I'm generally cynical about gadgets, especially overpriced ones like this. But I'm impressed with the performance, particularly with the steak. Questions in my mind would be about cleaning it after cooking something like bacon that spatters. The price, of course, is ridiculous. My cast iron frying pan and my toaster oven together cost $60, and they do a decent job.
I have the same concern in almost every gadget that is "cleaning it". Just posted I'd pay 350 tops tho won't happen it'll never go that low. I'm very impressed with this tho
The Brava _is_ a toaster oven. You know how those heat coils inside a toaster or toaster oven glow red? That's because they are emitting infrared light, which we call "heat," along with a little bit of red light which is just a slightly shorter wavelength of light. They just put more current through the coils so that the wires glow yellow/white instead of red, just like an old incandescent light bulb. But it's still putting out mostly infrared light (like a heat lamp) which is doing most of the cooking - just like your toaster oven does.
@@girlsdrinkfeck My biggest issue is the price. It's astronomical! May consider it for 300 and with all gadgets my concern is cleaning. Way too much bother for a salad spinner I bought. Many parts, it's sitting in a door.
@@HermanVonPetri Thank you lol. There's only so many ways to transfer heat, all these overpriced appliances are just scamming silicon valleyites with too much money. If you want to overspend on a kitchen toy at least get a steam combi-oven, it opens up some new possibilities by actually doing something (adjusting moisture levels) unique.
Gotta give this dude mad respect. Willing to throw down $1.3k of his own bread just to let the world know if they should. Love your reviews by the way.
@@ParkerSaint Yes, but claiming it as a business expense doesn't mean he gets refunded the same amount he paid. It only reduces his taxable income by the amount he paid. He still paying way more than the value of the write off.
I guess my issue with this oven is, there are just way too many ways that this can break and not work. By that i mean the computer and the touch screen ect...but it's pretty cool.
the touch screen and the microprocessor is actually not the part to worry about, listen to a throwaway line he said about a smartphone app... this is one of those internet of things devices, which tells me all those recipes is has are stored in a cloud, if brava the company goes under the device essentially bricks itself
@@compzac yeah but hes saying if a part gets fried internally, who you gonna call. local repairman? you couldn't find parts for this thing or have any idea on how to fix it
Just get the panasonic flashxpress if you want a small toaster oven, if you want a large toaster oven, the cuisinart 260n1, or maybe a Breville. I got a flashxpress used and I've been really happy with it. IT functions similar to this minus most of the tech features.
honestly i agree with you, i bought a full size ceramic stove, and it was pretty advanced, only cost me 1500, and i can cook for more then just 2 people. it's not a bad little device, but very very limited use.
@@mgratk so does a toaster oven, and air fryer a microwave, they all offer exactly the same ability... this thing just tells you do this and this, your not learning to cook, your being told to assemble an ikea table in food form By that i mean you obviously made a table but did you learn how to cut the wood or measure the lengths of lumber? no you followed steps you didnt have to play with times or make a mistake to learn better
Infrared cooking has been around for ages. I wasnt sure until I saw him after opening it after the preheat, but I'm 90% sure that's what this is using. You can get much cheaper options, but you won't have that fancy screen and overpriced accessories😅
I personally have one of these and I cannot see myself using any other oven in the future. Cooking 3 different ingredients at the same time perfectly is a game changer. Also, the egg tray is so useful for quick breakfasts.
out of curiousity, is it internet dependent, or is everything stored locally? I'm enough of a tech head to know damn well I don't want my oven to have wifi.
The camera is a really cool touch! And so is the search feature. But for 1300 I was expecting something way bigger. That seems like it would struggle to even fit a large frozen pizza. Maybe 300-500$ would be a much more reasonable price
@@elliotflorida3469 uhh did we watch the same video, he had a personal pizza it filled the tray, so yea you can do two... if you buy an extra tray, probably for 50 bucks, cause some tin cost 50 bucks of course.
@@compzac | You make a good point, but... While he made an 8" personal sized pizza, the Brava can hold 1 or 2 standard small 10" frozen pizzas which is obviously larger than a personal sized pizza. And yes, I am referring to the typical frozen pizzas you would get at your local supermarket. But where the Brava really shines when it comes to pizza is when you make pizza from scratch with fresh dough and other fresh ingredients, and is even larger because it covers the entire tray (rectangular rather than round). Bigger and better - nothing better tasting than freshly made gourmet pizza from scratch! And so fast, easy and fun to make with the Brava.
These things have been used in restaurants for years under brands Iike Flash Bake and TurboChef where it is combined with a convection blower. The bread toasting ovens at Subways are TurboChef ovens. Putting one of these in a home is tricky because it uses a tremendous amount of electricity, it gets very hot, the cooking times are different from anything home cooks are used to. Etc. And the machines cost a lot. The whole point of the machines is a restaurant where you need to make a lot of food in a hurry. Homes generally don't have that problem.
Very beautiful and fancy high-tech oven...but I've bought cars that cost less than that! A toaster and regular oven will do the same, so unless the price goes wayyy down, no. Loved the review though! Thanks!
Honestly looks and is like the food contraption concepts they would make in the 1960's for some kind of world's fair. Could only fathom a full size oven like this for bigger meals, imagine the price tag of that lol.
@@anubisthagod it's an overpriced microwave. Imagine if we marketed a microwave as "cooking with light", while not false in the realm of physics, it's still misleading. The brava uses IR. So does my lizards tank 🙃
It looks interesting, but here's the thing most people should watch about all these high tech appliances - lifetime. Always a problem having electronic components and circuit boards in appliances like those, along with proprietary non-standard components. A taste of that is how expensive the accessories are, just because of the weird sizes. Which is ok because I know James will be doing an x months review later on. Though I imagine at those prices the company will... or at least should be doing good service and whatnot. I also like that they shoved a camera in there... it's perhaps the thing I like the most on it. xD Touchscreen interface stops me from giving it to someone like my mom... menus, having to input stuff in a screen, click through menus and panels - those are just a no-go for her, even if it's not all that complicated. It can't be anything more complex than turning time and temperature dials. But at least this one isn't overly complicated and doesn't seem to need to connect to Internet and whatnot, right? IoT is right out for me personally. Did you need to register or connect to something before using James? As for cooking with light... here's my theory. I think Brava is using some specific elements there that can be turned off and on fast, which certainly is a step above regular dumb electric ovens. xD But for the most part, electric ovens all "cook with light"... it's all heating elements that are electrified to produce infrared radiation/light for heating. :P In fact, it is the physics/mechanism that works for all electric appliances that heats something, apart from stuff based on induction. One potential difference that is not exclusive to this oven is that the elements are exposed directly to the food, while other ovens might be under and around the "heat box" and heat things uniformly instead, to mimic how a gas over works. There are pros and cons in both systems, but I like what Brava implemented there. Apart from that, you can pretty much think about electric ovens as enclosed space heaters... I think the fancier models have a quartz element, ceramic element, infrared lamps (which seems to be what Brava is using) or some other fancy new composite materials... but for the most part you have those metal elements that heat up like in electric kettles, electric grills, and several space heaters too. This actually doesn't make much of a difference other than speed and perhaps top temperatures they can radiate, but the more exotic the material is, the more expensive replacement gets. So one thing to keep in mind with this one is how long the elements last, and how expensive they are to replace. I personally think it's great some companies are trying to introduce some tech and change the formula in these decades old appliances... but I don't like anything that forces people to connect stuff to the Internet, I think controls needs to be kept extremely simple with fancy options only there as options, I will still preach about the effectiveness and usability of physical controls over touchscreens and smartphone controlled stuff, and I'm usually less interested in electronics stuff, and more for reimagining core mechanic components. Anyways, good testing and review! I'm more convinced on the utility of this one in comparison to other IoT-like ovens... xD
A Mini convection oven is really a very simple product, so I would personally go for those for longevity. You will likely be able to find a replacement heating coil and other than that it should last many years if treated well. This will cook a little faster and has some neat features such as the thermometer - but the extra speed doesn’t equate to power saving like a microwave would, as it’s not *that* much faster. I would rather get a basic toaster oven and pair it with other devices such as a sous vide circulator or electric pressure cooker for added flexibility and options, and those devices have the advantage of being really very economical to run.
Energy conversion in a regular oven is pretty close to 100% effective. What you can do is adjust the volume you are heating. Now I have no idea of how the Brava works, but the zone system suggests that there are at least three heating elements, and the mention of light makes it sound as it is using infra heating. Again the conversion of electrical energy to heat is almost perfect, probably over 99%, but the area heated is more controlled. So when cooking something that uses the whole tray, all three zones at the same settings it should be equal to a regular hot air oven of the same volume, minus the very miniscule amount of energy needed to drive the screen and electronics. When cooking a couple of strips of bacon, using only one zone, it should be more efficient than using a regular oven of the same size. It won't take a third of the energy, but probably something between 40 to 50 %. But at the same time I have a feeling that using a skillet on the stove is even more energy effective for cooking bacon.
