Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Guys: I had the exact same original one for years (with the old "daisy" pattern) my mom gave me and it last 20 years. It finally died so I decided to buy a new one. I was so surprised to come across this old workhorse manual model, the same one I've been using for YEARS. Although I'm not crazy about the design (which doesn't bother me since I don't leave it out when I'm not using it), here's what I like about it: Pros: 1. It's really simple to operate with the only three settings I'll ever need in a crock pot: low and high (and keep warm). That's it. All my hundreds of crock pot recipes only call for these three settings, no exact temperature needed. It's a crock pot....you turn it on for a few hours and leave it. 2. I like the idea that it's one manual knob to turn on and off...like my grandfather always said, less electronics and circuit boards to break (and he was right). 3. The stoneware inner pot lasts forever and is very easy to clean. Nothing ever sticks to it. And I've never, ever burned anything in this. 4. Inexpensive, and after I put it in my cart, a $5.00 promotion was automatically applied. Woo hoo! I had no idea, but I'm not complaining. Cons: 1. Minor issue, but one side of the metal part of the crock pot gets much hotter than the other, specifically the back of the crock pot (opposite where the dial is). You actually cannot leave your fingers on that back portion of the hotpot because it gets very hot when it's on high, though at the same time you can leave your fingers on the front portion for longer period (not as hot). My guess is that it's just the way the inner heating elements are lined throughout the pot. So although a little bit of the stew was sticking/cooked onto the stoneware where the hotspot was, but I end up stirring my stews a few times during the process, so it's not a deal breaker for me, since generally speaking the entire inner stoneware container gets very hot seems to spread the heat fairly well. So one star off for that. 2.As noted in 1. above, the container itself gets pretty hot when it's on high, so I wouldn't leave it totally unattended around children (my cat seems to know to stay away from hot stuff, but I probably wouldn't leave it on with me out of the house for any period of time with him sniffing around, either)