TM5

[Amanda]

I do wonder where it will all end up and how much of this Voerwerk are aware of. It's not doing the brand any favours.

[floweryspring]

Ended up ordering  Tm5 on 13/10 after being told there is a 6-8 week wait. I have been without for over a month and am sorely missing it already so I can't wait to get mine.

It was a very good marketing strategy not revealing the new price until everyone rushed out and bought Tm 5s at promotional price thinking its gonna skyrocket!

Can't wait to have a play with my new tmx!

[LillyPilly]

If Voerwork has anyone reading their official forums (if not, why not?) then they know what is happening and how unhappy people are.

As unhappy as I am about no receipt, no email and only word of mouth from my consultant about anything, what I am really cranky about is HO's blithe indifference to any problems with the new machines.

The recipe chip with errors. They know the chip contains errors, they have issued directions to print out, which negates the point in having a chip that is supposed to inform the machine. Not fit for the purpose for which it is being sold, in my opinion. When questioned about either repairing or replacing the chip, they told people to just suck it up. They know the chip will not give information that can be relied on, yet they are still continuing to send those chips out with the new machines! Check out the official forum for the responses by Australian Thermomix to valid complaints.

Not looking forward to summer! My power goes off at least once a summer, usually for an extended period of time. There does not appear to be any override for the locking arms, which will stay locked until the power resumes. Umm, warm, half cooked chicken, unrefrigerated for 2-6 hours.

As to what consultants know or don't, I informed mine about my concerns and she said she would check with her area leader. Well, area leader says that if they weren't informed by HO about the faulty chip, then there is no fault! I sent her a link to the forum post where Thermomix Australia admits they contain inaccuracies, but I've yet to hear back. She tells me however, that her area leader has written to HO about the locking arms; I'm still waiting to hear back about that.

Just hoping I will not be one of the people whose machines shut off and flash error messages!

My hope is that Voerwork is interested in salvaging it's formerly good reputation. I'm going to be one cranky/litigious customer if I'm sold a lemon.

[obbie]

Lilypilly simple, if you have a power problem, or live in a area known for cyclones, like we do, and loose all power for 2 weeks at a time, I suggest you get a inverter generator to have on standby. great for electronics.

no worries then about cooking.

[LillyPilly]

Obbie, is that a petrol generator? Might be overkill for my situation, (losing power for about 2-6 hours) just to rescue food out of one machine     I'll either have to take my chances, or just use the gas cooktop whenever there are storms around. Or maybe Voerwork will have a workaround. Germany must have a very reliable power supply!

[obbie]

a petrol generator, a inverter is especially for computers and electronics.

last cyclone we had no power for 2 weeks, we have generators though, no worries.
I have a gas oven too, or a bbq. but i still used my thermie machines as well.

[LillyPilly]

Ah, thank you for the clarification. If I lived somewhere that lost power for two weeks, I'd definitely have a generator/inverter. We had one for camping, but I don't do much of that these days. I'm sure there are neighbours who have one, but they aren't used during the outages, possibly because of the noise.

I love how you toss off, 'thermie machines'. More than one? I am soooo envious! 😍

[gertbysea]

We lose power for days at a time. I never worry about it. If the power is off for 5 minutes my really awful,neighbour hauls our her huge generator and sets is up as close to my front door as possible. Makes me laugh as we live at the back of the house. She has 't figured that out yet?

Gert

[achookwoman]

We also have a couple of generators for the fire season. Haven't used them for years,  but you never know.  We are usually are without power for a couple of hours at other times. If stuck with TMX I would pop it in the car and take it to a neighbour who has power. But that is only if what was in it would spoil.

[cookie1]

I wonder if the T5 would open if the power goes off? I should give it a try.

[gertbysea]

I was told not cookie. And that is the problem with turning it off at the wall and not the machine say some who have had to return theirs to the service centre. I wonder if you are able to open it manually otherwise it would have to go back to the service center with food in it!