Efficiency in cooking appliances is hard to calculate because you would need to calculate energy expended by the system and subtract only energy transmitted specifically to your food. It's why Energy Star does not rate cooking appliances. There are simply too many variables to get a consistent value. That said, the only two analogues to this technology are Infrared cookers (see GE Advantium) and commercial impingement cookers. Neither is particularly efficient, so at best the Brava is about as efficient as a normal oven.
@@deovontaymcslanga4380 Using infrared light to cook should be close to 100% efficient in converting electricity to heat. The only losses should be a little visible light, and in an enclosed space even that will end up as heat. The ability to direct the energy using a reflector should make it more efficient at transmitting that energy into whatever you are cooking. So why are they known to be inefficient? What mechanism limit them?
My mom bought me the ninja foodi pan set today because I've been talking about it since I saw your video about it. A late birthday present and am excited to try after your glowing reviews about it. Thanks for the great videos.
Okay, here's my take on this: PROS: - Although it may look like a printer, don't judge a book by its cover because the design is nice - The food turns out pretty good, and nice and a little quicker given the size of the Brava - The screen is bright and helpful - A camera inside the oven, which actually is a very clever idea! I actually wonder if that was inspired by the microwave and oven cameras from Good Eats CONS: - Only one for me: PRICE! I have to agree with James, $1,300 is a very steep price tag. The price has to be right if this is going to sell, otherwise it will be shelved permanently. And from what I've seen personally, I would hate to see it discontinued because it really looks like a great product But overall, another great review! Already looking forward to the next one
the camera is not bad, but honestly this is supposed to be one of those set and forget devices, so a camera seems kind of pointless. that's the whole point to the internal meat thermometer. the rest well lets face it, these brava cookers are supposed to be the same across the board, so the cooking times are not going to vary, except when you are changing portion size, like say 1 chicken breasts potatoes and veggies, so you would just adjust that when you set it. i think a camera would be much better suited for a conventional range. where heating times can be different.
and that is the real question, because it says you can bake in it, but i would love to see a cake made in it, because something tells me cooking a 9 x 13 in it would be a bit challenging.
It would have been interesting to see you use normal tins and trays to cook things to see how much of that $300 is actual design necessity vs what you can get away with using in it.
gonna say i think that sounds like a good question, simply put what happens if the enamel comes off the pan, and you don't want to spend 60 bucks for a new one.
@@demonpride1975 | Like all non-stick pans, they should be 'conditioned' regularly to maintain them. My pans are over three years old and still work great. And I use them a lot. But I do take very good care of them by hand washing them (never put them through the dishwasher) and conditioning them regularly. If additional pans are needed, they are often available on sale and/or in packages which brings the cost down dramatically. They also have an eBay store where they are often available with a nice discount, as is the Brava itself.
I look at that oven as there is just more things that will need to go wrong and be fixed even though the technology is kind of cool but i still prefer a more simplified tech. Thanks for the review, the price of that alone would stop me from buying it 😉👍
Definitely an accesory I can do without. Would be cheaper for me to hire a chef on a part-time basis. However, as a sous chef, I find that unnecessary.
New tech always has a high price point and then drops and levels out over time. I am hopeful this will do the same as I'm really impressed by its functions and results shown in this video. Thanks for the review James. this is amazing cooking tech.
Yes the techi is old but the scale isn’t up there to bring the price down. If this company lasts long enough then perhaps we will see a day where every household would have 1
As always, love your reviews! I was curious about the air fry option especially for wings as it did cook the bacon really well. I had the Whirlpool Smart Countertop Oven and while it was a jack of all trades, it was particularly good at any single feature. Also the thermometer kept failing due to faulty port or electronics (Whirlpool discontinued the oven). I bought an external thermometer with a long wire that I used to monitor the temps outside the oven. I eventually swapped it out with a Cosori Dual Blaze Air Fryer which is amazing and I use it for everything now.
Always enjoy your reviews. I was curious if you have ever thought of using a Kill-a-Watt Meter, while doing reviews of Appliances? Just to see how much electricity some of these use. Thoughts?
its really interesting. if i was remodeling my kitchen and i didnt want the standard oven range for space reasons this might be worth the high price, except that is is to small to say make a whole turkey or a big tray of lasagna.
Great lesson on the Brava, James. It is essentially a way advanced version of the Panasonic FlashXpress toaster oven. It could with IR light and cycles a regular light on and off so you could see inside the glass window. That oven dates back 15-20 years, I think. I had two of them. My first died after numerous years and Panasonic stopped importing them for awhile. Then they resumed and I got a second one. It’s retired now as my Breville Air is too big for my counter area to support both. I marveled at it as an adult E-Z-Bake Oven, too. This Brava takes it to a whole other level and price point. ETA: Amazon has the device and accessories with Prime shipping. The smaller items are bundled, though. Still compared to $15 shipping, not awful. But oh that entry price!
I have a Panasonic Genius microwave. Great oven, but Panasonic really sucks. The magnetron died in less then a year. Gave up trying to get it fixed under warranty and just bought a magnetron and fixed it myself. Panasonic apparently has a habit of not supporting their products.
@@misterhat5823 that sounds awful. I always had good results when needing Panasonic support, Sony is to me how you feel about Panny. Did you check if your credit card could have helped you? Unless you paid cash or a gift card for it, most cover you for a year and even an extra year.
@@jbs256 It was awful. Couldn't get a human on the phone, no reply to their contact form, and the website sent me to a business that closed 20 years ago when the man who ran it retired.
I would love to have that, I would most likely never use my regular oven again however I'm in Canada and I could only find it on Amazon by an independent seller and it was $2705 for the "cheapest" oven 😧🤨
I think the selling point is the 2nd page of options, having a device that can do dehydration, rice cooking, air fry, slow cooking and more is a great find. It's a jack-of-all-trade machine and that is likely to appeal to people. It would be good if the price came down about half way but that may take a while.
Great video as always brother! I own an infrared grill that I use during inclement weather. I works like a champ, but the bright lamps make it hard to see the searing of the meat. Also, I hope cleaning lense of the oven cam isn't too tedious in the long run. Keep up the good work!
@@Forbidden-Spaghetti Only if that van life is plugged into a power outlet, and you have WiFi as well the make it all work with the phone app. I think it would draw too much on battery, or solar power.
An Air Fryer toaster style convection oven would be cheaper to run and about 10% of the price, so unless you need the gadgets and fun features it’s really just an executive toy. The abundance of features and Android OS (probably an ancient version) makes me worry about how reliable it would be in the long term.
@@CommodoreFan64 a small generator with plug in slots and a phone with some wifi hotspot would work for that. A small generator would be useful in a van anyways
I would like to see a comparison to a conventional (maybe convection) oven. I feel like a lot of those things could be done in a regular oven in the same way, there are also ovens with temperature sensors integrated or you could try to use a wireless temp sensor like the meater probe to compare the results.
I agree with your review. The Brava is incredible. They added a new feature that you can use this air fryer like an oven and you do not have to use the default functions. I too went the cheaper route and found myself buying the pants along the way. My negative is as well the price.Well made but Very expensive
Definitely a luxury oven, and I could see a use for it in small kitchens, or those times you don’t want to fire up the full size oven, but a good basic gas oven and cast iron cookware give great results, at a more reasonable price Also, the horribly expensive proprietary pans are probably Teflon coated, and not only does Teflon have a limited lifespan, it emits toxic fumes above 400 F… Cast iron emits no toxic fumes.
no they arent teflon no company wants to use teflon because people are scared of it, these things are ceramic coated... also limited lifespan my ass ive been using the same teflon coated pan for 20 years and the thing was my moms she bought in 94, so its nearly 30 and its still better at non stick than most of the stupid new non stick pans, as for toxic fumes, well i cook on that pan almost daily and according to the state of california i dont have cancer and am not dead yet
somehow I doubt a company would be dumb enough to sell people pans for use in their oven, which when used in their oven poisons the food. Seems like that might be a bad idea when it comes to, y'know, not going to prison.
That looks very nice. The egg sandwich appears to be much better than the other sandwiches you tried. The English muffin actually gets toasted on both sides and the cheese looks perfect. My problem is the price. All this can be done in my Forever pans just as well. And I don't have the counter cluttered. That steak shocked me, it was perfect.
