NuWave Oven Pro: Not-so-wise ‘cracks’
OK, so the NuWave Oven Pro has been around for about 15 years.
And 15 years later, the plastic dome still cracks. A replacement dome will cost $49, plus shipping and handling. The replacement dome is “nearly indestructible,” the NuWave Oven web site contends, but the dome only carries a 3-year warranty.
Having said all that, it is still, as of this writing, cheaper to buy the replacement dome than to buy another unit. Hope has appeared, now that QVC is selling the units by the thousands. On March 23, QVC sold the unit for $89.95 as a “Today’s Special Value (TSV),” and it included an extender ring to cook a “16-pound turkey,” as well as other big pieces of meat, a silicone baking pan and six silicone baking cups. As of the end of the night of March 23 (when all TSV’s expire), QVC claimed that an estimated 95,000 units had been sold.
NuWave is a good product when it comes to cooking, but it is mystifying that they are still selling the unit with the plastic domes that are still cracking within about a year of purchase. Competitors like Sharper Image and FlavorWave are selling glass units that also include Halogen technology. I can’t speak to the Sharper Image models, but I found that the glass FlavorWave units (which occasionally grace QVC) have a Halogen light bulb (yes, light can be so intense that it cooks) that hasn’t burned out in the three years since I purchased one of their units.
Why NuWave doesn’t improve the physical integrity of its cooker is mystifying, and staying with infrared heat, a heating element and a fan – all entombed in “crackable” plastic is a boneheaded way of doing business, in my estimation. That plastic is reminiscent of Lexan, which is sometimes used on motorcycle windshields, like some made by Honda. Over time, the NuWave plastic forms bubbles on the inside of the plastic, but the outside is smooth – until the plastic just cracks.
I had a FlavorWave oven back in the day that was using the same plastics that NuWave still uses today. But FlavorWave went to glass, and added Halogen – and it’s much better (don’t buy the digital timer model of FlavorWave, by the way; the manual timer will last longer. The digital timer’s logic circuit will conk out, but the manual timer model (like mine) doesn’t have that circuit, thank goodness). OK, so I did have a digital FlavorWave model, but the digital timer’s logic circuit quit, and wanted to cook everything at 500 degrees, so I bought a manual model – much better, thank you.
Bottom line: There is little argument that you will find concerning the quality of food cooked in the NuWave Pro and its spinoff, the NuWave Mini, but the Internet is nonetheless littered with complaints about its dome’s frailty. Some have reported using aluminum tape (not Duct Tape, if you please which, if you use, you’ll only have yourself to blame – I told you beforehand). You can try a NuWave Oven, but it has, historically cracked at some point in time.
So if you get a NuWavePro, which does cook great food (mostly), you’ll know to give up on replacing the plastic dome if the cost for a new NuWave unit on Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, QVC – or elsewhere – equals the cost of a replacement dome. When and if that happens, NuWave won’t need a website. Just resellers.
One would hope that NuWave and its parent company, HearthWare, will hire an engineer to build a better cooker. I think the cooker is that good. But, so far, engineers are hard to come by nowadays – in this country, for sure.
Maybe China, too.
SO YOU KNOW:
- NuWave Oven web site (mute your sound before you click)
- Hearthware web site (parent of NuWave). Note: The Better Business Bureau has not accredited Hearthware, maker of the NuWave line of products and the original FlavorWave. The BBB’s comments are listed here. The FlavorWave Oven is hard to find, but Amazon has it, for sure, but that’s no endorsement. Thane Direct, out of Canada once sold the FlavorWave, but only has parts for it now.
- QVC Product Page (with video) of NuWave. Be aware that QVC may eventually take this page down. (Probably when customers begin complaining about cracked domes about 1 year from now). But I digress.
- It could well be argued that all of this style of cooker have their own warts. You do the research.
Complete Geek Boutique 
I found this post searching for dome replacement, hoping maybe like maybe there was an after market replacement that was made better than original and less costly than the manufacture. I have been happy with the way it cooks thing especially for things like fries and chicken nuggets. My model didn’t work so well for baking but maybe if I looked up recipes written of its use it would be better. My son (away in college) wants the “free” one if I replace it but remember the free stuff that I got with current one costing me the same as buying new low end model of those things.
Do the Glass ovens work the same? The names seem to imply that they are a different product like an would not give crispy french fries.
The glass ovens work just as well, and both plastic and glass ovens will crispen fries. Most folks just prefer the lighter plastic ovens, but the glass ovens can stand toe to toe with the plastic ovens like NuWave in terms of both cooking times and features. As for price, I have seen a Fagor on sale on HSN (Home Shopping Network) over the Labor Day weekend with convection, halogen and infrared technology – for $59.00. Sharper Image also makes these machines. Flavor Wave has all but disappeared.
Go to your shopping channels online, such as ShopHQ (formerly ShopNBC), Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, QVC (which also sells the NuWave with monthly payments), HSN and Amazon to see videos and read specs about what’s available, by typing “convection oven” in their search box.. Perhaps Amazon’s convection oven will be delivered via a same-day drone.
As for NuWave dome replacement, there is only one offered on the NuWave site. It is supposed to be sturdier, etc. Curiously, it’s a yellowish color. And, counting shipping and tax, will set you back $70.00 if you decide to buy it. The original dome that comes with even new NuWave machines used to be available on the NuWave site for about $25.00, but, alas, are eternally – and perhaps irrevocably – “out of stock” – sort of like Lord of the Rings, but “One dome to rule them all.”
The glass domed model I got from a local Asian grocery lights up two rooms and everyone in the house likes the Nuwave better for the things we cook in it even if that doesn’t include soup. I think the City Star Turbo Wave.Likely because we used NuWave for years and Turbo wave for months. I keep intending to buy another NuWave but keep being turned off by my and the companies difference in opinion of what “free with purchase” means and how you almost have to make the purchase before getting an actual price.
Nuwave cooks at a maximun of 350F which is kinda low to get a golden looking, does the one you mentioned here reach higher temp for being glass?