T-fal FZ700251 ActiFry Low-Fat Healthy Dishwasher Safe Multi-Cooker, Black Discount

Melissa Almeida Say: T-fal FZ700251 ActiFry Low-Fat Healthy Dishwasher Safe Multi-Cooker - Black
Excellent fried food, cheap materials, 2009-12-03
This review is for: T-fal FZ700251 ActiFry Low-Fat Healthy Dishwasher Safe Multi-Cooker - Black
I have received my Actifry this week. The potatoes I fried here came out perfectly fried. Imagine the best french fries you have tasted but without the greasy feeling and oil dripping from them. The oil you will find on the fries once they are ready is virtually invisible. If you want them very crispy, just let them fry a little longer than the specified time. If you like them tender on the inside, follow the specified time provided on the user's manual which is around 40 minutes for 2 1/5 pounds.So far I have tried frying potatoes, bananas, nuggets and onions. All came out with brilliant results and what's best, using minimal oil. They all looked and tasted just like fried but were not greasy. And they were very crispy.The only drawback is the quality of this gadget that was clearly not made to last. I have used mine 6 times only and the paddle has already stopped working twice for no apparent reason. The paddle was attached correctly and no food was blocking it from turning around. I had to turn off the unit several times before the paddle resumed working on both occasions. So I guess this will not last much since it has been used only a few times.The Actifry has been around on Europe for some years now and I have found several people complaining about the product quality. It is not unusual to find reviews of people having it exchanged or fixed twice during the one year warranty time.I would expect something so expensive to last a lot longer. If someone else finds the same issue with the paddle please comment.UPDATE (01/08/2010):I recommend checking Amazon's website in UK if you are interested in more reviews of this appliance. There you will find 240 reviews of Actifry.My Actifry is being used around 5 times/week and sometimes the paddle still stops turning, but I find that removing and inserting it back usually solves the problem in no time. I am still very satisfied with the food it produces, but really wish that Tefal would improve the durability of this item.UPDATE (02/02/2010 - One star removed from the 3-stars-rating, now only 2 stars):I would like to point some flaws I have found on the unit until now. There really is a lot of room for improvement by Tefal:1. The paddle sometimes stops turning for no reason at all, as I have already described above;2. The piece that attaches the panhandle to the pan consists of two screws and a small piece of plastic that goes all the way down the side of the pan. More than a HUNDRED times I had to run to the machine because I could hear the paddle had got stuck and could not turn. ALL THESE TIMES the reason was that the food had got stuck due to this little piece of plastic and the paddle could not turn anymore because it was blocked by the food. Would it have been so difficult to attach the handle without this small piece of plastic? I truly doubt it;3. The paddle would be so much easier to clean if it was not hollow on the bottom. Lots of food pieces enter the several small holes which seem to be there just to make it awkward to clean;4. The plastic lid cover gets cracked by the heat the machine delivers! I have never removed this cover to clean, so it can't have been dropped or badly handled during clean ups. However, a crack has appeared at the front of the plastic lid cover. All I can think of is that heat from the machine during its normal operation cycle has made it crack.In my opinion, the downsides of this machine outweigh the great results it delivers. That is really a pity since this machine could have been much better designed and the use of higher quality materials shouldn't add much to such a steep price.UPDATE - 04/09/2010This week, the paddle has finally stopped turning for good. And the plastic lid cover seems to crack a little bit more each time I use it. Luckily it is still in the warranty period since I bought it 6 months ago. So that was the lifetime of my Actifry - 6 months.

Linda M. Boris Say: T-fal FZ700251 ActiFry Low-Fat Healthy Dishwasher Safe Multi-Cooker - Black
One of the best cookers!, 2010-07-08
This review is for: T-fal FZ700251 ActiFry Low-Fat Healthy Dishwasher Safe Multi-Cooker - Black
I bought the Actifry with the mistaken thought that I could make the same foods one would make in a deep fryer but use less oil. While I was wrong in my thought--the manufacturer's description is completely accurate. It makes great french fries with minimal oil, and beyond that is a great low fat "cooker" or "saute-er". The reason my thought was erroneous was because I was thinking of breaded fried food like chicken and vegetables, but in fact, this appliance doesn't seem to be appropriate for this use (unless you are using prepackaged frozen, in which case, the unhealthy stuff is already in it) But to my surprise, is it the best ever for cooking things I might otherwise do on the stovetop, but with the following advantages:1) Minimal oil used but tastes just as good as if you used more2) No need to preheat3) No need to worry about the correct temp (there is no temp to set)4) No need to attend it--you just throw your stuff in, add the oil, push the button and walk away.5) Very easy clean up. The cooking pan is light and leaves no food residue (at least so far)This product turned out to be something other than what I thought it would be, but turned out to be one of the best cookers ever!

Classics Queen Say: T-fal FZ700251 ActiFry Low-Fat Healthy Dishwasher Safe Multi-Cooker - Black
Best kitchen tool ever!, 2010-06-25
This review is for: T-fal FZ700251 ActiFry Low-Fat Healthy Dishwasher Safe Multi-Cooker - Black
I am based in the UK have used the Tefal Actifry now for just over two years. We use it most weeks, and find it invaluable.1. It cooks great chips (fries). Really useful if you like proper English chips rather than the more traditional shaped skinny fries perhaps. As I am on a weight loss plan - the fact that you can have chips with barely any more calories than a boiled potatoe (only one little scoop of oil cooks a whole family's chips) is fantastic.2. It cooks Chicken drumsicks, sausages, scampi - flawlessly. Pretty anything that we would try to grill or fry in the UK works fine.3. It cooks great roast potatoes too - just preboil your potatoes for a few minutes and then cook them like chips - much faster and calorie lighter that cooking with your joint, and much MUCH nicer than nasty frozen tasteless roasties!My elderly parents were so impressed with this - and believe me money is tight for them - that they bought their own!Reliability. Neither we, nor my parents have ever experienced paddle difficulties at all, however the one issue I did experience was that the catches on the lid broke and I had to order a replacement lid. I think this was more down to the exhuberence of our 9 year old in making her own chips than necessarily a problem with the machine. It was easy, quick and cheap to get a replacement lid - I think £14 and I haven't experienced the problem since.We love this so much, that we really want to buy another one to keep in the US to save some money on food when we are staying there. But the current price in the US is a big issue.