Never heard of this item until now, thanks for reviewing!! This is interesting, though. Would be great for tiny homes, RVs, or any other kind of small living space.
no it wouldnt, that thing needs a 20 amp circuit to work... most RVs are not designed to have that pumping through just one outlet for a long period of time, at least safely, a tiny home ehh maybe, but a glass fiber box that basically becomes tinder when its set alight, heck no i wouldnt use this in those
First off, kudos to this gentleman spending $1,360 of his own money to do a review. Thank you! I appreciate the effort! No way, no how I was going to spend $1,300 for one of these, but I found the mid-range model (Same oven just more accessories) for $300 on eBay, so at that price it was worth it to me. Shipping was almost as much as the oven was! This thing weighs 37 lb, so is pretty beefy. I'll get right to the point, and what I see as the most valuable aspect of this oven. If you're the type of person who has a tendency to not eat well because you don't cook a lot, this takes a lot of the guesswork out of cooking. The recipes are quite detailed and the company adds new recipes every Tuesday. As you saw in the review, there is videos of everything. Very cool, and that technology comes at a price. Someone had to make each and every one of those videos. Tons of info is provided. I contacted customer support with a few questions, and had an answer back within an hour. Nice. I go out to eat probably three times a week. I love to say that my local restaurant prepares my green curry or whatever it is I'm ordering absolutely the same each time, but the don't. Sometimes it's overly sweet, sometimes it's overly spicy, Sometimes it's watered down, sometimes vegetables are overcooked, sometimes the chicken is like rubber and other times it's tender. These are professionals preparing food at $15 a plate, and they are not very consistent. If you follow the instructions given, you can get absolute consistency out of this machine every time and can also fine tune it and save the parameters to a Favorites menu. Again high technology that most ovens don't have. And I think I read there's something like 6,000 recipes currently and again they update and add new recipes every Tuesday. So, once again for people who don't have a lot of cooking experience and are not eating particularly healthy this thing can be a complete game changer. If you like high-tech and gadgety things, you'll love it. It's fun to use. If you're old school and like using Grandma's cast iron skillets and know how to prepare multiple items so that they all turn out perfect at the same time, you don't need a gadget like this. It takes a long time to master good cooking skills. Do you have those skills or not? I bought this particular item for my camping van, although I still use it at home most of the time. It's extremely versatile, and when you're out in the great outdoors it can be challenging to prepare a gourmet meal. This does it pretty effortlessly, and consistently and that's probably it's greatest asset. The pans are easy to clean, and so is the machine if don't neglect it. So, I would recommend to people if you're intrigued by the technology go up to eBay. I've seen these sell for a few hundred dollars, and at that price I think they are a steal for what they do. Again, no way I would spend $1,500 for the one that I have, but hell yes at $300. It's a very cool gadget.
@@jrwizz If I were rich and travelled a lot, I’d buy one so I wouldn’t have to subject myself to hotel food. It might also find a place in a summer kitchen. But 99% of the population neither needs nor wants this. Imagine losing 50% of your counter space to this thing.
I don't think the price is that bad when you look at in wall ovens. A cheap in wall is about 1k. So for the small compactness of this I can see why some people like me would buy this. Thankfully I am not needing to replace mine and when I do a kitchen remodel I plan to remove it and do a traditional stove top which is much cheaper.
I could see this being really useful for a dorm room or small apartment. Of course, if you're living in one of those, you're probably much less likely to be able to afford the Brava's price... I think for most people, a regular stove/oven combination -- plus a microwave, air fryer, and/or toaster oven -- would be much more cost effective solution. The Brava is pretty cool though, and works better than I expected.
Thank you so very much. I love your reviews. This is to spendy for my taste. Looks easy to use. I probably don't need all those features. I use mine basically to reheat food. I cook with a big oven. Because I always make a lot. I make food ahead of time so when I'm busy I can still eat good. I know something good is going to happen today. In Jesus' holy name we pray amen 🙏 🙌. Hugs.
Impressive. Someone did it right, which is why the price is so high. But, one must admit, the food looked perfectly cooked. In my experience, the challenge for cooking with any new appliance is getting temperature control right. Every device is different. Am blown away by how well this oven did with stock instructions. Guess it proves the old adage true, you get what you pay for.
I have been a Brava owner for 3 years, it is exceptional! Great review! Keep in mind this review only covers the basics. The Brava can do so much more than presented in this review. The Brava is capable of true GOURMET cooks as well - it makes the absolute BEST steaks (on par with the best, most expensive steakhouses in the US, any steakhouse), burgers, chops, lamb, poultry, fish and seafood (makes the absolute BEST caramelized, delicious scallops) with genuine deep brown CRUSTS as a result of the Maillard reaction all at the push of a button. So fast and easy! Vegetables made in the Brava are the best too! Something as simple as carrots are a real treat. Although it may seem expensive, it is truly a bargain for what you get! Worth every penny and then some, especially if intense flavor is important to you. Pays for itself over time because it is highly energy efficient too. One point not made and that I think is really important that virtually all foods taste better when made with the Brava over conventional appliances. Much better! There is definitely a difference compared to 'regular' appliances. Also, the specially designed pans are relatively inexpensive when bought as part of a package. The egg pan makes superb eggs in minutes. The Chef's Pan is the same quality as premium le Creuset pans and also is a great value and affordable when ordered as part of a package. There are a lot of incredible recipes designed specifically for the Chef's Pan. Brava is unique. The food cooked in it taste far are superior to all other appliances. Cooks fast too which is nice too.
@@ayajade6683 | After rereading my comments, it does kind of sound like that. BUT in reality, I am simply just an extremely satisfied customer, like virtually all Brava owners. I purchased my Brava about 3 1/2 years ago. BEST purchase of my life. And most Brava owners seem to feel the same way. I have done well over 3,500 cooks with it. A truly wonderful appliance.
Interesting product but too rich for my wallet. Great review though! BTW, I'd love seeing a review of the Suvie 3 (and maybe also the optional starch cooker though that hasn't changed since the 2nd gen model). Cool to cook technology is so amazing to me and with the third version I feel that it is finally something I could see myself using but I'm not sure I trust the ads about it yet. I like to see if it works for you if possible. 😁👍
Love the Mandelbrot set artwork on your wall! Wrapping up my Mathematics degree with an investigation of fractals and specifically partial dimensions. Cool to see stuff that I’m studying appear in an unrelated context!
I was thinking the same thing. I wonder if it has special settings for it, or if you should just use the cake directions and set it like a regular oven
If anyone is wondering why this is so refined and works so well, it's a version of a similar unit available in Japan and Taiwan, where apartments often do not include even a stove. There are entire families using just this and a rice cooker. Yeah, it's expensive, but when you move it goes with you. Apparently it also lasts really well with few issues. Yeah, it's a power pig, but overall power use is less than an air fryer and WAY less than a traditional electric range.
I'm very interested in this product, but I'm definitely concerned about the power usage. This does seem like something that could really replace all of my appliances, but the point is I already have all of those.
Power usage won’t be any worse than anything else. Cooking appliances tend to be quite efficient, in that 100% of the electrical power becomes heat. The differences lie in how much of that heat actually makes it into your food, vs escaping into the room. Microwaves and induction do well because they reduce wasted heat. For baking, using a small oven for small dishes saves energy because you’re not heating up the huge mass of metal that is a full size oven. Escaped waste heat is electricity you have to pay for, but if also has a second cost in the summer: if you use air conditioning, then you have to pay again to move that waste heat back outside! (This is gas stoves’ Achilles heel: tons of waste heat as the flames heat air that just flows around the pan, rather than heating the pan. Induction is the best in this regard, but even standard glass top or open coil electric are better than gas. Restaurants are starting to embrace induction for this reason, because it dramatically reduces the ambient temperature in the kitchen.)
It actually cooks by sucking dark through the food rather than exposing it to light. Dark produces the friction which causes heat (snicker). Sorry, look up the "dark sucker theory" it's hilarious 😂
This is a nice review of funktionality. I would like to see how much energy this owen consumes, compared to other traditional coocking methods. Keep up the good work!
I remember this tech being developed in the 90's for the pizza industry with the goal of replacing the microwave oven I couldn't wait for it to be available on the market but it never came to be hopefully this will be a big hit and bring the price down to be more affordable
Infrared ovens have been available to consumers for a long time. Other than maybe the combination of all its sensors and the software, I don't think there is anything new here.
