Hamilton Beach 5 Quart Portable Slow Cooker

I ordered this slow cooker online and received almost three weeks ago. I finally had the chance to use it yesterday. I put a pork roast with carrots, potatoes, celery and onions. Set the cooker on low and let it go for 11 hours. Oh it smelled so good cooking all day! The roast was super tender as were the veggies. The cooker worked perfectly. I have no complaints so far. I even got it in my favorite color of green!

I am slowly decorating my kitchen with red appliances and fixtures. It is a labor of love. The picture shown of the red crock pot is much nicer than it looks in person. Being Hamilton Beach I expected it to be the same drop dead gorgeous shade of red their toaster is. The truth is, it is pale and washed out, faded I'm afraid it will have to settle for just being another crock pot and not a fashion piece for me kitchen. But then for the money spent it serves it's purpose well. At least the stone comes out so it can be used in the dishwasher. Just store it in the closet. It is a let down considering the beautiful picture that was shown. This is my 4th red appliance from Hamilton beach. It is the only one that disappointed me. As a crock pot it works great and has a strong cord to fasten down the lid for transportation, I'm just disappointed in the color. Not bad enough to send back just not proud enough to display with my other red products.

I love that the ceramic pot lifts out of the heating base for cleaning. But the handles are part of the ceramic pot and are hot to touch so you do need to use a pot holder when touching it after cooking, as when you are scooping the contents onto a plate.

no matter how you turn the lid it doesn't fit the pot - there's always a space. I called the company and they say it's designed that way. when I asked why, the phone rep said: because that's how it's designed. kinda silly since there's a whole in the lid already for the steam to escape. so if getting this, perhaps use more liquid than u regularly would.

It's beautiful but it runs too hot. Even on a low setting it BOILS instead of simmering. (I'm talking just below a rolling boil level of boiling). That is the very opposite of a slow cooker. I mean, my dishes still come out tasting okay but I would never trust leaving it alone all day while I was at an 8hr shift.

I probably would have liked this slow cooker more if it had an On/Off light, but it does not. Sorry, but you don't realize how nice that little light is until you don't have one. I have never purchased a product that didn't have some form of illumination whien the power was on. You just have to plug it in and wait until you feel it get hot, and then you know that the power is working. Anyway, with that aside, It appears to be well built and is easy to clean. Switch moves from OFF / Low heat/ High Heat. This is my first slow cooker and I guess Low Heat and High heat is all you need. I cooked a pot roast and it came out very nicely. In all good for the money, but I still miss that light.

This cooker is a very good value at the price, though it does seem to cook a bit on the hot side. Even on low, my meats are finished an hour or so sooner than the recipes would indicate, in one case leading to quite dry turkey thigh meat. I won't be cooking anything while I'm at work, and won't be sleeping late on mornings when I cook overnight recipes. Using during waking hours, when I can monitor how well done my dishes are, seems the way to proceed. It's attractive and a good size but did have some trouble with the delivery in NYC. Since there are no Walmarts here, I was offered the option of free shipping to a FedEx office, rather than a store, but when it arrived, Fed-Ex sent it back, as the Fed-Ex office Walmart's website offered as a pick-up site, does not hold packages. This caused a one week delay in getting it sent, Free, to my home, and a LOT of frustrating time on the phone. Still.....I like this pot very much and am looking forward to using it more.

I used the slow cooker last night to make beans and smoked turkey dinner for my family. The food was delicious! The slow cooker is designed very well. The heavy crock on the inside is removable and easy to clean. The glass lid is rubberized along the edges which makes it easy to sit it on top of the crock without the clanging noise. The vent in the top of the crock helps with letting steam out and the keep warm feature is also a plus. The shell of the crock is lightweight, would have liked it to be a little sturdier, but overall a good value for a good slow cooker.

I bought this to replace a much smaller slow cooker. I've used it several times and I'm very satisfied with the results. It has a rubber seal around the lid which is great when you want to transport food to another place. There is also a rubber type band that you can put over the top to keep the contents from spilling when you are transporting the food. It's very easy to put on and keeps the lid secure. The seal is tight and what I especially liked is it keeps the aroma of the cooking food from being over powering. I don't like for my house to smell like what I'm cooking all day and this seal does help prevent this. The seal on my crock pot did not have any odor or change the taste of my food like one commenter complained about. The lid also fits very well. It has a nice "keep warm" feature which is great for a dinner or buffet where you just want it to stay warm and not continue to cook. The crock is thick and very durable. It is removable and cleans easily in the dishwasher. I bought the red one and love the color and the way it looks. It holds 5 quarts easily and cooks very well. I also noticed that the outside did not get very hot to touch like my old one. I'm very happy with this product and look forward to using it for a long time.

Bought this particular model because it said "Portable". I made up a huge batch of soup to take to my co-workers at our church feeding program as I had promised. I don't own a car. I packaged the cooker on my cart in a large plastic bag and took off toward the station. Buy the time I go to the platform, I had already lost 1/4 of the soup in the plastic bag. I set the cooker on the platform, poured out the soup from the bag, and decided to hold it in my arms, replacing the top as directed. I walked about 12 feet and began to smell soup. YES, I was soaked in it. My raincoat, pants, sneakers, it was a nightmare. I had to poor the rest of the soup onto the tracks, and walk the empty cooker back to my apartment. I disappointed my co-workers and I was beside myself. The cooker itself works fine. As for its portability--NOT AT ALL.