Received boxed well with no dents, cracks or otherwise observable defects. Strengths are the size and simplicity of design with a lack of the digital fluff that drives up costs with its added fragility and high failure rates. The previous crock pot in my possession had a digital module that "bubbled out" across the face of the read-out. Yes, it doesn't have a light. Clue: look to see where the knob is turned if you forgot what you were doing after that 4th glass of wine or Jack without the ice. But whether you have a light or not, assuming it hasn't failed, you were going to put your hands on the product anyway, right, without at least a very light touch to test on either the glass or a side for heat? I don't pick up my toaster, toaster oven or egg steamer with bare hands after I finished using it without at least a light touch. There is a simple, ancient and well-tested device, known by many names and cultures throughout the ages, we now call a potholder, which might be indicated for such situations if such handling is necessary. Yes, the cords are short as a safety feature that tries to force you use the crock pot on a counter next to an outlet as far away as possible from small hands and from interference with the cord. Yes, the handles, such as they are, get hot and they are somewhat small (it's not exactly a "portable" device after all and doesn't advertise itself as such), but what I see is without the extra coatings, plastics, bells and whistles, there is very little on this unit to break (or break off) unless you want to perform a drop test or throw it against a wall. For those that complain the crock pot gets hot, I suppose you must have a floor stove that doesn't. Use a timer to shut it off if you are not at home at the end of cook time if that's your major complaint (it's actually safer as it's not subject to heat failures) as suggested by others for those that would have wanted to have the crock pot set the table for them also. All you have to look at is the KitchenAid Crock Pot that was highly rated by America's Test Kitchen as an example of a nightmare waiting to happen for those that like the fancy electronics despite their high failure rates. Here, there may be some things that are inconvenient, but really they're pretty minor when you're looking for something relatively bulletproof with good performance and longevity. I just look at this as a dutch oven that doesn't heat up the kitchen during the summer and saves money if you have an electric stove. I've had both electric and gas and feel a hell of a lot safer walking away from the crock pot for any length of time than either of the stoves with the dutch oven. I understand that a dutch oven may be in theory more precise in terms of even heating over it's entire surface when it's placed inside a stove, but the most I can say IMO is that the differences are minor based on my experience with both. I'll leave that to the Le Creuset upper crust types to argue that out with their 300+ dollar tastes. Here: Marinated 5 pound sirloin tip roast placed at room temperature on low at 5 am...roast 3/4 immersed...broth surrounding roast at 10 am read approx. 140 degrees F. There was good low temperature stability throughout process. At 1:30 pm cooked completely through on the edge of fall apart but could be cut with a fork after slicing. Broth in a meat stew with veggies (one inch cuts) ran at about 150 degrees measured at 4 hours low heat. Not to cause a fight here, but just because there may be some "bubbling" on the surface doesn't in my experience mean "boiling." Heavier liquids seem to do this more and many times I'm not reading anywhere near 212 degrees when I test.

I have had MANY slow cookers over the years...
Like rice cookers, the best ones are from thrift stores, because the old ones never die. When the stoneware on my thrift-find finally cracked in half (after 8-years I owned it) I was on the hunt for a replacement. Every new one I got (to replace my old-trusty) self-destructed in a year or less. The "low" setting stops working so everything is boiling on high, regardless of what the dial says, you know...slow death malfunction... Just enough time passes that even Wal-Mart's new return policy won't replace that piece of junk.

I know, I haven't owned this one for a year yet, BUT it is already ahead of the curve on all the other new ones I have had in the past.
Yes - the outside gets hot, but that's normal for metal surrounding heated stoneware.
Yes - the "low" is a true low temp (I don't use high).
Yes - the lid fits flush and the stoneware does not have pits (smooth), uses "air flow vents" pre-formed and glazed for steam.
No - the glass did not shatter (seeing this on reviews for other crock pots) and it's FAR CHEAPER in price (paid $27.99) while being the biggest! YAY, anything and everything you want to slow cook WILL FIT!.

Is it fancy? Yes - if you make it "fancy" it will be BETTER THAN THE EXPENSIVE DIGITAL ones!!! YUP!
How? The dial will not short like a digital screen will, so don't worry about silly fancy things like that. Plug it into a $7 (got it on Amazon too) 24-hour timer and cover the light sensor with paper and tape. Now you can truly "set it and forget it" because at the end of the 6-hour mark on the timer plug, the power to the cooker is cut and your food WILL NOT OVERCOOK while you are stuck at work. I made a fantastic Black Bean Soup on low in 6-hours using this method...but I was gone for 10-hours - that functionality is better than any high-end slowcooker you find!!!

You don't have to pay a lot for perfection, you just have to be creative. ;)

Nice and BIG, of course, and as other reviews mentioned, HOT! But I guess that's the direction new crockpots are going, with everyone being scared of getting sued for undercooked food!! Personally, I have been cooking with crockpots for our family of nine for 30+ years and have never undercooked anything, but am learning to use these new ones by mainly just putting it on Low. Low is the new High. Warm is the new Low. I put frozen chicken breasts in this crockpot at 1 in the afternoon on Low and by 4 p.m. they were done!! With my old crockpot, I would have put them in there all day on High and never worried about burning!! That was the great thing about crockpots. This one was AMAZING for cooking a whole chicken with all the fixings for chicken soup, though!! For once, no overflowing!! It just has to be at least half full to cook correctly, I believe.

