After having my first microwave for about 18 years, it finally died and I did a lot of research before deciding to buy this Panasonic. Having Amazon gift certificates, free shipping and a $25 kitchen and housewares discount influenced my decision and I have to say it was a great buy. I'm very pleased with the evenness with which it cooks and defrosts.I upgraded from a mid-size 650-watt oven to this full-size 1250-watt oven. I have to remind myself sometimes that everything needs less time to cook. However, there are a lot of pre-programmed features in this unit that make it easier. For example, there is a sensor cook button that selects the time and power level for different kinds of foods depending on how many times you tap the button. Types of food include baked potatoes, frozen pizza, frozen entrees, fresh vegetables, frozen vegetables and omelettes. I made a baked potato last night that was cooked perfectly. There is also a separate popcorn button (you can select from 3 different bag sizes) that also worked perfectly. A More/Less button lets you add or subtract time to the sensor and popcorn settings.
There are a number of different functions you can select or turn on and off. Some of the functions include language (English, French or Spanish), a choice of pounds or kilos, child lock, reminder beep (I turned that off because unlike my old oven which beeped every minute, this one beeps every 15 seconds which was annoying) and menu action which when turned on guides you through each step of cooking. There is also a demo mode which is meant for retail displays but you can see how everything works without actually cooking anything.
Some other useful features are delayed start where you can use the timer to set the oven to start cooking at a later time and a keep warm setting if you won't be taking your food out of the oven immediately. A Quick Min button lets you select 1-9 minutes simply by tapping the button the appropriate number of times.
If you purchase this, I would suggest going through the owner's manual a couple of times. I went through it once before I used the oven. A couple of days later I went through it again and discovered that I had overlooked some shortcuts.
The only down side for me with this oven is losing some more counter space in a small kitchen. Keep that in mind if you don't already have a full-size oven.
UPDATE: It is now 2010 and I realized I have been using this oven for 3 1/2 years and I still love it! I do a lot of actual cooking in it too, not just reheating, popcorn, etc.
It's quiet. It looks GREAT. It beeps to let you know when it's time to turn something over you are defrosting, but won't shut off and wait for you to turn it. (Turning is optional.) It's clear from a bar indicator what power level you have set and is operating, which makes it easy to tell from a distance.
More on defrosting: My last micro only allowed up to 2.4 lbs in the display, so for that chicken block I was eternally re-defrosting. Not this baby. Bring on your big freezer items, as long as they aren't too tall. Up to 6 lbs can be entered in the display.
That "ENJOY YOUR MEAL" message that moves across the display when the cooking cycle ends is a nice touch.
UPDATE 8/02/2010It's still doing the job and looking great.I have always been partial to Panasonic microwaves and this is one of the best. It has had constant daily use for over two months now with an excellent performance record.
In fact, I have only used my stove and oven twice since this purchase (for a large frozen pizza). The sensors are very accurate oatmeal is perfect. With two frozen dinners, I had to add additional time, but everything else has cooked, reheated or thawed as expected.
Earlier reviews mentioned resetting the clock and a loud beep. Panasonic must have listened to their customers as neither problem appears to be present on this model.
With 1250 watts, it does reheat more quickly than older models so I would suggest reducing the time until you get used to your new microwave.
UPDATE 10/21/2008 In December it will be two years still perfect!OK, maybe not better than new, but certainly better than old. My old Panasonic microwave finally went to micro-heaven after 21 years of faithful service. That's right, 21 years! I had been so happy with it, and with Panasonic, that I decided I'd try to duplicate the purchase. This one is as close as I could come (it even has exactly the same glass turntable!), with some great new features. Some reviewers have expressed worries about durability. My guess is 21 years isn't a realistic expectation for anything these days (microwaves, TVs, cars, marriages). But if memory serves I paid around $350 for its predecessor back in the 80s, a unit that was much heavier, had fewer features, and was more difficult to program and use. Although the interior is slightly shorter, everything else on this microwave is a logical update on the old one. My only problem? After 21 years I had all the settings memorized for my favorite cooking chores. This unit is more powerful, and I'm having to experiment to find new ones. Bottom line...so far, so great!This is a basic microwave oven with some cool features and a very mediocre user interface. You can enter time and press cook and it works. It has a power button that reduces cooking power by reducing continuous cooking energy, not, as most do, by cycling on/off at full power. This is good, but the button is stupid. To set power 3, you have to push the power button 6 times. It decrements from ten, one digit per press. It also has a "quick minute" button, which is good, but it, too, still requires that you press the "start" button. Not as quick as my old uWave, which just starts when you press the quick-buttons. I also wish there was a "quick 30 sec", which I used more than anything on the old oven. There's also a "smart reheat" button that's great. It heats until it senses steam/heat given off the food. But it's also stupid, since there's no control over the power level. (Panasonic doesn't document this feature very well, really.) There's a "Smart Cook" button, that also cooks by sensing the steam/heat given off by the food. It would be way cool if you could figure out the cooking profiles, but they don't document that, either--they just say "potato" or "frozen pizza" and assume they know how to cook it. Again no power control, and no way to use it if you don't happen to be cooking potatoes or one of the other 8 food items listed. You also have to press this button between 1 and 9 times to select the food group--again a stupid button trick.
All in all, it's a fine appliance at a good price. Its biggest shortcoming is that the user interface could easily be so much better.
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