Panasonic Microwave Oven with Inverter Technology, 1200W

I’ve always been a fan of Panasonic microwaves since they brought Inverter technology into the line up. I tried a Breville unit at twice the price do to reviews…. that thing was overpriced junk. Died in less than 2 years. So back to Panasonic. It works flawlessly, it is a bit loud if things like a dishwasher running bother you, but it has tons of power and heats evenly and is sleek and easy to wipe down.Not a Panasonic issue, but I wish I had looked for a model with a stainless interior only as my kids can often forget the splatter shields. Hopefully the enameled finish holds up well. Time will tell on that. Hope this helps.

Me gusta porque está mejor que el que tenía viejo, pero no aporta tanto como para decir que es mucho mejor, calienta rápido pero no es tan homogéneo, si es algo sólido como frijoles congelados es lo típico que calienta lo exterior más que lo interior, y si le pones más tiempo pues arde lo exterior y deja tibio lo interior, es la misma tecnología que un micro de toda la vida.

This is the second Panasonic microwave that has failed in less than a year of ownership. Both units saw very little use. The first unit died in under a month and was refunded but because this unit is almost a year old they will not refund the purchase.

I was looking for an inverter style microwave that was powerful, feature rich, and did it’s job. This hit on all of those points and except for one flaw would be a perfect 10/10.

Pros:
– Microwaves food well. I know this should be obvious but with some of the reviews I’d read I thought I should make this clear. It does its job well with no uneven heating.
– Sense reheat works awesome. Coming from a microwave that didn’t have this feature, this makes warming up food easy. No more guess work or babysitting the food while it reheats. Put it in, press Sense Reheat, start it and walk away. You’ll come back to fully warmed up food. It errors on the side of too warm than too cold so you don’t have to worry about those odd cold bites. Just be sure not to cover it.
– Cleans super easy. Whatever material or coating they are using is perfect for wiping out any mess. Compared to my old microwave this is world’s better. You won’t realize how awesome this is until you try wiping dry spaghetti sauce from the top of a microwave. I could never go back one without this coating.
– Ability to turn off sound. As someone who has a toddler who naps/sleeps in the room next to the kitchen this is a huge feature for me. No more loud beeps whenever you’re pressing buttons and no more alarm going off whenever it’s done.
– Build quality feels solid and I have no worries about its longevity. This wasn’t the cheapest microwave but it feels like it hit the sweet spot between features and quality. You could spend a lot more on a microwave that wouldn’t work any better.

So with all these positives what is the flaw that single handedly takes an entire star off the rating?

The most annoying flaw:
After heating something up and checking it, if you need to add additional time you can’t just press the number keys. Your options are, use the 30 second button to add time in 30 second blocks, press the add time button then hit the number keys, press clear then hit the number keys, or wait 1 minute for it to lose its memory and then press the number keys.

Now let me be clear, I understand why they have the additional time button. It’s so you can add time without having to go through re-entering all those additional settings again. But the amount of times I actually use the advanced heating options vs just throwing food in there and hitting it full blast aren’t even close. I’ve had this microwave for 2 months and I haven’t once set the power level or used it to make dough or bake a cake or any ofhat other stuff.

But you know what I do basically every single day? Throw my kids food in there and then have to keep checking it to make sure it’s not too hot then adding more time. And every single time I run it for 10 seconds then have to check it, when I need to add more time guess what? I can’t just press the number keys and hit go. I’ve got to hit additional time then 10 seconds.

Doesn’t sound like a big deal right? It only adds an extra second of time. Sure, you’re right, except I’ve got 20+ years of microwave muscle memory built in telling me once you open the door to check the food you can go right back to pressing the number keys and hitting go. So every time I use it I naturally close the door and then go right to pressing numbers only to remember, “oh that’s right they’ve added an additional extra unnecessary step before allowing me to add additional time”.

I don’t care about giving us an extra minute of time after heating up food to decide if we want those same settings and to add additional time. I want to check my food, press numbers, and hit start.

I’m sure some engineer got paid a lot of money to add more features to a microwave that wasn’t needed simply to check off something on a checklist somewhere but they sacrificed flow of use for it.

Yes it’s a minor thing. Yes it doesn’t take away from the overall product. Yes it still pisses me off every time I need to add an extra 10 seconds to something. Yes I’m removing an entire star because of this.

I just got the Panasonic Genius Microwave NN-SN68KS without all the numeric buttons and you don’t need them once you read the manual.

This is a 1200 watt microwave with 12.4 amps so you have to have common sense and give it its own dedicated power outlet. I have mine running smooth with a common house lamp on the circuit and it’s doing great. If you have an old outlet be sure to ground it with a grounding screw and grounding wire with the adapter to put it in the wall. A standard 13 amp extension cord will work if you have to use an outlet in the next room like I did. If you try and run this on the same outlet as the refrigerator you’re pushing 19.5 amps and could have some issues. Same goes for a toaster oven which would be 21.4 amps which is a big no no for most common house outlets running at 15 amps max. I saw some guys review on here and he didn’t know much about electricity and was having breaker issues but just needed to use the next nearest power outlet to resolve his issue. This needs it’s own power outlet with maybe a common one bulb lamp hooked at the max.

The food cooks awesome. It is genius!!!

I love how you just have to press 2 buttons and listen for beeps to cook the food and it does everything for you.

Learning to use this only takes about 10-15 minutes reading the manual. The notes are on the inside of the microwave when you open the door so you don’t have to memorize 16 codes.

If you properly read the manual and use common sense you will love this microwave. It is so freaking amazing and my food cooks perfect with the Genius sensor.

Tips: If you go manual be sure to adjust the power settings. If it doesn’t come out all the way cooked use the Reheat button and let the sensor cook your food the rest of the way for you. Works for me.

Listen for the beeps and check the food if the Genius hasn’t stopped cooking it yet and your Frozen Food Entree is still in there and it smells good; check it if the Genius sensor tells you there is 5:30 remaining. I checked mine and the food was done and I stopped it early. If you let it go without common sense after beeps you might overcook your food. So far we haven’t overcooked anything and everything is all smiles and perfect.

For some people it might seem a little overwhelming at first but if you read the manual and forums you understand the idea of how the sensor needs to detect steam and work and how it needs some of your attention sometimes when it’s cooking and everything comes out great.

I literally have chills and goosebumps by how amazing this microwave works and how simple it actually is to use.

Never microwave anything frozen on full power or you can break the magnetron. It needs you to either lower the power or turbo defrost or use the frozen food button.

I think some people didn’t read the manual and freaked out.

You don’t need all the numerical buttons with this microwave because it is high powered with an inverter and cooks fast and evenly. That’s why there are only 3 sets of numerical buttons in logical increments if you decide to cook it the old way manually without the Genius sensor. Anyone who complained is just behind the simple learning curve of a 15 minute manual read. In reward you get a microwave oven that cooks everything for you after you hit 2 buttons and don’t have to guess the times.

F-ing awesome. I love it.

So far so good.