Just Don't Turn it on High, and It'll Be Fine

I purchased this slow cooker because it was made by Rival (which invented and owns the word "crockpot") and it was the right size at 2.5 quarts to cook food for 2-4 servings. That's a very hard-to-find size. It's handsome, and it's got a nice heavy dark-green ceramic insert. The handles on the outside are solid and firmly attached -- this was an issue with other slow cooker models, but on the 5025 all is well with those. The outside gets hot, yes, but not so hot that it will burn you instantly. Takes three or four seconds of contact to really start to feel it.

The 5025 cooks just fine and cleans up wonderfully. My main concern is with the lid. It's tempered glass rimmed with steel, but it seems too small for the pot. Steam condenses underneath the lid and runs out onto the pot's rim. So the lid, eventually, actually rides and slides on this rim full of bubbling water, and goes "clink-clink" like the top of a hot teakettle. If you leave it alone long enough it'll start dripping down the outside of the pot. This happens sooner when the slow cooker is running on "High", but it'll also happen when the cooker is on "Low" for a long enough period. It's annoying but not, I think, dangerous. (Still I wonder -- did the designers actually test this model? How could they have missed this?) What's possibly dangerous is that before each use I have to to tighten the knob on the lid (held in place underneath by a phillips-type screw). Be sure to do this.

As a rule I never leave any appliances running when I am not home, so whenever I use it I am able to check on it from time to time. I am not sorry I purchased it, because the 2.5-quart size was my priority, but it is not the top-quality product I expected.