Power Air Fryer Oven

Power Air Fryer Oven Review: Is It Worth It?

By Derek Lakin

HighYa Staff

Published on: Oct 31, 2017

With eight one-touch presets and turbo cyclonic Rapid Air technology that surrounds your food, Power Air Fryer Oven is an all-in-one device that promises to air fry, roast, grill, and bake, with little or no oil.

It also includes rotisserie and dehydrator settings that can preserve fresh fruits, veggies, and other foods.

Using its digital touchscreen panel, the website indicates you only have to set the time and temperature, and the device will “virtually eliminate oil from the process,” while reducing potential mess.

During the process, Power Oven’s airflow racks will allow the hot air to circulate 360° around your food for crisp, golden results, while the drip tray catches the extra fat, for meals with fewer calories than traditional frying.

With three levels of cooking surfaces, the manufacturer claims you can cook an entire family meal with just one device, while keeping an eye on the whole process through its crystal clear, extra-large window.

When you’re finished, the Rotating Mesh Basket and other accessories are made of durable stainless steel, so they’re dishwasher safe for fast, easy cleanup.

Has Tristar hit another home run with Power Air Fryer Oven? Can you expect it to take the guesswork out of cooking, while also delivering delicious fried food without the fat or calories? Let's start by comparing its core functionality to conventional methods.

How Does Traditional Frying Compare to Power Air Fryer Oven’s Rapid Air Technology?

With traditional frying, battered food is immersed in oil that’s heated to between 350° and 375°. This quickly seals the exterior, creates a golden-brown Maillard reaction (one of the main reasons fried foods are so delicious), and evenly cooks the food inside, while retaining moisture.

Despite its great taste, though, WebMD reports that fried food is typically loaded with fat, calories, and sodium, too much of which can lead to side effects like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.

Instead, the Rapid Air Technology in Power Oven heats its internal air to between 150° F and 400° F (depending on the setting chosen) and then uses a fan to quickly circulate it.

As a result, the manufacturer claims this can provide much of the same crisp, delicious browning as traditional frying, without the unhealthy oil.

But will it deliver in this regard? First, we need to discuss features.

Taking a Closer Look at How Power Air Fryer Oven Works

We’ll talk about important aspects to consider when purchasing an Air Fryer in a moment, but one frequently mentioned by consumers is capacity—in other words, the larger, the better.

And while no capacity is specifically mentioned, the FAQ indicates it’s large enough to hold “a 9" round pizza or cake, a 9 x 5" loaf pan, or a 5 lb. chicken.”

Important: Although The Air Fryer Oven website and commercial promote a five-pound weight limit for chickens, the device’s user manual recommends not exceeding 3.5-four pounds.

On the inside, you can choose between using air flow racks (ideal for dehydration, as well as crispy heating), or the rotating mesh basket (for fries and roasting nuts). If you’re in the mood, the rotisserie shaft, forks, and set screws can be used to cook roasts and whole chicken.

Then, you’ll use the included Fetch Tool to gently extract them, without burning your hands. And regardless of what you’re cooking, its Drip Tray promises to catch fat and make for easy cleanups.

Once your food and appropriate accessories are in place, you’ll use the digital numeric interface to get started. The Oven’s power button doubles as a start/stop button, and you’ll use the temperature control to adjust between 150° and 400°, in 5° increments.

The time control buttons allow you to select cooking times between one and 60 minutes, except for dehydration mode, which defaults to 30-minute intervals between two and 24 hours.

On this panel, you’ll also find an internal light button that allows you to check progress during operation, a rotation button for use during any mode (not just rotisserie), and eight cooking preset buttons.

By default, selecting any of these will set the time and temperature based on that particular food, although this can be overridden by manually pressing the time and temperature buttons.

Keep in mind that, according to the site’s FAQ, some foods will have to be flipped mid-cooking, the device can never be used to cook or reheat liquids, and you’ll need to add three minutes to your cooking time when starting cold.

Regardless of the mode or manual setting you choose, the Power Oven’s built-in shut-off mode will automatically turn the device off once the timer reaches zero. From there, the fan will continue running for 20 seconds to help cool the device down.

With 1,700 watts of power, Power Air Fryer Oven’s superheated cyclonic air claims to deliver the same taste as fried foods, but without the oil, fat, or calories. Image credit: Tristar Products, Inc.

How Much Does the Power Air Fryer (CM001) Oven Cost?

Available in white, black, or red, the Power Air Fryer Oven is priced at four payments of $39.99 plus free shipping, or a single payment of $159.96. For this price, you’ll receive:

• AirFryer Unit
• Fry Basket
• Basket Divider
• Recipe Books, as well as access to an online recipe library

During checkout, you can add the Accessory Kit (Rotisserie Carving Stand and 6-Quart Basket w/removable handle) for an additional $39.96, a six-year warranty for $29.96, and a Copper Chef fry pan set (11-inch family size and a 9.5-inch square fry pan) for $29.96.

We also found the device sold through Amazon for $179.99, plus free shipping.

All direct purchases come with a 60-day refund policy and a 60-day limited warranty against defects in materials workmanship, less S&H charges.

