavier duty.Con:The pot is in keep warm mode as soon as plugged in without ability to turn off except pull cord out. Bottom plate is 120 degrees with no pot in it.Included cord is 3 foot. I needed longer one.Took 36 minutes to cook 2 cups of rice, not 25 like mentioned in manual. Will need to try just 1 cup of rice and see if 25 minutes.Top seal plate is thinner and flexes more than would like. Also, it is bare aluminum.

As someone that lives solo it’s hard to find hacks to make cooking for one worthwhile, but this little rice maker is great for quick and easy dinners.I usually cook basmati rice when making quick weeknight stirfries or even to just throw some Lao Gan Ma chili crisp and a fried egg on. I use 1 cup well rinsed rice to 1 1/3 cup water plus 1/2 tsp salt. Comes out perfect every time. Firm “dry” rice that isn’t mushy or starchy or clumpy. I’ve made it without rinsing the rice thoroughly and it definitely comes out starchier. It’s not a big deal but it’s easy enough to throw the rice in a wire strainer and swish it around with my fingers under running water for a minute so I advise it.The machine itself is very easy to use. When you plug it in, it defaults to the “Stay Warm” option. As soon as you close the lid and flip the switch down, it starts. When it’s done (about 25-30 min), it automatically flips back. It doesn’t burn or keep cooking or anything so you can leave it on for a bit if you’re not ready for it yet or just forgot.I haven’t had any issues with boiling over. I only ever make 1 cup uncooked rice at a time though, so maybe more than that can create issues. It is pretty full after it’s done cooking so I wouldn’t try making too much more in here. Maybe go for something a bit larger if you’re cooking for two or more.The insert is great non-stick metal that cleans super easy in the sink. I don’t want to screw up the non-stick coating so I wash it by hand with mild dish soap. It takes all of 30 seconds and there’s never anything stuck on that I really have to scrub.The only slight issue I have with it is that the cord is pretty short so you need to keep it very close to an outlet. I also wish there were an easy way to wrap the cord when storing to keep it near. A lot of devices have the ability to wrap the cord in a recessed track underneath. That would have been a nice feature.Overall I’m very satisfied with it. The size, consistency, quality, and price were all spot on. For the $30 or whatever it was, I can safely say this is a great buy. Would easily recommend.