Panasonic NN-H965BF, Pretty good, some minor..

Overall Rating33333

Pretty good, some minor flaws (failed after 3 years)

[ Dec 2006 ]
We’ve had this microwave for a couple of months now, so I can’t comment on its long-term reliability.

Good:

Mostly, it’s been fine. It meets my primary requirement for a microwave, which is that you can put food into it, press 3 0 START, and it cooks for 30 seconds at full power. (It’s amazing how many microwaves fail that test, requiring some other key before the time. Easy enough if you know how to use it, but not for visitors.)

It can do relatively complex sequences like:
- Wait 5 minutes (to line up completion time with other foods)
- Cook 4 minutes
- Wait 20 seconds (to give me time to stir)
- Cook 3 minutes
- Wait 2 minutes (post-cook “let stand” time)

It’ll prompt you through most operations, though … the … prompting … is … kind … of … tedious.

The Sensor Reheat feature seems to do a pretty good job of warming food up to a good serving temperature. It overwarms frozen corn dogs a little, but only a little.

I haven’t used it much, but the Sensor Cook feature did a good job on baked potatoes.

Complaints:

It’s going to sound picky, but my biggest complaint with this microwave is that its beeper isn’t loud enough. It’s a little chirp-chirp that you could easily miss if you’re in the next room. It does repeat the chirp every few minutes until you open the door.

The child lock is too hard to use. My other child-lockable appliances have a button with a lock icon on it; if you hold the button for about 5 seconds it locks or unlocks the device. For this one, though, the sequence is Function, 5, 1 to lock and Function, 5, 2 to unlock. (I had to go check.) Too hard to remember, and if you don’t know that it starts with “Function” you’re just hosed.

Nits:

There are a few features I don’t use yet (and so at the moment they represent unnecessary complexity) - Popcorn, More/Less. “Quick Minute” doesn’t seem like enough of a win to be worth a dedicated button - 1 0 0 START vs QM START? 6 0 START if you optimize a bit means QM only cuts out one keystroke. If you need three minutes, QM QM QM START is the same as 3 0 0 START.

I’d like a “hard pause” feature, where it would stop a cook sequence and beep, and then resume the cook sequence when I press “Start” after I stir the food.

[ July 2009 ]
Still happy with it, no problems.

[ October 2009 ]
At right about 3 years… just started smoking and shutting itself off. That’s not good.

Update (2/6/2012): I also found some auctions for this item here.

The featured review for this product, Panasonic NN-H965BF Luxury Full-Size 2.2-Cubic-Foot 1,250-Watt Microwave Oven, Black Kitchen Jul 1, 2005, was written by Jordan Brown.

The average rating for this item is 3 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.

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Reviews (3)

Joe M

July 19th, 2010 at 5:30 am    


Overall Rating33333

Good cooker, but irritating
I bought this 6 months ago to replace a ten-year-old GE 1000W microwave. I have it installed in the same cabinet opening as the old GE, but with a different third party grillwork.

Plusses:

The oven cavity is gigantic.

It has lots more functions than I have used and probably more than I will ever use. I bought it for the size and color.

It boils water and cooks/heats thing substantially faster than my old GE. The defrost seems to be more even, but this is not a major change from my old GE.

Minuses:

The timer/done beeper is not loud enough. If I have the stove exhaust fan running on low, I cannot hear the beeper unless I am listening intently for it. If nothing is running in the kitchen, I can hear it at a much lower volume level than the old GE. The beeper does NOT repeat with reminders unless you turn the option on in the functions menu.

This microwave is electronically noisy. It kills my wireless WIFI connection whereas the old GE barely slowed it down. It also causes a noticable garbling of cordless phone calls. Again the GE did not do this. I don’t know if the GE was abnormally good or if the Panasonic is abnormally bad, but the transition was downhill.

If I try to do anything complicated, the microwave prompts me through it with scrolling pormpts on a display that is too small for the purpose. The information is there, but it is a slow process. I would have prefered more info on the decal inside the oven so I didn’t have to wait while things scroll by 6 letters at a time. The fact — that there is help — is good.

The exterior of the oven door is a high-gloss, soft plastic. The softness makes it easy to get small scratches on it. The high-gloss makes it easy to see them.

ENJOY YOUR MEAL


Taubmeister

July 25th, 2010 at 3:56 am    


Overall Rating22222

Poor reliability
I own the predecessor to this model, the H964. It’s the 2nd Panansonic microwave of this size that we’ve bought–in just 3 years. The first lasted 1 1/2 years and had to be repaired once. The second died three weeks after the warranty period. After literally 8 calls to Panasonic customer service (asking for the serial number, calling back with it, etc etc.) they agreed to at least cover the cost of a repair estimate (they eventually paid for the entire repair cost).

The problem was that the fuse had died. The authorized repair facilitiy told me that the only microwaves they ever get for repair are Panasonics; he said the problem is that to reduce their weight, they use smaller parts, like the tubes, which can’t handle the load for long. He also said that their fuses don’t last.

The repair person recommended either Sharp or Sanyo as much longer lasting. I checked the weight of a similar-sized Sharp and saw that it weighed about 6 pounds more than the Panasonic–presumably because some parts are heftier.

When this newly-repaired Panasonic dies again, it will be long out of warranty and then we’ll try our luck with a Sharp. Replacing a microwave every 18-20 months is not my idea of money well spent.


Jordan Brown

August 9th, 2010 at 1:58 am    


Overall Rating44444

Pretty good, some minor flaws (failed after 3 years)
Rated 4 stars.


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