Instant Pot vs Midea - Electric Pressure Cookers (Instant Pot IP-DUO60 vs Midea MY-SS6062)

There's been a lot of hype from home cooks around electric pressure cookers, mostly involving the Instant Pot brand. These next generation pressures make it easier to cook foods faster and are much safer than the old style stove top pressure cookers.

The hype around Instant Pot is almost cult like with a very active online community and a plethora of positive reviews. There's even a fantastic facebook group (don't mention other brands of pressure cookers, the Instant Pot fanboys can be a bit militant).

The most popular model is the Instant Pot IP-DUO60 which is available on Amazon (Canada, US). Prices range from $150 to $200 depending on if there's a sale going on.



While researching pressure cookers after reading review after review, I discovered that all Instant Pot models are manufactured by Midea (美的), one of the top manufacturing brands in China (market value is about 10x that of Hudson's Bay for perspective). According to the Instant Pot website, they state the product was designed in Canada and manufactured in China which is vague. Electronic Pressure Cookers have been popular in Asia for a lot longer than they have been in North America. I suspect that when Instant Pot states the the product was designed in Canada, it's more to do with the programmable cooking times rather than the actual hardware. While this is all speculation, if you compare the inner workings of the Midea MY-CS6002W and the Instant Pot IP-DUO60, they look pretty similar. Some parts like the inner bowl appear to be interchangeable.

With this knowledge, Midea pressure cookers might be a good bargain alternative with similar build quality to Instant Pot. They run about $100-150 in Canada. The biggest difference in function is that the Midea models allow 8+ different levels of pressure adjustment whereas the Instant Pot has 2 settings, high and low. They are also easier and less intimidating to vent. Some may find the extra pressure settings useful, but others might find it overwhelming and hard to navigate.

Midea MY-SS5062 (Canada, USA)
Midea MY-SS6062 (Canada, USA)
Midea MY-SS5033 (Canada, USA)




You can see that the Instant Pot, by comparison, looks clunkier and dated. The biggest downside (potentially a deal breaker for many) with Midea is that their manuals and user instructions are poorly translated and essentially useless if you are new to electric pressure cookers. The buttons and pre-set cooking modes on the Midea are difficult to figure out and are more catered towards Asian style cooking. With cryptic buttons like Fragrance and Texture modes, it's hard to know what they really do.

Another caveat is that Midea does not have any bluetooth compatible options or any 8 quart models if those are important features for you to have. For bluetooth, see the Instapot IP-SMART (Canada, USA). For the 8 quart model, see the IP-DUO80 (Canada, USA).

The success of Instant Pot appears to be that they've taken a product already popular in Asia and re-branded it to be user friendly to North Americans. Usability is drastically improved through a readable manual and fantastic online support. It also appears that it's much easier to find replacement parts for the Instant Pot, at least in Canada and the US. However, the Instant Pot is not without its faults as many customers have had issues with the power cord breaking and exposing wires.

tl;dr
Instant Pot is a lot more user friendly when you're getting started. Unique options include bluetooth support and the larger 8 Qt size.

Midea is sleeker, has more features and is more affordable. However, more trial and error is involved so you'll need to tinker around to figure out optimal settings. Patience is definitely required.