Thermomix vs others on ACA

[meganjane]

Just watching this right now.  The Bellini has certainly gone upmarket!

[meganjane]

...and the Thermie won! I'm amazed, they usually trash the Thermomix on these programmes. This was actually a Choice Magazine test and ACA just covered it.

[cookie1]

Judy mentioned this so I made a point of watching ACA to see it. I wasn't impressed with the rubbish before it- I was wondering if I had somehow found a pornography channel. ( I'm using our Vast TV satellite finder).
When it came on I enjoyed it. I would have enjoyed learning a little more about the Tefal and Kitchen Aid machine. They came out at 80% whereas the thermomix was 90%. The Bellina and ?? Came out much less. It will be interesting to read the whole article in Choice.

[judydawn]

http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article/8988667/thermomix-put-to-the-test

[bogie1]

I would like to see the Choice article too, because the cheapest machine they reviewed in last night's ACA piece was $800.  I had a Mistral Ultimate Kitchen Machine before I got my TM5 to see if I liked thermie cooking first.  RRP is about $460 and I got it at BigW on sale for $248, which seems to be a regular sale item.  It "Looked" a lot like the Bellini they had last night, but it didn't have the flash pull out remote controller thingee, which is obviously new to Bellini too.  Somewhere I read that all the cheaper models are basically past TM models, where the patent has expired and has been made into a new brand.  I think my Mistral was basically a TM21 with a screen.  Anyway, I liked it so much I bought a TM5 and gave the Mistral to my son.  Interesting that some of the newer brands to enter the market are around the same price range as TM.

[stacelee]

I have the Cuisine Companion that I bought instead of the TM5 (I still have my TM31).  I've had it since they were released and absolutely love it.  I find I tend to use it first now instead of the TM31....particularly when I am cooking something that can easily "mush".  The interchangeable blades are very easy to use...you just pop them in and out as you need them....it is easier than trying to fit the butterfly over the blades when you have the TM jug full of something.  It seems to be less inclined to splatter everywhere than the TM as well.  I also like the fact that you can remove the entire bowl with the lid firmly attached.  A couple of times I have spilt the contents of my jug accidentally.
The only disadvantages I have found is that it takes a few seconds longer than the TM to process some things and it doesn't seem to pulverise almonds, rice, sugar etc to as fine a powder as the TM.  A major advantage I have found over the TM31 is that you can cook without any blades in at speed 0 so you can make things like golden syrup dumplings or rise bread at 40C.  The temperature control is good as well....going up in 5C increments to 130C.
They have obviously taken some lessons from the Thermomix as it comes with a set of scales and a fridge magnet detailing temperature, time etc for ingredients and attachments.  They have a way to go with the "social" side of the machine as their community is very limited at the moment.  There are a couple of fairly active facebook groups that have been set up privately but nothing much else that I have found.
Not sure if any of that information is useful to anyone.   I'm happy with my decision to not purchase the TM5 but would still replace my TM31 with another secondhand TM31 if something happened to it.  I haven't written off one day replacing the TM31 with a TM5 but not until they iron out some of the problems that people still seem to be having.

[Jamberie]

I was impressed that the new Bellini had a remote and wifi where you could upload recipes from their community -something I was expecting from the TM5 (and when it is available,  I might upgrade from my TM31).

[Cornish Cream]

Thanks for the link to the review Judy.I watched it,very interesting.