As Seen on TV at 4 in the morning

[rinso]

Which of the informercial gadgets have any of you bought and how do you rate them?
Here's my list:
Showtime Rotisserie: Excellent, but you can't really set it and forget it and some of the the suggested cooking times are a bit too short. But the flavor of the rotisserie food that comes out of this machine more than makes up for any minor flaws. I totally love making shish kabobs in it. Chicken is juicy as promised, and it turned out the best standing rib roast I have ever tasted.
Flavor Wave Halogen Light Oven: Also excellent, but for different reasons. This is my favorite kitchen cooking device. It's great for convenient cooking with easy clean up. The ability to cook something from frozen to done and have it turn out delicious is so helpful for busy weekday meals.
Pasta Express Pasta cooking tube: Total P.O.S. and dangerous too. Pasta sticks together, and the device is hard to use without scalding yourself.
Ultimate Chopper: Very good. Minces garlic and chops onion well. It is very powerful, so you do have to be careful not to liquify things you only want to chop. Very convenient and versatile.
Magic Bullet: Good...best for making things like smoothies and frozen drinks.
Popeil Pasta Maker: Fair. It takes a lot of practice and skill to make pasta at just exactly the right moisture level. The machine is none too robust. You'll be lucky if you get a year out of it without the hopper cracking around the extrude outlet. It is much too slow during the mix and knead phase, and the motor really strains and heats up during the extrude phase. Cute idea, though!

Would love to hear other's input on these devices.

 

[neptunebob]

I was up at 4:00 A.M. last night watching Good Eats with Alton Brown when he was making Gyro sandwiches and he says Showtime is not good at all - simply not hot or powerful enough to cook the meat. He recommends a big and expensive outdoor grill with rotisserie.

 

[exploder321]

Showtime Rotisserie (we spent $149.95 for it): PITA....We had one with touch pads, etc... I hated it...Very hard to clean, cooking times longer than promised, very hard to clean.. It was alot of work for not that great of results sometimes... The rib roasts where good, so where the loins of pork, and cornish game hens and the duck i made, i feel that i could have spent $75 or so and gotten on of the sunbeam rottiseries (or similar)...Ours never came with the kabob skewers..All told i lost $65 on it..SOld on flebay

Flavor Wave Halogen Light Oven: I loved this device for it's convience and time saving..However mine caught fire...Fortunatly it was put out quickly and the device thrown out..

Pasta Express Pasta cooking tube:Want one to play with...

Popeil Pasta Maker: POS again..Very hard to use and even harder to clean..I used it three times and the motor strained so bad and it was such a pain i just stuck it away....Given to me as a gift when rebulding my house in 04, so price unknown..Sold it for $45 on flebay though

Ultimate Chopper: I want of these as well..

 

[oxydolfan1]

The "One Sweep" (sponga-type rubber floor mop) and the "Swivel Mop" (microfiber mop) far excel ANY other similar products I've used on my resilient flooring (except Casablanca, which cost four to five times as much)....

The Showtime oven is useful, but don't buy it unless you are prepared to take the time to clean it thoroughly after every use.

The quality of the acne medications, pimple creams, etc. is absolutely horrible, and ineffective....you'll do much better with a bar of Octagon soap, a plain washrag, and a touch of witch hazel or Vichy Calming Cleansing Solution for a midday freshening....

I'm a little worried about preparing gyros in such a manner...

The Magic Bullet is handy, but burns out very quickly...not a good value in the long run. There are better choices.

 

[toggleswitch]

Showtime Rotisserie:
(We spent $149.95 for it): PITA....

@ $25 at a flea market, I am willing to overlook the scrubbings it needs afer use. It was missing the slotted top grid that fits over the base pan. and was LOADED with dog hair :-( freikin SLOBS! UGGGGH!

YUMMY flavor. Threw three potatoes in the bottom pan and two veggies on top and had a whole meal. Potatoes were broasted to golden-brown perfection!

Personally don't like the painted food tray, the aluminum, the galvanized metal interior or the non-stick finishes. The masses however are happy Stainless steel where ARE you? I would have prefered the oven WALLS to be non-stick!

 

[toggleswitch]

I'm a little worried about preparing gyros in such a manner...

What did I miss. Home-made gyros? Complete with "mystery-meat?"

 

[exploder321]

I think he's talking about the Halo of Heat Oven

 

[exploder321]

Halegon Light Oven...

Not me trying to cook in a maytag dryer...

 

[gadgetgary]

Shocked!..I say shocked!!!!!

You Mr. Toggles want non-stick???????

My how things have changed.......

(Ducks and runs)

 

[exploder321]

We bought one of those sqeege mops for $19.95 off tv and it worked wonders for years..Than i found one at walley world for $5.00 and it works even better...

 

[toggleswitch]

Zinc anyone?

Well it beats galvanized, IMHO

My aunt's and unlce's house is the only one I know of in NYC with warm-air heat. (VERY RARE here!) I can smell the zinc in the galvanized ductwork when it's hot.

 

[petek]

I haven't bought anything off an infomercial, been tempted, but I like to see and feel the stuff I'm buying first. Watched a review of the Pasta tube thingy and all the ladies gave it a thumbs down. Just the other day I see they have an electric one now.
The Flavor Wave oven looks intriguing.
I bought a pasta machine years ago, not the Ktel Popeil one, and it too cracked under the pressure, returned it and bought a different make and it works great though I haven't used it in a couple of years.
I did buy a Vileda floor mop the other day though with the matching pail/wringer and I like it.
I see the Magic Bullet and it's clones every where now selling for about $20. Same with the Ultimate Chopper, those were clearing for about $14.
Quick we need another gizmo for Chef Tony.

 

[oxydolfan1]

"I like to see and feel the stuff I'm buying first...."

Yeah, me too, but objects in the mirror always appear larger than in person...

Sorry. It's the holidays....

Seriously, they solved that problem here by putting an "As Seen On TV" store in the middle of Times Square...

 

[petek]

Yes, they have those here in the malls. I think they're called TV Showcase or something.. full of all that trash but you can still find the Flow Bee's in there.. lol

 

[exploder321]

We used to have one.. Had all that crap in it... QVC stuff... ALthough i do admit sitting there and watching bobs cooking hour ever sunday after church as a kid...I also have one of the Schnozzes off of QVC..

Flow bes where those hair clipper gizmos attached to a yellow Eureka Vaccume wherne't they?

 

[agiflow]

The only thing i ever bought after watching an infomercial about 6-7 yrs. ago was "smart chopper" A nice little hand crank food chopper resembling it's elctric cousins. I still have it to this day and it was worth the 13 or 14 bucks i spent on it.

This thing is indespensible for onions, carrots, celery or any small tasks. I love using it for making stuffed mushrooms. Very well made little gadget that i think Shop-Rite may still sell.

 

[tolivac]

Halogen light oven-Is that similar to a GE Advantium oven?Have the GE machine and love it-mine is over 5 years old and no problems.also acts as a microwave oven and range vent.

 

[kenmore58]

Received the Popeil pasta maker several years ago. Have to say that I found it easy to use, makes great pasta, and nothing has broken or cracked on it yet. Unfortunately, I don't use it as much as I used to, but I still enjoy making homemade, flavored pasta once in a while.

Ron

 

[laundromat]

the Flavor Wave sounds like an Easy Bake by Kenner toy company?The Easy Bake uses a 100 watt bulb!