Who knows . You keep hearing conflicting stories and some new owners are completely clueless and as well as not  bothering to read the manual. Some even SAY they cannot be bothered to read the manual which I find very strange. They seem to expect strangers on FaceBook   to fix their problems and there is a lot of ill informed and plain silly advice benign given to new owners and some of it is coming from brand new consultants who are first time TMX  users as well. Not a good start and is leaving some in tears.

It is all very well to have a huge intake  of new consultants to be trained to sell sell sell but they also need to know how to cook and use the machine. Without much experience with either they are not giving good service at all. But thankfully when they get their machine paid for and their first cheque they will quit as we have seen in the past.

Gert

[Fenix]

So I got the TM5 on Friday night and here's my experience.

Read everything there is to know about the TM31 and TM5 but had never seen one in person.

We made the vegetable stock and it was easy as pie... cut some stuff up and throw it in, wait 20 minutes and done (some light mixing as well but that's pretty much it). I really want to be able to pump out a good set of poached eggs and hollandaise so that was my first test for dinner, I followed the hollandaise recipe and it was pretty amazing (a tad lemony but I'll drop the amount next time). I tried one poaching style by dropping the whole egg in the steaming basket and cracking on a plate when done... was decent but I know my g/f doesn't like the eggs as runny as that.

Hollandaise - 8.5/10
Poached Eggs - 8/10

Some things changed around and I didn't go out on Friday night.... so why not make some pretzels. The dough was SO easy... virtually no flour spilling over the kitchen. Literally followed the recipe and out came perfect dough. I followed Tenina's recipe for pretzels. I made a few minor changes when shoving it in the oven but they came out pretty delicious. Once again I'd change a few things here and there for personal preference but it's so reassuring having a solid base dough to work from that seems FOOL-proof.

Pretzel on Friday night - 9/10
Pretzel on Saturday - 4/10 (She did say they don't last and I found out haha)

On Saturday morning I did poached eggs again but this time followed the recipe chip and dropping the eggs in. One came out perfect and the other was a bit seperated from the yolk. This method has better potential in my eyes, but I'll keep on trying.

I had a wedding all weekend and came home Sunday night. We were having a bbq and I didn't want to start making things in the TM just incase they didn't come out ok (i.e. I hate serving people food that I haven't personally tested before). But I whipped up a mushroom sauce/gravy from the TM site which was super easy and everyone loved it.

Mushroom sauce - 9/10

It's funny because I've already been copping a whole bunch of flack from family and friends about dropping 2k on a kitchen appliance when they can "do the same thing" the traditional ways. I don't like to retaliate too much because I'm not trying to sell anyone anything, I just keep saying to people that yeah I get it but c'mon when was the last time you made dough/fresh pretzels at home (hint: never)? When was the last time you had fresh hollandaise with your dinner? Would you have bothered making that mushroom sauce/gravy with the BBQ or would you have just had generic powder gravy or nothing? For me it's definitely something that compliments the kitchen as opposed to a one stop shop. I don't claim it's gods gift to the kitchen, but I definitely think that getting into the mindset of "Hey this thing that I never would have made before is totally easy to do now", thus bringing fresher/less processed/tastier food(s) into the kitchen.

Just my 2 cents so far to anyone who was in my shoes eagerly awaiting their first TM

[Aussie Brenda]

Fantastic review Fenix, you are now a fully fledged TMX owner, you are just going to love it more everyday, I have TM31 , and instead of poaching the eggs I have been steaming them in the varoma on some wet baking paper they are perfect. Give that a try.  Use speed 4 it creates nice steam.

[judydawn]

Thanks for a great review Fenix, the aim is to love our machines and let them work for us and to the many doubters, most of whom don't cook much anyway in my experience, I go down the same track as you.  Just whip up or serve TMX food and let it speak for itself.

[gertbysea]

Good tip Brenda.

Good review Fenix  and thoughts as well. You how many people would bother to make bread or pretzels!

Gert