I read voluminous reviews on this slow cooker, pro and con. I liked the simplicity of it! It works well, it looks good, and it's a great asset!! Everyone knows better than to fill a crock pot of soup up to the brim. I also purchased a wonderful black carrier with a good lid controller and the two make a wonderful duo. Easy to clean. Please try things out for yourselves and use common sense! Don't expect a product to do and be anything but what it is designed to do and be. If it's not a deluxe model, then don't expect it to perform like one! I asked for simplicity, got it, and love it. Thanks!

I wanted a BIG slow cooker since *for some reason* my family of six insists on eating three meals a day Every. Single. Day. Ugh! Luckily my MIL recognized my struggle and bought me the fanciest device I'd ever seen for Christmas: A Calphalon 7 Qt Digital Slow Cooker. I was in love with it"¦ at first. Then I noticed liquid seeping into the base after each use. Long story short, after three complimentary replacement parts I still had a broken appliance and Calphalon wrote me an E-mail using the exact words: "...Calphalon has made the decision to stop producing electronics..." then issued me a refund. I turned around and bought a MaxiMatic 8 qt Slow Cooker (go big or go home, right?). It cooked waaaaay too hot (it boiled liquid on the lowest setting in under 5 minutes!) then stopped working entirely after a few months. I received my refund, bought this Crock-pot"¦ and the rest, as they say, is history!

How does this one compare to the others?

It's HUGE.
"¦but not as big as the MaxiMatic. Both slow cookers claim to be eight quart size but in reality eight quarts of liquid fills the Crock-pot all the way to the lip of the lid, which isn't realistic for actually cooking that much liquid. Still, it's pretty HUGE, especially compared to Calphalon's biggest size (7 quart). The MaxiMatic gives you a little extra room above the eight quart point BUT"¦

Crock-pot has better temperature control.
In the Crock-pot "Low" could cook a 4 lb pot roast all day (6+ hours). On "High" it cooks in about 4 hours. "Warm" keeps it warm. The MaxiMatic, on the other hand, cooks it in less than 2 hours ON LOW (and it leaves the meat tough as rubber) and the MaxiMatic "high" setting approaches temperatures comparable to the depths of Hell. Calphalon had accurate temps but it didn't make up for the constant leaking, smaller crock and lack of customer support.

The outside is very hot.
This is one of those "duh" moments. Anything that cooks WILL get hot. Don't touch hot things. Don't put them near the edge of the counter where kids can touch them. Again: Duh! The Calphalon is the only model on the market that claims to be "cool to the touch" and guess what? It'll still burn the crud out of you! It's not as hot as other brands, but it'll still do damage if you touch it, especially on the exposed areas of the crock liner. So as much as everyone complains about this aspect, I have to wonder if their moms never used the old 70's Crock-pots with the wheat patterned orange shells that made delicious soup and seared the flesh off your bones if you touched them (so you just didn't touch them). Shoot, my mom STILL uses hers. The moral of the story? Grow up! And stop shopping for cooking appliances that don't feel hot.

There is no timer.
This is NOT a digital slow cooker. "Digital" slow cookers have specific temperature controls, fancy timers and auto shutoff options. They also break down faster, have things go wrong more often and (if they are Calphalon brand) their manufacturer discontinues selling them completely. There's a reason those 70's Crock-pots that I mentioned previously still walk the earth serving fondue at your grandma's Bridge Club potlucks: simplicity. There are no buttons on this Crockpot. There is no digital screen. There is only a single knob with four options: Off, Warm, Low, High... Just like Grandma's Crock-pot! What you give up in convenience you'll make up for in durability, longevity and simplicity though. And you'll just have to be *slightly* less lazy than slow cooker "dump it, leave it, eat it" style cooking permits by, you know, setting a timer. ::Ding::

The crock liner is dishwasher safe.
MaxiMatic and Crock-pot both allow their stoneware crock liners to be washed in the dishwasher. Calphalon does not. But even with dedicated handwashing, the Calphalon liner developed hairline cracks. Twice. The MaxiMatic did too, after a few months of regular use. This Crock-pot has been used and run through the dishwasher every other day (literally) since I bought it and has absolutely no issues whatsoever. I also notice the glaze on the stoneware is much more even on the Crock-pot. It had thin spots, pits and irregularities in both the MaxiMatic and the Calphalon. I have to assume there is better quality control on the manufacturing end at Crock-pot.

That pretty much sums it up though. If anything changes, breaks, acts up, smells funny or does anything else unusual I'll be sure to update this review. As it stands though, no news is good news. Buy this Crock-pot. You can thank me later.

UPDATE: I bought this 8 quart Crock-pot through Amazon in December 2016. As of today, January 15th 2018, it is still running strong. I continue to use it several times a week and always run the crock liner and lid through the dishwasher. It is still as temperature-reliable as the day I first unboxed it and continues to be my favorite appliance... and that's big, considering I also own a Kitchenaid mixer AND an Instant Pot (but the Instant Pot hisses at me and the mixer gives everyone dirty looks). If you haven't bought one yet, you definitely need more pot roast in your life. And beans. Which BTW, this puppy can easily fit 2 lbs of dry pinto beans (hint: Use ham hocks! And shred the meat into the beans before serving. All other beans will be ruined for you after that). I'll continue abusing my Crock-pot and updating my review if anything changes though, because SCIENCE!