Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

While I liked the idea of the "Inverter Technology" that lets you easily cook at lower power without duty cycling the microwave, that feature doesn't outweigh Panasonic's poor warranty policies. My microwave died after two months of use - everything was working fine one moment and then the lights went out, dead as a doorstop. (Being an electrical engineer, I think it's a safe assumption that the power supply is what died but that's only an assumption) Had this died within the 30 day period, Amazon would have printed out a shipping label, had UPS show up at my front door to pick up the defective unit and most likely cross-shipped a new microwave out to me so I could have a replacement in just a matter of days. Instead, since it was outside the 30 day period, I had to go through Panasonic's warranty service. Their only option is to have me hand-deliver the defective product to an authorized Service Center; the nearest one is a 90 minute drive from here. That would be understandable if I lived in rural Nebraska but I live in a heavily populated area and would probably pass thirty or forty Starbucks and at least three Best Buys that I can think of on the way to the Service Center. There's no option to ship the product by UPS; I have to drive it to the repair center. Of course they're unlikely to repair or replace the microwave on the spot so that'll be another three hour round trip to get the repaired microwave. This is a somewhat pricey microwave but to have to take six hours out of what little free time I have on the weekends just isn't worth the trouble. I'll just chalk this up as an expensive lesson in how not all manufactures are customer-centric and go look for another (non-Panasonic) microwave. I can't comment on the overall reliability of Panasonic microwaves - I only have my own experience to go on. Perhaps out of a thousand appliances only one dies in under three months and I'm just lucky this time around. As far as the design goes, some things I liked, some things take some getting used to. The spin knob instead of numeric keypad is "cute" and does the job but it does take some getting used to. It's pretty easy to overshoot the time you want and have to backtrack to get to your goal. The "always-on" variable power setting is pretty nice - I'd much rather use continuous power than have it cycle on and off to approximate partial power. I don't think it's quite linear, though - cooking at half power seems to deliver closer to two thirds power - two minutes at half power is much hotter than one minute at full power. Again, you can get used to it and make adjustments based on experience. The "auto cook" feature was a bust. I eat plenty of frozen dinners and the cooking time was a) never right (food came out much hotter than if I'd just followed the directions on the box) and b) took significantly longer (I think it cooks at low power until it detect steam, then a quick blast and you're done) If the frozen box said cook for six minutes, then "auto-cook, frozen dinner" would take eight to ten minutes. That feature was quickly ignored, sadly. Also, there are plenty of gripes here about the light not coming on when you open the door and let me add to that long list. While you don't -need- the light to put a plate into the microwave, it's a nice thing to be able to see what's going on. It's really a matter of "what were they thinking?" when the designers opted to have a dark, unlit box rather than the (very standard) lit interior. There's no getting used to that one, it just seems wrong. Not that it's horribly inconvenient but why did they feel the need to make it even a little bit more inconvenient than necessary? Would I buy this unit again (if I hadn't had reliability issues?) Maybe, maybe not. I can't say that the features that make this microwave more compelling (variable power, large turntable) outweigh the disadvantages (useless auto-cook programming, no interior light, odd dial interface). There are other microwaves out there that are competitive with this one and there's no distinct advantage with going with this particular product line... -------------------- Quick update, 24 hours after posting this review. On contacting the Panasonic "Customer Service Center" I discover that it's a guy fixing appliances out of his home in a residential area! He actually asked me to call ahead before coming down so that he could make sure he's home - and mentioned that between 8 AM and 9 AM was most convenient for him. I was expecting at least a commercial storefront but this seems awfully small time to be the best that Panasonic could offer! Wanting this issue to be over and done with, I went out and bought a microwave from a different manufacturer - Kenmore Stainless Steel 1.2 cu. ft. Countertop Microwave 69123 which is OEM'ed from LG and similar in design to a number of other Kenmore and LG microwaves. It's the same size and the same power rating but in so many ways the Kenmore is much, much nicer than this Panasonic. The user interface is significantly more informative - to the point of displaying whole phrases ("reheat: plate") so you've got feedback on what's happening. The door opens much more smoothly on the Kenmore (I hadn't realized how much that mattered until I got one that worked smoothly) and low and behold, a light comes on when you open the door! There's even a nice feature that reminds you every few minutes that the heating is finished but you forgot to take out your cup of tea. In retrospect I guess I'm glad I got the Panasonic first because it really makes me appreciate how much more I enjoy the Kenmore's design features! (And, if there ever happens to be any problems, I can just drive it to the nearby Sears and drop it off to be fixed!)