I bought and air fryer after many days and nights watching this site and Tom's YouTube channel.
After seeing things that were done in them I just had to get one and talking Kimmie into it was no easy task.
She kept saying "Why do you need another cooker"? I said because this thing cooks without oil and does it in
a way where it's close the Big Easy way of cooking. Well with that she agreed to get one, so I asked for info
from folks here and outside the forum. Some said this was a good one some said no that one is better.
After a few weeks of thinking it over and looking at $$$$ I decided to go with the Air Fryer XL 5.3 qt.
Now I know these have their issues just like all products do, but the $$$ was right and I could have it that day
which gave me 14 days to play with it before going back to work after my surgery. This was the main reason I
pulled the trigger on it. Now I know that sounds crazy and I'm nuts anyway but I could give it a run for 90 days
then take it back if not happy. Being off for 14 days really gives me time to try things and I have believe me.
After reading issues with this unit and talking to forum members I knew what the weak spots were going to be
so I unboxed it and looked it over real good. I ran it dry for a min to make sure there was no issues with
the controls then I washed the baskets and divider tray. Got it ready to use then noticed the door is kinda
strange the way it goes in, but once you figure it out it's all good. Many issues I read about were the door
issues. I think some people just forced their doors and they broke. I could be wrong but I could see how that
could be the case. The next thing I noticed was the way the basket sits in the grease tray. it's not supported
on the end which will cause long term wear on the handle, so I am looking into a way to support the basket
without hurting the finish. This should help keep pressure off the handle/grease tray.
I started with an easy bread mix, then I made a pizza from that recipe. From there I moved to making hamburgers
in it and Kimmie love it so much she has her own recipe/info book for this air fryer.
Next, I moved on to breakfast sausage keeping track of times and temps (for Kimmie) then we moved to BACON
and then candy bacon. I found with wings a 3 to 4 min preheat helps out a lot. With bacon or another small
meat the fan blows it all over the basket so having a wire grate or something to hold it in place would help a
lot.
All in all I'm pleased with this unit, not to say I'm overly impressed with the quality of the materials used
to make it BUT like a Bradley smoker there are good ones and bad ones. This seems to be holding up to the test
so far and I can see why folks have issues with it, but if (to me) you know what it is and how it's made (again
like a Bradely smoker) I feel this unit can go for awhile without issues. For those that own a Bradley OBS you
know how the door would break or the lower panel would crack, but my Bradley is 8 years old and keeps going so
to me how you treat a cooker will determin how well it holds up.
I will put it through a few more test before I decide if I think it will stay, but right now I have really no complants with it (but that can change)
Thanks to all that gave advice