It's an over hyped toaster oven. It uses "a combination of infrared and visible light." Infrared is just the regular radiant heat that the wire coils emit in any regular toaster or toaster oven. But infrared IS JUST A LOWER WAVELENGTH OF LIGHT that we call "heat." So they aren't lying, but they are misrepresenting how special that is (it isn't.) Visible light will also heat up the surface but isn't as efficient at penetrating deep into food. It's probably just a side effect of the glowing infrared coils depending on how hot it gets. (incandescent glowing: red is lowest heat, yellow medium heat, white is even higher heat, and blue even higher still.) Notice that you can see the wires in a toaster glowing red. Most of the heat energy is being radiated in the infrared that we can't see. But there is a large spread of radiation that extends a little bit up into the lower visible light range so we can see a little bit of that red light. This is why an easy bake oven worked. The old incandescent light bulbs emitted most of their energy as heat in the infrared range, but about 10 or 20 percent of that energy was in the visible light range of yellow/white light. Consider that the microwave energy that a microwave oven uses is also just a lower wavelength of light that is the right wavelength to heat up water molecules and penetrates deeper into food.
if you lived in a studio, this thing would be above your price bracket... this device still puts out heat too, you can hear fans running and it lights up a warning telling you its hot dont touch. basically if you cant open your windows or turn on the air, buy a toaster oven your wallet will thank you.
The Brava does what it says it will do , but for me at least it is just too expensive to justify when other things i already one can cook all the things you showed just fine. Also judging by that egg pan they greatly over charge for the accessories. Also it is only going to work for a one or two people as it doesn't have the capacity to cook for more people than that.
Thanks for the review! The price is insane, but if it catches on I'm sure there will be copycats (some good, some bad) for more reasonable prices in a few years.
Great video as always, this looks to me like it's a really cool thing to have until one of the high tech features no longer works, then you have a 1300 dollar paper weight.
Would love to see a follow up video to this comparing it to something cheaper like your Ninja, and also using regular pans instead of their crazy expensive ones.
dont even need a review, they will cook steak and veg exactly the same, its just using infared light as opposed to hot air, but that means the ninja is better cause it costs 300 not 1300
I bought my Brava when it first became available, it was around a $1000 and it included a second set of trays, metal, glass, egg. It also included the cast iron pot for braising. I was attracted to the Brava, because I am a semiconductor process engineer, and have used the halogen lamps in rapidly heating silicon wafers in the semiconductor manufacturing process.; so I was intrigue by the product. Also didn’t have to pay for shipping, I picked my up at the corporate office/factory in Redwood City, CA. I am very happy with my Brave. I’m also a cordon bleu trained chef. Brava have a place in my kitchen food lab, which includes the Anova Steam Oven, Thermomix, and the Irinox Fresco countertop blast freezer. With the right tool you could make anything.
I'm gonna be honest, for all the hate I was expecting to give this thing, it's the first extreme luxury item that I can see someone with money buying since the performance is nearly perfect. I am beyond impressed.
The crunchy banana chips that everyone thinks of as dehydrated are actually fried. That's why they taste so damn good despite having lost nearly all of their actual banana flavor.
@@BlackJesus8463 I have! They don't seeem to be common though there are a few companies selling packaged freeze dried fruit in the supermarket. I prefer them to the fried variety because they're softer. A little firmness/crunch but not so hard and dense as fried.
This was a great and comprehensive review. Thank you! My observations are, well, price is obvious. This is worth up to $600 in my book. And that's still ultra pricey for a countertop appliance. Don't get me started with the crazy priced accessories! The second observation is simple things like toast seem a bit menu intensive. I get it for more complex things but a toast shortcut would be better (especially at this price). I will say this though it did a great job! It seems to do what it says it'll do so bravo to the brava! (still needs to come down to about half what they're asking though)
Great video has always, I would like to just ask how about power consumption?, Is it better than a microwave or electric oven? Thanks again and keep it up
I always love when brands try to reinvent basic things like an oven. Unsure why I need a camera to watch my food cook when I could just open the door to check it 😂
That leaves the heat out and cooler air in, which can have adverse affects to what you are baking. Also, you can look at the screen by glancing, its more convenient.
Because then you will be able to post the video of your food cooking on social media which is important because everybody on social media will want to know about your food while it cooks I taught my dog how to use this thing and he just loves it Gravy Train never looked so good he even heats up Fluffy's Little Friskies this is one helpful in the kitchen I'm going to try to teach him how to make beef burgundy one of these days
Do I need a Brava? NO. After seeing your review...Do I want one? YES, YES, and YES!!! Thank you James for another great review. Looking forward to more of your videos.
This is absolute not a toaster oven, it is a gourmet food cooker. The flavor of foods prepared with Brava is totally different than a toaster oven, or any other appliance for that matter. So much incredible, intense flavor!
I'm using the ceramic blue diamond fry pan it was wider and shallower than I expected. Making hash and eggs. Let you know how it goes started on low and raised it to almost medium
![TREASURE - 'KING KONG' COMEBACK SPECIAL [THE TREASURE SHOW]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Jx1wyMaQzf0/mqdefault.jpg)
The Brava looks more like a home office printer/scanner than an oven!
Office is probably the target market.
That's why it's so expensive. You can make a copy of your dinner serving two for the price of one. 😂
Look out for the price of consumables...
Why are you yelling?
@@Dizz2K7 they didn't type in caps? This comment makes no sense.
Absurd price for the unit and its accessories but I love the tech features of this thing.
This thing was more expensive then my first car lol.
@@retro8696 what was your 1st car?
@@retro8696 this costs what I paid for my current car
@@kylestephens9593 He drove an oven
At this price point, I feel like most of the accessories should be included.
I'm generally cynical about gadgets, especially overpriced ones like this. But I'm impressed with the performance, particularly with the steak. Questions in my mind would be about cleaning it after cooking something like bacon that spatters. The price, of course, is ridiculous. My cast iron frying pan and my toaster oven together cost $60, and they do a decent job.
I have the same concern in almost every gadget that is "cleaning it". Just posted I'd pay 350 tops tho won't happen it'll never go that low. I'm very impressed with this tho
The Brava _is_ a toaster oven. You know how those heat coils inside a toaster or toaster oven glow red? That's because they are emitting infrared light, which we call "heat," along with a little bit of red light which is just a slightly shorter wavelength of light.
They just put more current through the coils so that the wires glow yellow/white instead of red, just like an old incandescent light bulb. But it's still putting out mostly infrared light (like a heat lamp) which is doing most of the cooking - just like your toaster oven does.
It's crap. A bacon sarnie takes 5 mins to cook in a frying pan
@@girlsdrinkfeck My biggest issue is the price. It's astronomical! May consider it for 300 and with all gadgets my concern is cleaning. Way too much bother for a salad spinner I bought. Many parts, it's sitting in a door.
@@HermanVonPetri Thank you lol. There's only so many ways to transfer heat, all these overpriced appliances are just scamming silicon valleyites with too much money. If you want to overspend on a kitchen toy at least get a steam combi-oven, it opens up some new possibilities by actually doing something (adjusting moisture levels) unique.
Gotta give this dude mad respect. Willing to throw down $1.3k of his own bread just to let the world know if they should. Love your reviews by the way.
Cost of business when you think about it. He’s probably getting decent monetization from his videos.
He definitely claims it as a business expense on his taxes lol
@@ParkerSaint Yes, but claiming it as a business expense doesn't mean he gets refunded the same amount he paid. It only reduces his taxable income by the amount he paid. He still paying way more than the value of the write off.
@@heatherangel9700 true point.
@@ParkerSaint Ask the diaper/cohen
I guess my issue with this oven is, there are just way too many ways that this can break and not work. By that i mean the computer and the touch screen ect...but it's pretty cool.
the touch screen and the microprocessor is actually not the part to worry about, listen to a throwaway line he said about a smartphone app... this is one of those internet of things devices, which tells me all those recipes is has are stored in a cloud, if brava the company goes under the device essentially bricks itself
@@compzac yeah but hes saying if a part gets fried internally, who you gonna call. local repairman? you couldn't find parts for this thing or have any idea on how to fix it
The more high tech features, the more things that can break. I prefer things with dials- my oven is 14 years old, and it still works perfectly.
And its not worth 1300 for me. But still pretty cool.
@@compzac that's a pretty massive leap to make. A thing HAVING online functionality doesn't mean it's dependent on it.
Seems like a luxury item for sure. It seemed to perform well and has cool features, but that price tag is right out for a lot of people.
Just get the panasonic flashxpress if you want a small toaster oven, if you want a large toaster oven, the cuisinart 260n1, or maybe a Breville. I got a flashxpress used and I've been really happy with it. IT functions similar to this minus most of the tech features.
honestly i agree with you, i bought a full size ceramic stove, and it was pretty advanced, only cost me 1500, and i can cook for more then just 2 people. it's not a bad little device, but very very limited use.
