Bought this to replace 24 year old full size Montgomery Ward microwave which is still working fine.
Reasons for replacemnt:
1. go from 650 to 1250 watt
2. get one with turntable
Additional perks:
1. sensor cooking works great
2. only brand I found with “inverter technology” for defrosting, although we haven’t used it yet, so can’t comment at this time
After reading many reviews, decided to go with the 1.6 size as bigger ones had bad reviews about breaking down too soon. Hoping this one lasts a long time.

I and my husband Paul have been very pleased so far with this replacement purchased 1 month ago (and delivered extremely quickly by Amazon without special shipping service) for the Kenmore microwave (visually similar to this one) that suddenly died on us after my having it for 14 years without any problems. I did a considerable amount of online reviewing of various makes and sizes to narrow our choice down to this one and from Amazon. We’d also looked in 4 stores at what was available locally.

This Panasonic with it’s large 15″ diam turntable (only had a 12″ before) is great for warming up several small containers of leftovers at the same time. (Stacking them before didn’t work too well…) The Inverter Turbo Defrost works well, though we don’t bother to “turn-over” half way through (signal beeps), when the item is a mixture. And shielding edges of a large salmon fillet kept them from cooking during the defrost – I had the whole fillet thawed excellently in less than 30 minutes despite my having forgotten to take it out of the freezer the night before.

We also like the Quick Minute feature, which is just right for warming up a large mug of our combination green/rooibos/hibicus tea.

I read a complaint in one review of the plastic surface scratching very easily. This may be because the person did not remove the plastic protective sheet that covers the pads during shipping. Because there are cut-outs for the buttons, this plastic sheet is not real obvious. My husband was curious about the dull appearance of the numbers and the scratches that were appearing and investigated. He found a loose edge near one of the buttons and was able to pull the sheet off. It was after this that we found mention of this sheet; not in the installation section of the manual but under Care and Cleaning. Now the control panel looks bright and clean.

One feature that would be a nice addition addition to the functions option is to decrease (or increase) the number of beeps, rather than simply them turn off or on. We think that 5 beeps is more than necessary – we’d prefer 3, like the old Kenmore. But if one is in the kitchen, they can be stopped by hitting the stop button or opening the door.

All in all, great microwave. Hope that it stays that way for at least half as long as the old Kenmore ;>)

I bought this to replace a 10 year old Kenmore. This model offers “sensor cooking” which I honestly thought was another nonsense gadget feature that was all marketing hype and would never work.

I was wrong — the sensor cooking does work and I use it all the time. For example, to cook any type of fresh vegetable, I just select fresh vegetable and hit start — no weight, time, or type of vegetable. It’s really simple and the vegetables are cooked perfectly.

It also cooks very fast and has a feature that can cook on lower power without pulsing on and off like most microwaves do.

This is a fantastic little microwave. It is so good that I plan to buy another in a few weeks and donate this one because it works so well. The temperature setting is consistent as well as the timer. When you tell it to cook popcorn ( a favorite of the old man of the house ), it cooks popcorn and does it well. You want a properly cooked package of frozen spinach and by golly you have it. It gets used for all kinds of things by us and we have yet to have one problem whatsoever. Of course, the old man can really screw up a package of stuff but the Panasonic tolerates it.

OK, maybe not better than new, but certainly better than old. My old Panasonic microwave finally went to micro-heaven after 21 years of faithful service. That’s right, 21 years! I had been so happy with it, and with Panasonic, that I decided I’d try to duplicate the purchase. This one is as close as I could come (it even has exactly the same glass turntable!), with some great new features. Some reviewers have expressed worries about durability. My guess is 21 years isn’t a realistic expectation for anything these days (microwaves, TVs, cars, marriages). But if memory serves I paid around $350 for its predecessor back in the 80s, a unit that was much heavier, had fewer features, and was more difficult to program and use. Although the interior is slightly shorter, everything else on this microwave is a logical update on the old one. My only problem? After 21 years I had all the settings memorized for my favorite cooking chores. This unit is more powerful, and I’m having to experiment to find new ones. Bottom line…so far, so great!