In order to request a refund or file a warranty claim, you’ll need to reach out to Tristar Products’ customer support line at 973-287-5197.

Are There Any Online Customer Reviews for the Power Air Fryer Oven?

The only website where we encountered any customer feedback for the Power Air Fryer Oven was on Amazon, when two reviewers had given the device an average rating of three stars.

One (five stars) reported that it delivered great results, cooked without using oil, and worked as well as a traditional oven. On the other hand, the one-star reviewer reported that it featured less-than-stellar functionality.

From a company perspective, Tristar is the second largest manufacturer in the As Seen on TV industry and has been in business for more than 30 years.

Recent standout releases include Clear TV, the Copper Chef lineup, as well as other products bearing the Power Air Fryer brand name.

In fact, since they use the same Rapid Air cyclonic technology and pre-set functionality, it’s worth pointing out that we performed an in-depth review of the Air Fryer, which could help provide some meaningful insight into some of what you might expect:

Tristar held an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, based on 17 reviews (100 percent of which were negative) and nearly 750 closed complaints, as of 10/30/17.

Where details were available, most of these appeared to revolve around lower quality than expected and customer service difficulties. In each instance, a company representative responded with a proposed solution.

Power Air Fryer Oven vs. Power Air Fryer XL: What’s the Difference?

Functionally, both the Power Air Fryer XL and Oven (shown side-by-side below) feature the same Rapid Air cyclonic technology, digital panels, dishwasher-safe parts, vented air chambers, and temperature settings between 150° and 400°.

The Power Air Fryer Oven (right) appears to provide a larger cooking chamber than the previous XL version (left), although support couldn’t provide any specifications. Image credit: Tristar Products, Inc.

As such, their biggest differences seem to be mostly related to design, as the Oven is meaningfully larger than XL, with a more substantial touchscreen. So, if you have vision or mobility issues, this might be a meaningful value-add.

There are some other differences worth noting:

While these are two popular models from a well-known manufacturer, they’re not your only air fryer options, by any measure. Other top Google and Amazon marketplace search results at the time of our research included:

• Philips HD9240 High Capacity Digital Airfryer ($300)
• NuWave Brio ($100)
• Farberware Air Fryer ($70)
• Cook’s Essentials Digital Air Fryer ($100)
• Dash Compact Air Fryer ($50)

Given the variety of manufacturers, styles, and price points, what’s the best method of deciding which air fryer is right for you?

The HighYa team has reviewed several of the most popular air fryers over the years.

And during our research, we’ve learned that capacity (cooks greater amounts of food), the wattage (cooks faster and more evenly), and the number of available features (adds convenience) often have the biggest impact on customer satisfaction, according to their online reviews.

To this extent, it’s our opinion that a good place to start is by selecting one (or perhaps even two) of these factors to focus on, and then moving from there.

Just keep in mind that if you place more emphasis on one aspect, you might need to make accommodation in another.

For example, the Philips model featured the highest wattage of the above bunch but was also priced the highest.

But if capacity and price are your main focus, the largest option was Cook’s Essentials at 5.3 quarts, which also featured a competitive price along with a total of 10 total functions.

Our Final Thoughts About the Power Air Fryer Oven

Can the Power Air Fryer Oven help you enjoy guilt-free fried food, as claimed on the website? Based on what we’ve read from consumer feedback for many popular air fryer models, this certainly could be the case, especially related to pre-fried foods like french fries, chicken strips, fish and cheese sticks, and so forth.

Writing for The Alternative Daily, Krista Hillis reports that in a 2015 study published in the International Food Research Journal, researchers cooked potato strips at 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit) for 40 minutes, using both air fryers and traditional oil-based methods. They found:

“… air frying significantly reduced moisture and oil uptake. In terms of free fatty acids, peroxide values and other physicochemical changes, researchers reported greater changes in the oil extracted from traditional frying methods, in comparison to air frying. Overall, researchers concluded that using an air-fryer is, in fact, a healthier technique.”

However, one of the most common complaints we’ve encountered among consumers in general is that, if you’re planning on using an air fryer to completely replace a traditional deep fryer for more robust, freshly-made foods like fried chicken or dumplings—and you’re expecting the exact same taste in all instances—you might be disappointed by their performance.

While maintaining realistic expectations, it’s also important to point out that pre-fried frozen foods are often loaded with salt, preservatives, oils, and fat that could outweigh any health benefits you might achieve from the Oven’s little-to-no-oil operation.

Finally, with a meaningfully larger size than the previous XL model, Power Oven isn’t exactly a small appliance, so make sure you have enough cabinet or drawer space in your kitchen.

The user manual also emphasizes that you’ll need at least five inches of free space at the back, sides, and above the appliance, so you’ll need a fair amount of counter room while it’s in use.

With all of this in mind, Power Air Fryer Oven seems to deliver a lot of convenient features and a large capacity, and at a very competitive price. And if it doesn’t meet your expectations, Tristar provides a 30-day refund policy.

Just remember that based on the device’s size, it might not be exactly inexpensive to ship it back to the manufacturer, depending on your location.