Luxury item for someone who doesn't have any skill in the kitchen at all. Which is a good thing. Could give people confidence to learn to cook.
yeah, its definitely one of those "if you have the money, its worth it" type things
@@mgratk so does a toaster oven, and air fryer a microwave, they all offer exactly the same ability... this thing just tells you do this and this, your not learning to cook, your being told to assemble an ikea table in food form
By that i mean you obviously made a table but did you learn how to cut the wood or measure the lengths of lumber? no you followed steps you didnt have to play with times or make a mistake to learn better
Infrared cooking has been around for ages. I wasnt sure until I saw him after opening it after the preheat, but I'm 90% sure that's what this is using. You can get much cheaper options, but you won't have that fancy screen and overpriced accessories😅
that is all it is. not a new way to cook. just a fancy one. like wifi washing machines with a camera inside.
Can you say FlavourWave Oven
The screen and overcomplicated steps is the thing I like least about this product (except the food spy cam, thats cool)
I personally have one of these and I cannot see myself using any other oven in the future. Cooking 3 different ingredients at the same time perfectly is a game changer. Also, the egg tray is so useful for quick breakfasts.
Are there any accessories you really like which weren't shown in the video?
The Dutch oven and brownie pan. I always over cook brownies but not in the brava.
At the price of 3 ovens, without accessories, understandable.
Does the camera lens get dirty. I don’t know why it wouldn’t.
out of curiousity, is it internet dependent, or is everything stored locally? I'm enough of a tech head to know damn well I don't want my oven to have wifi.
The camera is a really cool touch! And so is the search feature. But for 1300 I was expecting something way bigger. That seems like it would struggle to even fit a large frozen pizza. Maybe 300-500$ would be a much more reasonable price
yep i seriously do not see 1300 dollars right here. a 2 person cooking device is not worth that much.
While it will not hold a large pizza, you can do two small ones at the same time.
@@elliotflorida3469 uhh did we watch the same video, he had a personal pizza it filled the tray, so yea you can do two... if you buy an extra tray, probably for 50 bucks, cause some tin cost 50 bucks of course.
@@compzac
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You make a good point, but...
While he made an 8" personal sized pizza, the Brava can hold 1 or 2 standard small 10" frozen pizzas which is obviously larger than a personal sized pizza. And yes, I am referring to the typical frozen pizzas you would get at your local supermarket.
But where the Brava really shines when it comes to pizza is when you make pizza from scratch with fresh dough and other fresh ingredients, and is even larger because it covers the entire tray (rectangular rather than round). Bigger and better - nothing better tasting than freshly made gourmet pizza from scratch! And so fast, easy and fun to make with the Brava.
totally agree, My tiny oven in my travel trailer is defiantly bigger than this
These things have been used in restaurants for years under brands Iike Flash Bake and TurboChef where it is combined with a convection blower. The bread toasting ovens at Subways are TurboChef ovens. Putting one of these in a home is tricky because it uses a tremendous amount of electricity, it gets very hot, the cooking times are different from anything home cooks are used to. Etc. And the machines cost a lot. The whole point of the machines is a restaurant where you need to make a lot of food in a hurry. Homes generally don't have that problem.
This is totally different from those restaurant systems.
Not related at all.
Not only is this a completely different machine, what you described is a convection toaster oven, which they DO sell to consumers...
@@archgen1 home convection oven’s aren’t nearly the same thing as commercial high speed ovens like turbo chef…
@@jamesgoodman540 I previously sold them, I know what they are...
Very beautiful and fancy high-tech oven...but I've bought cars that cost less than that! A toaster and regular oven will do the same, so unless the price goes wayyy down, no. Loved the review though! Thanks!
Honestly looks and is like the food contraption concepts they would make in the 1960's for some kind of world's fair. Could only fathom a full size oven like this for bigger meals, imagine the price tag of that lol.
@notfiveo so like a vegetable steamer or overpriced big microwave? Lol wtf
@@anubisthagod it's an overpriced microwave. Imagine if we marketed a microwave as "cooking with light", while not false in the realm of physics, it's still misleading. The brava uses IR. So does my lizards tank 🙃
@@Jesus_616_Christ microwave have you ever cooked food in one it doesn't taste great
The camera is cool but most toaster ovens have a glass door or window and they only cost 50 bucks
yea notice that the camera is cool but its only there because they had to ditch the glass door.
It looks interesting, but here's the thing most people should watch about all these high tech appliances - lifetime.
Always a problem having electronic components and circuit boards in appliances like those, along with proprietary non-standard components. A taste of that is how expensive the accessories are, just because of the weird sizes.
Which is ok because I know James will be doing an x months review later on.
Though I imagine at those prices the company will... or at least should be doing good service and whatnot.
I also like that they shoved a camera in there... it's perhaps the thing I like the most on it. xD
Touchscreen interface stops me from giving it to someone like my mom... menus, having to input stuff in a screen, click through menus and panels - those are just a no-go for her, even if it's not all that complicated. It can't be anything more complex than turning time and temperature dials. But at least this one isn't overly complicated and doesn't seem to need to connect to Internet and whatnot, right? IoT is right out for me personally. Did you need to register or connect to something before using James?
As for cooking with light... here's my theory. I think Brava is using some specific elements there that can be turned off and on fast, which certainly is a step above regular dumb electric ovens. xD But for the most part, electric ovens all "cook with light"... it's all heating elements that are electrified to produce infrared radiation/light for heating. :P In fact, it is the physics/mechanism that works for all electric appliances that heats something, apart from stuff based on induction.
One potential difference that is not exclusive to this oven is that the elements are exposed directly to the food, while other ovens might be under and around the "heat box" and heat things uniformly instead, to mimic how a gas over works. There are pros and cons in both systems, but I like what Brava implemented there.
Apart from that, you can pretty much think about electric ovens as enclosed space heaters... I think the fancier models have a quartz element, ceramic element, infrared lamps (which seems to be what Brava is using) or some other fancy new composite materials... but for the most part you have those metal elements that heat up like in electric kettles, electric grills, and several space heaters too.
This actually doesn't make much of a difference other than speed and perhaps top temperatures they can radiate, but the more exotic the material is, the more expensive replacement gets. So one thing to keep in mind with this one is how long the elements last, and how expensive they are to replace.
I personally think it's great some companies are trying to introduce some tech and change the formula in these decades old appliances... but I don't like anything that forces people to connect stuff to the Internet, I think controls needs to be kept extremely simple with fancy options only there as options, I will still preach about the effectiveness and usability of physical controls over touchscreens and smartphone controlled stuff, and I'm usually less interested in electronics stuff, and more for reimagining core mechanic components.
Anyways, good testing and review! I'm more convinced on the utility of this one in comparison to other IoT-like ovens... xD
A Mini convection oven is really a very simple product, so I would personally go for those for longevity. You will likely be able to find a replacement heating coil and other than that it should last many years if treated well.
This will cook a little faster and has some neat features such as the thermometer - but the extra speed doesn’t equate to power saving like a microwave would, as it’s not *that* much faster. I would rather get a basic toaster oven and pair it with other devices such as a sous vide circulator or electric pressure cooker for added flexibility and options, and those devices have the advantage of being really very economical to run.
I wonder how energy efficient it is compared to conventional ovens. It would be sick if you could do some tests
Energy conversion in a regular oven is pretty close to 100% effective. What you can do is adjust the volume you are heating. Now I have no idea of how the Brava works, but the zone system suggests that there are at least three heating elements, and the mention of light makes it sound as it is using infra heating. Again the conversion of electrical energy to heat is almost perfect, probably over 99%, but the area heated is more controlled.
So when cooking something that uses the whole tray, all three zones at the same settings it should be equal to a regular hot air oven of the same volume, minus the very miniscule amount of energy needed to drive the screen and electronics. When cooking a couple of strips of bacon, using only one zone, it should be more efficient than using a regular oven of the same size. It won't take a third of the energy, but probably something between 40 to 50 %.
But at the same time I have a feeling that using a skillet on the stove is even more energy effective for cooking bacon.
I was wondering the same as well..
Uses1800 watts. Their Web site says to make sure the outlet you use is connected to a 20 amp breaker.
Efficiency in cooking appliances is hard to calculate because you would need to calculate energy expended by the system and subtract only energy transmitted specifically to your food. It's why Energy Star does not rate cooking appliances. There are simply too many variables to get a consistent value.
That said, the only two analogues to this technology are Infrared cookers (see GE Advantium) and commercial impingement cookers. Neither is particularly efficient, so at best the Brava is about as efficient as a normal oven.
@@deovontaymcslanga4380 Using infrared light to cook should be close to 100% efficient in converting electricity to heat. The only losses should be a little visible light, and in an enclosed space even that will end up as heat. The ability to direct the energy using a reflector should make it more efficient at transmitting that energy into whatever you are cooking. So why are they known to be inefficient? What mechanism limit them?
My mom bought me the ninja foodi pan set today because I've been talking about it since I saw your video about it. A late birthday present and am excited to try after your glowing reviews about it. Thanks for the great videos.
