Panasonic NN-SD681S Genius “Prestige” 1.2 cuft 1200 Watt Sensor Microwave with Inverter Technology & Blue Readout, Stainless Steel
2Panasonic NN-SD681S Genius “Prestige” 1.2 cuft 1200 Watt Sensor Microwave with Inverter Technology & Blue Readout, Stainless Steel
- Inverter Technology for even cooking and delivering delicious flavor and Inverter Turbo Defrost for quick defrosting
- Elegant 4-Digit Blue Readout LED Display with Programming Icon Dial and buttons for quick programming
- 1200 Watts of High Power; One-Touch Genius Sensor Cook and Reheat for automatic cooking settings
- Measures 15 15/16″ (D) x 20 3/8″ (W) x 11 7/8″ (H), 25.3 lbs., Stainless Steel face
- Please note: upper left-corner door has a small indentation to allow the door to open smoothly.
Stainless-steel 1.2-cubic-foot microwave oven with Inverter technology and blue read-out display. view larger Panasonic NN-SD681S Stainless-Steel 1.2-Cubic-Foot 1200-Watt Inverter Microwave Oven The Genius Prestige Countertop/Built-In Microwave Oven With its stainless-steel door and silver wrap, this 1200-watt microwave oven by Panasonic makes a stylish and convenient addition to any contemporary kitchen. The 1.2-cubic-foot unit with its 13-1/2-inch turntable excellently cooks and even
List Price: $ 199.99
Price: $ 119.99
A. Thompson
Takin’ one for the team – – – quick first review – EDITED,
I’ve only had this 2 days, but I thought I’d get a quick review up on it.
This oven is so new, even Panasonic didn’t know about it. I called them up, and their customer service knew nothing. A search on the Panasonic website came back blank.
So, what the heck, I bought it. It appeared to be very similar to the SD688 models, with one exception. The digital display got panned on the 688 as being hard to read from a normal standing angle. I guessed that this fancy blue display was their answer to that, and I was right! The bright blue display is very easy to read up close without bending over., and from an angle.
I rarely cook in a microwave, so all of the fancy button options are moot. “Inverter Melt”, “Popcorn” “Inverter Turbo Defrost”. If I have to keep the manual handy to use my microwave, I’m not likely to use that feature.
I did try the “Sensor Reheat” feature on some boneless chicken. It stopped it at the right time.
I like the dial feature, it’s very intuitive. The one minute button is nice.
One thing a Microwave does, is it sits there on the counter most of the time doing nothing. This does that very well. The SS finish and the square lines look really good. At 20″ wide, it just right for my counter. It’s taller than my old oven, so I can fit my salad dressing cruet in there.
Another thing a microwave should do is last for years. We’ll have to see on that one.
I will update as more details become apparent.
More observations 10/12/11:
I tried the Sensor Reheat a few more times. It seems to work pretty well. It’s weird though if your timing your food prep, setting the table, or whatever, because there’s no preset time.
The ‘Inverter Melt’ function works quite well. Here is where the inverter technology makes a difference – it actually heats at low power. Conventional microwaves just cycle full power off and on to achieve ‘low’ power.
I tried ‘Sensor Cook’ with some potatoes. I set it on 3. Silly me – 3 is for omelets. For potatoes, use 7. Fresh vegetables – 8. There’s no explanation what the different settings actually mean. Forget it.
So with all this fancy technology, Panasonic could have added one basic non-technological feature:
The light. It only comes on while cooking. But not when you open the door. Really? That’s enough to almost give me buyers remorse. It never occurred to me that this feature, that’s been around for 30 years, would be missing.
Edit 2/18/12: After 4 months and prompting by a fellow reviewer, I’m bumping this to 4 stars. Mechanically, the engineering is excellent. The inverter technology is extremely useful, making it a more versatile and valuable tool in the cooking process.
