Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So first of all, five stars because it works well, exactly as described...But. The "but" is that this is not just "Alexa enabled", but "Alexa Mandatory" - at least to achieve even basic functionality other cookers have out of the box. The backstory is that I'm a life-long slow cooker user. And slow cooker eater when I was too young to be a user. I'm also firmly embedded in the Alexa-sphere, with Echo Dots and Fire TV cubes scattered all over my house, Alexa app on all our phones, and even Alexa in my truck. So when need arose to purchase a new slow cooker I thought some Alexa connectivity would be useful. And it is. However, rather than simply being Alexa augmented, even basic functionality is Alexa required. For example, here's what you can do WITHOUT Alexa: Turn it on. Set the heat for High, Low, Warm. That's it. (No timer or any other settings) And Here's what you see looking at the cooker, without using Alexa: Whether it's on or off. Whether it's connected to wifi. And if the heat setting is High, Low, Warm. (Not how much time is left, or any other information) So in the process of adding Alexa to the mix, they decided to remove normal functionality. I didn't expect that. Perhaps I could have paid more attention to the description or reviews, but I didn't. So I figured I'd post this review in warning to anyone else that may think this is a normal crockpot, just with Alexa added. It isn't. If for any reason you don't wish, or can't use Alexa with this cooker, you will be sorely hindered and inconvenienced.