Okay, here's my take on this:
PROS:
- Although it may look like a printer, don't judge a book by its cover because the design is nice
- The food turns out pretty good, and nice and a little quicker given the size of the Brava
- The screen is bright and helpful
- A camera inside the oven, which actually is a very clever idea! I actually wonder if that was inspired by the microwave and oven cameras from Good Eats
CONS:
- Only one for me: PRICE! I have to agree with James, $1,300 is a very steep price tag. The price has to be right if this is going to sell, otherwise it will be shelved permanently. And from what I've seen personally, I would hate to see it discontinued because it really looks like a great product
But overall, another great review! Already looking forward to the next one
the camera is not bad, but honestly this is supposed to be one of those set and forget devices, so a camera seems kind of pointless. that's the whole point to the internal meat thermometer. the rest well lets face it, these brava cookers are supposed to be the same across the board, so the cooking times are not going to vary, except when you are changing portion size, like say 1 chicken breasts potatoes and veggies, so you would just adjust that when you set it.
i think a camera would be much better suited for a conventional range. where heating times can be different.
I would love to see more tests! Cleaning it, different pans, baking, limitations. Thank you for the e great videos
and that is the real question, because it says you can bake in it, but i would love to see a cake made in it, because something tells me cooking a 9 x 13 in it would be a bit challenging.
@@demonpride1975 I also see it being a nightmare for most cakes
I am very impressed!! The price needs to come down a bit😂
"bit" meaning 900 dollars?
that oven camera had me crackin up. what a novel idea
It would have been interesting to see you use normal tins and trays to cook things to see how much of that $300 is actual design necessity vs what you can get away with using in it.
wonder if it has an option for a whole chicken?!
It might be difficult to find normal trays to fit, these people who sell these over expensive products want you to buy their accessories
@@jomangeee9180
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Yes it does but typically 4-5lbs is the maximum size.
gonna say i think that sounds like a good question, simply put what happens if the enamel comes off the pan, and you don't want to spend 60 bucks for a new one.
@@demonpride1975
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Like all non-stick pans, they should be 'conditioned' regularly to maintain them. My pans are over three years old and still work great. And I use them a lot. But I do take very good care of them by hand washing them (never put them through the dishwasher) and conditioning them regularly.
If additional pans are needed, they are often available on sale and/or in packages which brings the cost down dramatically. They also have an eBay store where they are often available with a nice discount, as is the Brava itself.
I look at that oven as there is just more things that will need to go wrong and be fixed even though the technology is kind of cool but i still prefer a more simplified tech. Thanks for the review, the price of that alone would stop me from buying it 😉👍
Definitely an accesory I can do without. Would be cheaper for me to hire a chef on a part-time basis. However, as a sous chef, I find that unnecessary.
Great review as always. You always make them fun and enjoyable to watch. So thank you for that. Great little oven! Little too steep for me though.
Me too, but I sure would to have one. It looks perfect for one or two people.
New tech always has a high price point and then drops and levels out over time. I am hopeful this will do the same as I'm really impressed by its functions and results shown in this video. Thanks for the review James. this is amazing cooking tech.
That would be fine, if this wasn’t 40 year old technology.
Yes the techi is old but the scale isn’t up there to bring the price down. If this company lasts long enough then perhaps we will see a day where every household would have 1
What’s so revolutionary about it though? So they’ve attached a smartphone to an oven.
Bravo.
Its not for most people, but for those who live in smaller spaces (where they don't have room for an oven) this would be great!
As always, love your reviews! I was curious about the air fry option especially for wings as it did cook the bacon really well. I had the Whirlpool Smart Countertop Oven and while it was a jack of all trades, it was particularly good at any single feature. Also the thermometer kept failing due to faulty port or electronics (Whirlpool discontinued the oven). I bought an external thermometer with a long wire that I used to monitor the temps outside the oven. I eventually swapped it out with a Cosori Dual Blaze Air Fryer which is amazing and I use it for everything now.
@Garo absolutely agree. For $1300, it should come with a maid who cooks the food for you!
Always enjoy your reviews. I was curious if you have ever thought of using a Kill-a-Watt Meter, while doing reviews of Appliances? Just to see how much electricity some of these use. Thoughts?
This is a fantastic idea.
Very cool! Love your content. Thank you for all your hard work!! 💜💜💜
its really interesting. if i was remodeling my kitchen and i didnt want the standard oven range for space reasons this might be worth the high price, except that is is to small to say make a whole turkey or a big tray of lasagna.
Great lesson on the Brava, James. It is essentially a way advanced version of the Panasonic FlashXpress toaster oven. It could with IR light and cycles a regular light on and off so you could see inside the glass window. That oven dates back 15-20 years, I think. I had two of them. My first died after numerous years and Panasonic stopped importing them for awhile. Then they resumed and I got a second one. It’s retired now as my Breville Air is too big for my counter area to support both. I marveled at it as an adult E-Z-Bake Oven, too. This Brava takes it to a whole other level and price point.
ETA: Amazon has the device and accessories with Prime shipping. The smaller items are bundled, though. Still compared to $15 shipping, not awful. But oh that entry price!
We have the Panasonic in my office. It works really well.
I have a Panasonic Genius microwave. Great oven, but Panasonic really sucks. The magnetron died in less then a year. Gave up trying to get it fixed under warranty and just bought a magnetron and fixed it myself. Panasonic apparently has a habit of not supporting their products.
@@misterhat5823 that sounds awful. I always had good results when needing Panasonic support, Sony is to me how you feel about Panny. Did you check if your credit card could have helped you? Unless you paid cash or a gift card for it, most cover you for a year and even an extra year.
@@jbs256 I used a best buy store card to get a discount. No help there because it's not a Visa, etc.
@@jbs256 It was awful. Couldn't get a human on the phone, no reply to their contact form, and the website sent me to a business that closed 20 years ago when the man who ran it retired.
That price is absolutely insanity!
I would love to have that, I would most likely never use my regular oven again however I'm in Canada and I could only find it on Amazon by an independent seller and it was $2705 for the "cheapest" oven 😧🤨
You really do great reviews, thanks for sharing!
love watching your videos while I work (i work from home) Your voice is so soothing! The content is awesome so keep up the good work my friend!
I think the selling point is the 2nd page of options, having a device that can do dehydration, rice cooking, air fry, slow cooking and more is a great find.
It's a jack-of-all-trade machine and that is likely to appeal to people. It would be good if the price came down about half way but that may take a while.
How does the Brava compare to the Tovala?
Thank you 🙏 for your EXCELLENT work 🙏👏👏👏 I was looking at getting one and you have definitely and positively influenced my decision to get one 👍😎
Great video as always brother! I own an infrared grill that I use during inclement weather. I works like a champ, but the bright lamps make it hard to see the searing of the meat. Also, I hope cleaning lense of the oven cam isn't too tedious in the long run. Keep up the good work!
The price is steep, but it would be great for an efficiency apartment, or a cabin with only electricity, or a camper.
and for people who do the van life
You could just get Breville for a 1/4 of the price that works just as well.
@@Forbidden-Spaghetti Only if that van life is plugged into a power outlet, and you have WiFi as well the make it all work with the phone app. I think it would draw too much on battery, or solar power.
An Air Fryer toaster style convection oven would be cheaper to run and about 10% of the price, so unless you need the gadgets and fun features it’s really just an executive toy. The abundance of features and Android OS (probably an ancient version) makes me worry about how reliable it would be in the long term.
@@CommodoreFan64 a small generator with plug in slots and a phone with some wifi hotspot would work for that. A small generator would be useful in a van anyways
I would like to see a comparison to a conventional (maybe convection) oven. I feel like a lot of those things could be done in a regular oven in the same way, there are also ovens with temperature sensors integrated or you could try to use a wireless temp sensor like the meater probe to compare the results.
it's an infrared oven, these have been available for years even in standard convection oven settings, this is just overvalued marketing hype.
Thank you for the review and introduction to this brand/version of the tech.
I agree with your review. The Brava is incredible. They added a new feature that you can use this air fryer like an oven and you do not have to use the default functions. I too went the cheaper route and found myself buying the pants along the way. My negative is as well the price.Well made but Very expensive
Been waiting for this. How much power does it eat up?
I was wondering that myself. But thinking about the fact that it is "cooking with light" i would say at least twice as much as a regular oven.
Definitely a luxury oven, and I could see a use for it in small kitchens, or those times you don’t want to fire up the full size oven, but a good basic gas oven and cast iron cookware give great results, at a more reasonable price
Also, the horribly expensive proprietary pans are probably Teflon coated, and not only does Teflon have a limited lifespan, it emits toxic fumes above 400 F…
Cast iron emits no toxic fumes.
no they arent teflon no company wants to use teflon because people are scared of it, these things are ceramic coated... also limited lifespan my ass ive been using the same teflon coated pan for 20 years and the thing was my moms she bought in 94, so its nearly 30 and its still better at non stick than most of the stupid new non stick pans, as for toxic fumes, well i cook on that pan almost daily and according to the state of california i dont have cancer and am not dead yet
somehow I doubt a company would be dumb enough to sell people pans for use in their oven, which when used in their oven poisons the food. Seems like that might be a bad idea when it comes to, y'know, not going to prison.