I did all my research before I bought this and everyone liked it and the consumer reports gave it good reviews too I am very pleased with it, it cooks so well we had to adjust our cooking times that we were used to because our old one was so bad.

Using for a month, it’s a substitute for an old Samsung.
Very very large, unless you’re a professional cook you wont need anything larger.Economic. Uses half the time needed by my old one (served me well for more than 10 years). I gave five stars and could be six if it had a browner.

I’ve never been so happy with a microwave. It is wide enough to allow the defrosting of a long block of chicken thighs, yet short enough to fit in the limited space I have to stash it. If you yearn for modest height and generous width, this is your oven.

It’s quiet. It looks GREAT. It beeps to let you know when it’s time to turn something over you are defrosting, but won’t shut off and wait for you to turn it. (Turning is optional.) It’s clear from a bar indicator what power level you have set and is operating, which makes it easy to tell from a distance.

More on defrosting: My last micro only allowed up to 2.4 lbs in the display, so for that chicken block I was eternally re-defrosting. Not this baby. Bring on your big freezer items, so long as they aren’t too tall. Up to 6 lbs can be entered in the display.

That “ENJOY YOUR MEAL” message that moves across the display when the cooking cycle ends is a nice touch.

UPDATE 8/02/2010- It’s still doing the job and looking great.

I have always been partial to Panasonic microwaves and this is one of the best. It has had constant daily use for over two months now with an excellent performance record.

In fact, I have only used my stove and oven twice since this purchase (for a large frozen pizza). The sensors are very accurate – oatmeal is perfect. With two frozen dinners, I had to add additional time, but everything else has cooked, reheated or thawed as expected.

Earlier reviews mentioned resetting the clock and a loud beep. Panasonic must have listened to their customers as neither problem appears to be present on this model.

With 1250 watts, it does reheat more quickly than older models so I would suggest reducing the time until you get used to your new microwave.

UPDATE – 10/21/2008 – In December it will be two years – still perfect!

After having my first microwave for about 18 years, it finally died and I did a lot of research before deciding to buy this Panasonic. Having Amazon gift certificates, free shipping and a $25 kitchen and housewares discount influenced my decision and I have to say it was a great buy. I’m very pleased with the evenness with which it cooks and defrosts.

I upgraded from a mid-size 650-watt oven to this full-size 1250-watt oven. I have to remind myself sometimes that everything needs less time to cook. However, there are a lot of pre-programmed features in this unit that make it easier. For example, there is a sensor cook button that selects the time and power level for different kinds of foods depending on how many times you tap the button. Types of food include baked potatoes, frozen pizza, frozen entrees, fresh vegetables, frozen vegetables and omelettes. I made a baked potato last night that was cooked perfectly. There is also a separate popcorn button (you can select from 3 different bag sizes) that also worked perfectly. A More/Less button lets you add or subtract time to the sensor and popcorn settings.

There are a number of different functions you can select or turn on and off. Some of the functions include language (English, French or Spanish), a choice of pounds or kilos, child lock, reminder beep (I turned that off because unlike my old oven which beeped every minute, this one beeps every 15 seconds which was annoying) and menu action which when turned on guides you through each step of cooking. There is also a demo mode which is meant for retail displays but you can see how everything works without actually cooking anything.

Some other useful features are delayed start where you can use the timer to set the oven to start cooking at a later time and a keep warm setting if you won’t be taking your food out of the oven immediately. A Quick Min button lets you select 1-9 minutes simply by tapping the button the appropriate number of times.

If you purchase this, I would suggest going through the owner’s manual a couple of times. I went through it once before I used the oven. A couple of days later I went through it again and discovered that I had overlooked some shortcuts.

The only down side for me with this oven is losing some more counter space in a small kitchen. Keep that in mind if you don’t already have a full-size oven.

UPDATE: It is now 2010 and I realized I have been using this oven for 3 1/2 years and I still love it! I do a lot of actual cooking in it too, not just reheating, popcorn, etc.