Panasonic - NN-SV79MS 1.4 Cu. Ft. Countertop Microwave Oven with Inverter Technology and Alexa compatibility - Stainless Steel

This is my first inverter technology microwave oven, and I am extremely impressed with how it heats/cooks food. The technology does get the heat to the center of any food item. This model has Alexa built inside, making it convenient when you start the microwave near the kitchen or any room in the house. The power cord is high quality, heavy-duty, and has an acceptable length for any countertop or table, 3.75 ft (45 in/ 114cm). Outside dimensions: 17 in wide, 20.5 in length, 12.75 in depth. Inside dimensions: 13.35 in width x 13 in length x 9.15 in depth. The door frame has stainless steel on the front, and the window has a nice little dark tint. The roller with the place is easy to insert and always stays put. The control panel has a roller knob, which is for Start/Select, Cook Time, Weight, and Auto/Sensor Cook), and six buttons (Microwave, Popcorn, Turbo/Defrost, Quick 30 (second), Timer/Clock, Stop/Reset). The cooking time election is with a roller knob, so there is no numeric pad on the panel. A feature not very common with other microwaves is the Genius' built-in sensor, which reheats a meal with one push of the dial without selecting power and cooking time. The sensor technology measures the food's humidity and calculates the necessary time. The sensor can heat 1 to 4 cups of coffee, milk, or soup. Also, the sensor can cook potatoes, fresh/frozen vegetables, frozen pizza/ entrees/ dinners/ breakfast/ nuggets, oatmeal, rice, pasta, and frozen pancake; for best results, make certain food item is within the specified weight range. The operating manual has a couple of charts with instructions and recommendations for various food items and which function to use. It is easy to set up with Alexa. You download the app on a mobile device, plug the microwave (which will start the setup mode), select add device on the app, follow the instructions to scan the QR code on the microwave door frame, and the app completes the connection. With Alexa, you can start the microwave with voice commands such as cooking for a specific time (e.g., "Alexa, microwave/cook for x time and y seconds), stop/ pause time ("Alexa stop/pause the microwave). Using Alexa on a microwave is great for those who use it for cooking (not just heating) because it allows multi-tasking. You could be making dinner, and you need to defrost a chicken for cooking, but at the same time, you are chopping vegetables; with a busy hand, Alexa would save you time and avoid leaving marks on the microwave control panel. Some items require weight or quantity, such as defrosting chicken breast; "Alexa defrost one lbs of chicken breast." Giving Alexa command is much easier than going through all the different buttons or knobs. My son's favorite command is "Alexa, microwave/cook 3.5ox of popcorn,"; and he is impressed that they don't get burnt and that almost all kernels get popped (except 3-5 kernels). My favorite use is warming my frozen breakfast eggwhich (bread-free sandwich), "Alexa microwave/cook frozen breakfast." Compared to my old microwave, this Panasonic inverter tech does a fantastic job at cooking my frozen breakfast evenly and at the right temperature without burning edges and cold centers. Overall, I like this new inverter technology microwave with Alexa. It is straightforward to use, has many functions, and the best part is that it does an impressive job at evenly heating food. Product technology is unique and looks well built.

TLDR; Inverter technology allows the microwave to cook at a steady, constant power level. When using any of the automated modes (auto cook, auto defrost, reheat), its built-in sensor technology senses steam and moisture and will make adjustments to time and power level. Alexa integration surprisingly makes using this microwave a lot easier than pushing buttons on the microwave. You still can be old skool and specify a cook time and power level, if you choose. I’ve always been a fan of inverter microwaves and every time I encounter one that is not (at work, at a friends house, etc), I get a bit triggered because I know I’m going to either have unevenly heated or over-nuked food somehow. For those not familiar with inverter microwaves, the best example I can think of right now is your oven at home. When you cook anything in your oven, you set a specific temperature, say 350 degrees, and you confidently put your food in to bake. This is the behavior of an inverter microwave when power levels are set. Now imagine if you could only set your oven to the max setting (500 degrees maybe?) and had to sit there and turn the oven on and off to get as close to a 350 degree temp as possible. This is your conventional microwave when power levels are set. And if you haven’t noticed already, your conventional microwave will cycle on and off to achieve the set power level. As you can imagine, steady, constant heat is what we always strive for when cooking anything, whether you’re on a stovetop, grilling in the backyard, baking in the oven or even using the sous vide. Panasonic has been innovating and improving on inverter technology for the last 30 years. So the microwave, yeah? The NV-SV79MS Inverter Microwave has been the best microwave I have ever used to date, mainly because of its automation from both a sensor cooking perspective as well as a smart home perspective. First, in combination with its inverter technology, sensor cooking allows the unit to decide how to adjust time and power levels to achieve that perfectly heated, cooked food. For instance, if you’ve ever cooked oatmeal in the microwave, you’ve probably had lava overflows or sat in front of the microwave to make sure it doesn’t overflow. With the NV-SV79MS, you simply turn the main knob to the Oatmeal preset, press start and walk away. In all my testing thus far, I have not been able to get my typical oatmeal bowl to overflow. What’s even sweeter is now I can cook two bowls together and I'll still come out with perfect oatmeal bowls every time. Along with the oatmeal preset, there are a total of 20 preset options from coffee to frozen entrée to melting butter. Panasonic doesn’t want you to go traditional with time-based usage and rather have you trust them to use their presets. Along with the presets is the defroster mode called Turbo Defrost. Using the same techniques, it utilizes the inverter technology and sensor cooking to make sure your defrost is perfect. The only thing you need to specify is the weight so that it has a baseline to start from. Most important thing to remember is that the microwave is not cycling on and off; it’s providing constant level power to ensure an even defrost. The NV-SV79MS can still be used like a traditional microwave in that you can set a specific time and power level. It even has a “Quick 30” seconds if you’re just looking for a quick nuke, and a few pushes of this button will add an additional 30 seconds of time. For us traditional users, we know this is our go-to method of using a microwave and it’s still on the unit if you choose to use it. Last thing I want to touch on is Alexa integration and how surprised I was with it. The best way I can describe its use is like having a person at your home who knows how to use the microwave, and you telling this person what you want to heat. Alexa will set up the microwave for your specific request instead of you having to press the buttons on the unit. I feel that Turbo Defrosting will be the best use of Alexa, as you can specify weight and product (3 lbs of ground beef, for example). So you would say, “Alexa, defrost 3 pounds of ground beef” and it’s off to the races. In the same fashion, you can also tell Alexa to reheat a cup of coffee, an ounce or more of dessert, or pizza with no quantity specification. There is a whole page and a half of commands found in the manual. But let’s not forget that we can even tell Alexa to microwave for X minutes and Y seconds at power level 5, if you need to do that. Alexa setup was very easy and can be done in the Alexa app on your phone as it will automatically detect the presence of the NV-SV79MS. I keep an Echo Dot in the kitchen to utilize the Alexa commands with ease.

Perfect size with good power and super quiet! Love it!