Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

After taking the unit out of the box, my first impression was "cheap." The outer shell was not as thick as units I've owned in the past. But my first impression was wrong. Despite the thin outer shell, this unit works great. It heats fast compared to my previous fryers and after cold food is dropped in the oil, the recovery time was also quick. My first use was for a fish fry. I cooked hush puppies, fries and yes, even deep fried some hot dogs and sausages. At no time did the oil grow too cold to drop in another basket. I was able to keep a steady flow of food cooking. There is a timer that can be set to automatically shut the fryer off after the desired number of minutes or it can be set to be constantly on. I did not use the timer function but rather left the unit on. I kept the thermostat set around 350 degrees for all the items I cooked. The heating coil is slid on to a mount on the outer shell and is very secure and can be removed to clean the heating coils. The power cord is magnetically attached to the heating unit to quickly disconnect if needed. I found this to be a great safety feature. The cord itself could be a little bit longer but it is a good balance between convenience and safety. I purchased the unit that came with three baskets, two half baskets and one full-sized basket. I only used the full-size basket because I was cooking in larger quantities of only one item at a time. The handles for the basket(s) can be detached or folded in during storage. Clean up was easy as the whole unit comes apart easily and quickly. I would recommend this deep fryer for home use and even a small party. We had 20+ at our fish fry and it served its purpose well.