That looks very nice. The egg sandwich appears to be much better than the other sandwiches you tried. The English muffin actually gets toasted on both sides and the cheese looks perfect. My problem is the price. All this can be done in my Forever pans just as well. And I don't have the counter cluttered. That steak shocked me, it was perfect.
Never heard of this item until now, thanks for reviewing!! This is interesting, though. Would be great for tiny homes, RVs, or any other kind of small living space.
no it wouldnt, that thing needs a 20 amp circuit to work... most RVs are not designed to have that pumping through just one outlet for a long period of time, at least safely, a tiny home ehh maybe, but a glass fiber box that basically becomes tinder when its set alight, heck no i wouldnt use this in those
First off, kudos to this gentleman spending $1,360 of his own money to do a review. Thank you! I appreciate the effort! No way, no how I was going to spend $1,300 for one of these, but I found the mid-range model (Same oven just more accessories) for $300 on eBay, so at that price it was worth it to me. Shipping was almost as much as the oven was! This thing weighs 37 lb, so is pretty beefy.
I'll get right to the point, and what I see as the most valuable aspect of this oven. If you're the type of person who has a tendency to not eat well because you don't cook a lot, this takes a lot of the guesswork out of cooking. The recipes are quite detailed and the company adds new recipes every Tuesday. As you saw in the review, there is videos of everything. Very cool, and that technology comes at a price. Someone had to make each and every one of those videos. Tons of info is provided.
I contacted customer support with a few questions, and had an answer back within an hour. Nice. I go out to eat probably three times a week. I love to say that my local restaurant prepares my green curry or whatever it is I'm ordering absolutely the same each time, but the don't. Sometimes it's overly sweet, sometimes it's overly spicy, Sometimes it's watered down, sometimes vegetables are overcooked, sometimes the chicken is like rubber and other times it's tender. These are professionals preparing food at $15 a plate, and they are not very consistent.
If you follow the instructions given, you can get absolute consistency out of this machine every time and can also fine tune it and save the parameters to a Favorites menu. Again high technology that most ovens don't have. And I think I read there's something like 6,000 recipes currently and again they update and add new recipes every Tuesday.
So, once again for people who don't have a lot of cooking experience and are not eating particularly healthy this thing can be a complete game changer. If you like high-tech and gadgety things, you'll love it. It's fun to use. If you're old school and like using Grandma's cast iron skillets and know how to prepare multiple items so that they all turn out perfect at the same time, you don't need a gadget like this. It takes a long time to master good cooking skills. Do you have those skills or not?
I bought this particular item for my camping van, although I still use it at home most of the time. It's extremely versatile, and when you're out in the great outdoors it can be challenging to prepare a gourmet meal. This does it pretty effortlessly, and consistently and that's probably it's greatest asset. The pans are easy to clean, and so is the machine if don't neglect it.
So, I would recommend to people if you're intrigued by the technology go up to eBay. I've seen these sell for a few hundred dollars, and at that price I think they are a steal for what they do. Again, no way I would spend $1,500 for the one that I have, but hell yes at $300. It's a very cool gadget.
$1300?!? Real ovens aren't that much 😱
When they're 75% off, I will CONSIDER it.
Id never EVER pay that much for an oven... thats a rich person oven
People that actually pay for these things i cannot stand cause these people wouldnt get away with it if people wouldnt pay that much
@@jrwizz If I were rich and travelled a lot, I’d buy one so I wouldn’t have to subject myself to hotel food. It might also find a place in a summer kitchen. But 99% of the population neither needs nor wants this. Imagine losing 50% of your counter space to this thing.
I don't think the price is that bad when you look at in wall ovens. A cheap in wall is about 1k. So for the small compactness of this I can see why some people like me would buy this. Thankfully I am not needing to replace mine and when I do a kitchen remodel I plan to remove it and do a traditional stove top which is much cheaper.
I want an oven with lazer beams - Dr Evil
I'm very interested to see how this product keeps up over time. Looking forward to the update video!
I've had mine for almost 3 years still works great. You can also pair with your phone so you can watch it from the other room
I could see this being really useful for a dorm room or small apartment. Of course, if you're living in one of those, you're probably much less likely to be able to afford the Brava's price...
I think for most people, a regular stove/oven combination -- plus a microwave, air fryer, and/or toaster oven -- would be much more cost effective solution. The Brava is pretty cool though, and works better than I expected.
Thank you so very much. I love your reviews. This is to spendy for my taste. Looks easy to use. I probably don't need all those features. I use mine basically to reheat food. I cook with a big oven. Because I always make a lot. I make food ahead of time so when I'm busy I can still eat good. I know something good is going to happen today. In Jesus' holy name we pray amen 🙏 🙌. Hugs.
that looked like rare more than medium rare.
Impressive. Someone did it right, which is why the price is so high. But, one must admit, the food looked perfectly cooked. In my experience, the challenge for cooking with any new appliance is getting temperature control right. Every device is different. Am blown away by how well this oven did with stock instructions. Guess it proves the old adage true, you get what you pay for.
Beautifully illustrated, thank you!
I have been a Brava owner for 3 years, it is exceptional!
Great review! Keep in mind this review only covers the basics.
The Brava can do so much more than presented in this review. The Brava is capable of true GOURMET cooks as well - it makes the absolute BEST steaks (on par with the best, most expensive steakhouses in the US, any steakhouse), burgers, chops, lamb, poultry, fish and seafood (makes the absolute BEST caramelized, delicious scallops) with genuine deep brown CRUSTS as a result of the Maillard reaction all at the push of a button. So fast and easy! Vegetables made in the Brava are the best too! Something as simple as carrots are a real treat.
Although it may seem expensive, it is truly a bargain for what you get! Worth every penny and then some, especially if intense flavor is important to you. Pays for itself over time because it is highly energy efficient too.
One point not made and that I think is really important that virtually all foods taste better when made with the Brava over conventional appliances. Much better! There is definitely a difference compared to 'regular' appliances.
Also, the specially designed pans are relatively inexpensive when bought as part of a package. The egg pan makes superb eggs in minutes. The Chef's Pan is the same quality as premium le Creuset pans and also is a great value and affordable when ordered as part of a package. There are a lot of incredible recipes designed specifically for the Chef's Pan.
Brava is unique. The food cooked in it taste far are superior to all other appliances. Cooks fast too which is nice too.
Mhmm sure you do your comment reads like a corporate astro turfer,/ paid comment
@@ayajade6683
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After rereading my comments, it does kind of sound like that. BUT in reality, I am simply just an extremely satisfied customer, like virtually all Brava owners.
I purchased my Brava about 3 1/2 years ago. BEST purchase of my life. And most Brava owners seem to feel the same way. I have done well over 3,500 cooks with it. A truly wonderful appliance.
Interesting product but too rich for my wallet. Great review though!
BTW, I'd love seeing a review of the Suvie 3 (and maybe also the optional starch cooker though that hasn't changed since the 2nd gen model). Cool to cook technology is so amazing to me and with the third version I feel that it is finally something I could see myself using but I'm not sure I trust the ads about it yet. I like to see if it works for you if possible. 😁👍
I have a power xxl 8 in 1 and I love it
Love the Mandelbrot set artwork on your wall! Wrapping up my Mathematics degree with an investigation of fractals and specifically partial dimensions. Cool to see stuff that I’m studying appear in an unrelated context!
"Chariot Progressive, listen. Mandelbrot set is in motion. Echo Choir has been breached. We are fielding the ball."
I like the review but I'm curious as to how it would perform in baking a cake.
I was thinking the same thing. I wonder if it has special settings for it, or if you should just use the cake directions and set it like a regular oven
The Brava could do it, there are cake recipes on there.
Love ur content man keep it up much love from Nj
Thank you man! I really appreciate you tuning in!
@@Freakinreviews yessir found your content not too long ago been binging
Honored u replied to me
If anyone is wondering why this is so refined and works so well, it's a version of a similar unit available in Japan and Taiwan, where apartments often do not include even a stove. There are entire families using just this and a rice cooker. Yeah, it's expensive, but when you move it goes with you. Apparently it also lasts really well with few issues. Yeah, it's a power pig, but overall power use is less than an air fryer and WAY less than a traditional electric range.
Good review mate. Very clear and to the point with no BS'ing around.
I'm very interested in this product, but I'm definitely concerned about the power usage. This does seem like something that could really replace all of my appliances, but the point is I already have all of those.