Still, the software side is gimmicky and borderline absurd . Take the Melt & Soften button, for 1 example. I can melt butter by setting the power to 1 or 2 and 30 seconds. Or I can use the Melt & soften button, saving me several whole button pushes! I have a choice of 15,16,17,and 18. But,it would be nice to know which power setting that button selects, instead of “Butter, Cream Cheese”, etc. Imagine if your conventional oven had settings for Ham, Chicken, and Turkey, but didn’t tell you the temperature if you use them. I just don’t get it. Panasonic, please just tell us what these programs really mean.
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|Redwood George
Died after two months / poor warranty service from Panasonic,
While I liked the idea of the “Inverter Technology” that lets you easily cook at lower power without duty cycling the microwave, that feature doesn’t outweigh Panasonic’s poor warranty policies. My microwave died after two months of use – everything was working fine one moment and then the lights went out, dead as a doorstop. (Being an electrical engineer, I think it’s a safe assumption that the power supply is what died but that’s only an assumption)
Had this died within the 30 day period, Amazon would have printed out a shipping label, had UPS show up at my front door to pick up the defective unit and most likely cross-shipped a new microwave out to me so I could have a replacement in just a matter of days. Instead, since it was outside the 30 day period, I had to go through Panasonic’s warranty service. Their only option is to have me hand-deliver the defective product to an authorized Service Center; the nearest one is a 90 minute drive from here. That would be understandable if I lived in rural Nebraska but I live in a heavily populated area and would probably pass thirty or forty Starbucks and at least three Best Buys that I can think of on the way to the Service Center. There’s no option to ship the product by UPS; I have to drive it to the repair center. Of course they’re unlikely to repair or replace the microwave on the spot so that’ll be another three hour round trip to get the repaired microwave. This is a somewhat pricey microwave but to have to take six hours out of what little free time I have on the weekends just isn’t worth the trouble. I’ll just chalk this up as an expensive lesson in how not all manufactures are customer-centric and go look for another (non-Panasonic) microwave.
I can’t comment on the overall reliability of Panasonic microwaves – I only have my own experience to go on. Perhaps out of a thousand appliances only one dies in under three months and I’m just lucky this time around.
As far as the design goes, some things I liked, some things take some getting used to. The spin knob instead of numeric keypad is “cute” and does the job but it does take some getting used to. It’s pretty easy to overshoot the time you want and have to backtrack to get to your goal. The “always-on” variable power setting is pretty nice – I’d much rather use continuous power than have it cycle on and off to approximate partial power. I don’t think it’s quite linear, though – cooking at half power seems to deliver closer to two thirds power – two minutes at half power is much hotter than one minute at full power. Again, you can get used to it and make adjustments based on experience.
The “auto cook” feature was a bust. I eat plenty of frozen dinners and the cooking time was a) never right (food came out much hotter than if I’d just followed the directions on the box) and b) took significantly longer (I think it cooks at low power until it detect steam, then a quick blast and you’re done) If the frozen box said cook for six minutes, then “auto-cook, frozen dinner” would take eight to ten minutes. That feature was quickly ignored, sadly.
Also, there are plenty of gripes here about the light not coming on when you open the door and let me add to that long list. While you don’t -need- the light to put a plate into the microwave, it’s a nice thing to be able to see what’s going on. It’s really a matter of “what were they thinking?” when the designers opted to have a dark, unlit box rather than the (very standard) lit interior. There’s no getting used to that one, it just seems wrong. Not that it’s horribly inconvenient but why did they feel the need to make it even a little bit more inconvenient than necessary?
Would I buy this unit again (if I hadn’t had reliability issues?) Maybe, maybe not. I can’t say that the features that make this microwave more compelling (variable power, large turntable) outweigh the disadvantages (useless auto-cook programming, no interior light, odd dial interface). There are other microwaves out there that are competitive with this one and there’s no distinct advantage with going with this particular product line…
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Quick update, 24 hours after posting this review. On contacting the Panasonic “Customer Service Center” I discover that it’s a guy fixing appliances out of his home in a residential area! He actually asked me to call ahead before coming down so that he could make sure he’s home – and mentioned that between 8 AM and 9 AM was most convenient for him. I was expecting at least a commercial storefront but this seems awfully small time to be the best that Panasonic could offer!
Wanting this issue to be over and done with, I went out and bought a microwave from a different manufacturer -…
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