Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Just got this pressure cooker a few weeks ago and we love it! Solid, well-built, easy to use/clean--if you're looking for a top-quality pressure cooker at a reasonable price, this is the one to buy! We purchased a Presto 6-Quart Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker from Amazon about a year ago for $48.99. We were looking for a decent stainless steel pressure cooker without spending a ton of money. While the Presto is reasonably well made and you certainly can't argue with the price, in our opinion the Fagor Duo is 5 times the cooker at less than twice the price of the Presto. We're really sold on pressure cookers (the flavor, the time savings, etc) so much so that we decided to do our research and get a quality pressure cooker this time even though it would cost more. After a lot of research, we decided on the Fagor Duo. First, I'd like to address some complaints about this item mentioned by some other reviewers here. I truly believe that many complaints come from people who didn't read and/or didn't understand the owner's manual, and trust me, when cooking with a pressure cooker you NEED to read the manual!! For example, someone mentioned that it was hard to tell when this unit came up to pressure, and I couldn't disagree more! There is a plastic yellow rod built right into the handle that pops up about 3/8" when the unit develops the desired pressure, plus, with mine any hissing from escaping steam also stops once the proper pressure is achieved. I find this style of pressure indicator MUCH easier to use than the old "rocker-top" style cookers. Additionally, once pressure is achieved and you reduce the cooking temperature, the Fagor Duo maintains pressure MUCH better than our Presto rocker-top pressure cooker--in fact our Presto cooker was so finicky in this regard (you have to verrrrry slowly reduce the temperature or else the rocker stops rocking and you have to increase the temperature again.....) that we decided to get one of the newer style pressure cookers like the Fagor. Someone else complained about putting the lid on wrong and having it jam. First of all, it's EXTREMELY difficult to put the lid on wrong--Fagor even engraves a mark on the lid of this pressure cooker that you line up with the handle to ensure easy and proper locking of the lid every time. In fact, that was another thing we didn't like about our Presto 6-quart pressure cooker--lining up the locking notches on the lid on was always a bit of a struggle, but the Fagor Duo model makes putting on the lid very simple. Again, reading the owner's manual (or watching the included Fagor instructional DVD) is VERY IMPORTANT! Some of the features that we like the best are: The Fagor Duo is much wider at the base than the Presto cooker which is not only more stable, but also gives you more surface area for browning meats prior to pressure cooking. The Fagor Duo comes with a nice stainless steel steamer basket, an informative instructional DVD on pressure cooking, a well thought out and comprehensive owner's manual, AND a nice recipe book that includes over 50 recipes! It also has a very handy steam release valve built into the cooker lid that allows you to quickly vent the pressure (in order to open the lid after cooking is complete) without having to lug the heavy pot over to the sink to run cold water on it, or wait the 5-10 minutes for the pressure to drop by itself. There's also two pressure settings (thus the name "Duo") so that you can cook/steam delicate foods like veggies, fish, etc at a lower pressure. All in all we couldn't be happier with the Fagor Duo. We considered a Kuhn 8 quart pressure cooker, but the $200 price tag for the Kuhn combined with the great reviews for the Fagor Duo make our decision easy. If you're new to pressure cooking, don't make the same mistake we did by buying a lesser unit to save money, just bite the bullet and get the Fagor. With it's build quality and 10 year warranty it should give you many, many years of great service!