I feel like it would be really good for a small apartment
@@krispypepper1898 such as a studio apartment that already doesn't have all that much space to begin with
@@mrsupercandyman777 get a air fryer LMAO
Power usage won’t be any worse than anything else. Cooking appliances tend to be quite efficient, in that 100% of the electrical power becomes heat. The differences lie in how much of that heat actually makes it into your food, vs escaping into the room. Microwaves and induction do well because they reduce wasted heat. For baking, using a small oven for small dishes saves energy because you’re not heating up the huge mass of metal that is a full size oven.
Escaped waste heat is electricity you have to pay for, but if also has a second cost in the summer: if you use air conditioning, then you have to pay again to move that waste heat back outside! (This is gas stoves’ Achilles heel: tons of waste heat as the flames heat air that just flows around the pan, rather than heating the pan. Induction is the best in this regard, but even standard glass top or open coil electric are better than gas. Restaurants are starting to embrace induction for this reason, because it dramatically reduces the ambient temperature in the kitchen.)
It actually cooks by sucking dark through the food rather than exposing it to light. Dark produces the friction which causes heat (snicker). Sorry, look up the "dark sucker theory" it's hilarious 😂
😂 😂😂
This is a nice review of funktionality. I would like to see how much energy this owen consumes, compared to other traditional coocking methods. Keep up the good work!
I'm still on my Tovala a couple years later and loving it.
I remember this tech being developed in the 90's for the pizza industry with the goal of replacing the microwave oven I couldn't wait for it to be available on the market but it never came to be hopefully this will be a big hit and bring the price down to be more affordable
The Brava makes exceptional pizza, whether fresh, frozen, or reheating.
Infrared ovens have been available to consumers for a long time. Other than maybe the combination of all its sensors and the software, I don't think there is anything new here.
I think it's a pretty nifty all-in-one cooking device. I think in the near future the price will end up dropping.
It's an over hyped toaster oven.
It uses "a combination of infrared and visible light." Infrared is just the regular radiant heat that the wire coils emit in any regular toaster or toaster oven. But infrared IS JUST A LOWER WAVELENGTH OF LIGHT that we call "heat." So they aren't lying, but they are misrepresenting how special that is (it isn't.)
Visible light will also heat up the surface but isn't as efficient at penetrating deep into food. It's probably just a side effect of the glowing infrared coils depending on how hot it gets. (incandescent glowing: red is lowest heat, yellow medium heat, white is even higher heat, and blue even higher still.)
Notice that you can see the wires in a toaster glowing red. Most of the heat energy is being radiated in the infrared that we can't see. But there is a large spread of radiation that extends a little bit up into the lower visible light range so we can see a little bit of that red light.
This is why an easy bake oven worked. The old incandescent light bulbs emitted most of their energy as heat in the infrared range, but about 10 or 20 percent of that energy was in the visible light range of yellow/white light.
Consider that the microwave energy that a microwave oven uses is also just a lower wavelength of light that is the right wavelength to heat up water molecules and penetrates deeper into food.
If I lived in a studio apartment I would consider this since using an oven heats small apartments to unreasonably levels. I'm truly impressed.
if you lived in a studio, this thing would be above your price bracket... this device still puts out heat too, you can hear fans running and it lights up a warning telling you its hot dont touch. basically if you cant open your windows or turn on the air, buy a toaster oven your wallet will thank you.
The Brava does what it says it will do , but for me at least it is just too expensive to justify when other things i already one can cook all the things you showed just fine. Also judging by that egg pan they greatly over charge for the accessories. Also it is only going to work for a one or two people as it doesn't have the capacity to cook for more people than that.
It maybe a bit technical but maybe an overview of how much energy it takes to run would also be helpful.
I'd be really interested in knowing this as well. Great suggestion.
Thanks for the review!
The price is insane, but if it catches on I'm sure there will be copycats (some good, some bad) for more reasonable prices in a few years.
Great video as always, this looks to me like it's a really cool thing to have until one of the high tech features no longer works, then you have a 1300 dollar paper weight.
I SO wanted an Easy Bake Oven. Thank you for the review.
Because how high the price is it will be a failure but it’s cool , can’t wait too it hits eBay in 3 years 😊
After watching the video in its entirety I want one one for the technical aspects of it. Love the camera !
All my ovens have had the ability to watch the items cooked. Called a window 🤣
Would love to see a follow up video to this comparing it to something cheaper like your Ninja, and also using regular pans instead of their crazy expensive ones.
dont even need a review, they will cook steak and veg exactly the same, its just using infared light as opposed to hot air, but that means the ninja is better cause it costs 300 not 1300
I bought my Brava when it first became available, it was around a $1000 and it included a second set of trays, metal, glass, egg. It also included the cast iron pot for braising. I was attracted to the Brava, because I am a semiconductor process engineer, and have used the halogen lamps in rapidly heating silicon wafers in the semiconductor manufacturing process.; so I was intrigue by the product. Also didn’t have to pay for shipping, I picked my up at the corporate office/factory in Redwood City, CA. I am very happy with my Brave. I’m also a cordon bleu trained chef. Brava have a place in my kitchen food lab, which includes the Anova Steam Oven, Thermomix, and the Irinox Fresco countertop blast freezer. With the right tool you could make anything.
Everything looked great. No wire rack for toasting? How about baking? Cake? Cookies?
There are a bunch of other baking accessories that I did not try out.
Little known fact, the same company that made the Ice Genie also made this appliance! Great video thanks.
I'm gonna be honest, for all the hate I was expecting to give this thing, it's the first extreme luxury item that I can see someone with money buying since the performance is nearly perfect. I am beyond impressed.
The crunchy banana chips that everyone thinks of as dehydrated are actually fried. That's why they taste so damn good despite having lost nearly all of their actual banana flavor.
Have you ever had freeze-dried banana chips?
@@BlackJesus8463 I have! They don't seeem to be common though there are a few companies selling packaged freeze dried fruit in the supermarket. I prefer them to the fried variety because they're softer. A little firmness/crunch but not so hard and dense as fried.
@@jomsies You just made saba up. Don't deny it.
@@BlackJesus8463 Never heard of saba before?
This was a great and comprehensive review. Thank you! My observations are, well, price is obvious. This is worth up to $600 in my book. And that's still ultra pricey for a countertop appliance. Don't get me started with the crazy priced accessories!
The second observation is simple things like toast seem a bit menu intensive. I get it for more complex things but a toast shortcut would be better (especially at this price).
I will say this though it did a great job! It seems to do what it says it'll do so bravo to the brava! (still needs to come down to about half what they're asking though)
The food catalogue reminds me of a Technology Connections video about his grandparents’ old microwave from the 90s, which also had a food catalogue!
A full size range with convection oven and induction burners doesn’t cost much more and can be used to cook for a large family.
Looks like a fax machine or 🖨
You are funny and I enjoy your reviews! You've come so far Keep it up 😊
Great video has always, I would like to just ask how about power consumption?, Is it better than a microwave or electric oven?
Thanks again and keep it up
I always love when brands try to reinvent basic things like an oven. Unsure why I need a camera to watch my food cook when I could just open the door to check it 😂
That leaves the heat out and cooler air in, which can have adverse affects to what you are baking. Also, you can look at the screen by glancing, its more convenient.
Because then you will be able to post the video of your food cooking on social media which is important because everybody on social media will want to know about your food while it cooks I taught my dog how to use this thing and he just loves it Gravy Train never looked so good he even heats up Fluffy's Little Friskies this is one helpful in the kitchen I'm going to try to teach him how to make beef burgundy one of these days
I’m so absurdly impressed with this thing. It seems very useful and helpful. But the price point, oof.
REMINDS ME OF THAT SCENE FROM BACK TO RHE FUTURE WHEN THE MOM COOKS THE PIZZA HUT PIZZA IN THAT BRAVA LOOKING THING LOL
Do I need a Brava? NO. After seeing your review...Do I want one? YES, YES, and YES!!! Thank you James for another great review. Looking forward to more of your videos.
I bought a like-new toaster oven at a yard sale for $15. It's been working daily for years. Think I'll be sticking with that.
This is absolute not a toaster oven, it is a gourmet food cooker. The flavor of foods prepared with Brava is totally different than a toaster oven, or any other appliance for that matter. So much incredible, intense flavor!
Expressly designed and built for suckers...great review!
Wack take..
I remember when microwave ovens came out and how expensive they were. Maybe that will be the same for these units.
That was 50 years ago lol. Damn.
@@lunchb0x1986 yup, I'm older than dirt. Lol
I'm using the ceramic blue diamond fry pan it was wider and shallower than I expected. Making hash and eggs. Let you know how it goes started on low and raised it to almost medium