This has been a great addition to our family mealtime after buying it on recommendation from a friend. It cooks perfectly, and is super easy to clean. We use it often and have made some of the recipes that come with the product booklet including pulled pork, curries and muesli bars. Having the timer makes it really convenient especially if you have guests over. I would absolutely recommend it to others.

I purchased this yesterday and wanted to try using it for the first time whilst at home. This is by no stretch of the imagination a slow cooker. Using the instruction guide of 2 hours per 500 grams of chicken which comes with the cooker, it cooked in less than half that time. This is not a suitable appliance to use before work to come home to a cooked meal unfortunately. 1kg of chicken cooked and falling off the bone in 1.5 hours. Will be expecting a full refund from sunbeam on this as it is misleading advertising.

The secret chef is ok to start with then is loses the plot and even on the slowest temp it boils too fast.
I am on my second one as the non stick coating started to lift on the first one and now the second one is doing the same. About to throw it in the bin!

I bought this slow cooker about two months ago and have been using it regularly. This is an excellent slow cooker. It cooks the food well both on high and low. I love the count down timer and also the auto keep warm feature and I also love the sear feature, it saves time washing up an extra pan and it's very easy to clean. Before purchasing this product, I was a bit concerned about the non stick coating coming off. I have not experienced this happening. I do hand wash it every time with a soft sponge instead of the dish washer.

Absolutely love this product....I've cooked 5 slow cooked meals in it and they have all been incredible. Love the sear function and ability to turn up high to reduce excess liquid towards end of slow cooking. Very easy to clean and love all the features. Will hold onto my receipt in case I have a problem with the non stick coating coming up but extremely happy with this purchase and highly recommend

After just 14 months use (only used at the most fortnightly,) this product is broken. The slow cook function now burns the food making it unusable as a slow cooker. At first this product was great. Given the 12 month warranty, which has expired, I now rate this product as poor quality.

I also had problems with the coating coming off the pan. Probably not idea to be ingesting either...otherwise it is a great cooker, but most likely wouldn't purchase another one due to it not lasting long enough. I can see I'm not the only one with this issue. Maybe it could be addressed by Sunbeam?

I too love the size and functionality of this slow cooker, but sadly, the coating on the pan has bubbled and is peeling off. I was only on this site to see if it had happened to anyone else and I can see this is obviously a fault with the coating. If I purchase a new one, won't it just do the same thing??

I have just had to Purchase a new pan, I only every used plastic and wooden spoons but the coating has lifted in a few places, this is not something I wish to be eating. The new pan is setting me back $69.00, I will be taking not this time of how long it last. I had the choice to ditch the entire unit of spend the $ to purchase new, ditching wasn't my first option as this is just a waste and was a present, but hard to explain otherwise. love how it sears first and have had some really successful meals, made stock, great idea but needs an over haul and made to last..

I really like the idea of browning in the same pan and the insert being light rather than heavy China. However I have only had mine a few weeks and used it twice and although using wooden and plastic utensils the surface is scratched in 2 places. Not sure how long it is going to last at this rate. Very disappointed.

Yup, it's not just me - everything I love to slow cook is overcooked and definitely cooked at such a high setting the meats are tough - yuck - I was also taken in by the browning feature but that advantage does not make up for the poor cooking outcomes.. :( Can't return it so I guess I'll have to stick with it.

I recently received this email notification for an email I sent to Sunbeam re the problems I was having with my slow cooker (see my review). I sent the email in Nov last year - they deleted it a year later unread! At least something is slow at Sunbeam even if is not their slow cookers!

Your message

To: CustomerService
Subject: SecretChef Sear and Slow Cooker issue
Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2014 12:58:22 PM (UTC+10:00) Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney

was deleted without being read on Sunday, November 08, 2015 6:00:40 PM (UTC+10:00) Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney.

I am really impressed (so far) with my slow cooker - just love the fact that it really does get hot enough to properly sear my food first rather than having to dirty a frypan and have issues with not having a big enough frypan etc. I also love the lightweight pan as I found with my previous one which was ceramic, it was really hard to hold it in one hand and pour move around in the sink. This also has a great range of options that my other one didn't. Hopefully if I look after the pan and only use non-stick utensils, it will last well.

For those winging that it over cooks, it is a big pit therefore if your cooking a small amount of course it's going to over cook. It is a 5.5 l you need to cook large amount and it's great. Unfortunately though the non stick coating is terrible, it scratches so easily, I only use soft spatula on it and I still have scratches I can't even figure out how, now the coating is starting to bubble and peel off.

I was really looking forward to a new slow cooker and liked the idea of the ability to brown meat in the one appliance. Having cooked a number of meals now I can confidently say the low setting is way to hot. I did a test today with our old slow cooker and the new HP8555 side by side. I put 2L of water in each and set both to low. I checked both cookers after about 3.5 hrs and the HP8555 was already simmering away with water temp about 98 degrees and our old slow cooker was at a much more respectable 88 degrees. Not sure where to here. I can either shorten the cook time for the new cooker or just go back and use my old one. Not impressed at all