Mastrad Top Chips Maker and Slicer Set - Professional Potato Chip Cutter for Homemade Snacks, Perfect for Parties, Picnics, and Family Gatherings

EDIT: 07/10/2014 - been ages since I bought this, and the other day I used it again and it was still working great! I'm not sure where I put the slicer though, but for anyone who owns a cuisinart and got the 2mm slicer disc, that'd be PERFECT and so amazingly fast. I only got the 4mm slicer disc - the chips came out kinda hard due to the thickness but still pretty yummy and i ate it with home made guac. It was SO GOOD.For those who are annoyed at how long it takes to microwave - take your tablet or phone (or whatever) and watch shows and read fb on it (or nab your SO or buddy or kid and have a chat lol). That should make time go by faster, and yay multi tasking!For anyone who had problems where some chips are still soggy while others are already burning - go in increments of 2 min at a time, then 1 min until it's done. In between each set, open it up and check on status - take out the chips that looks like they're done and continue with the soggy ones. That way nothing gets burnt. Alternatively try to fit approx equal sized (size and thickness) slices on the same plate.I highly recommend getting a pair of silicon tipped tongs so that you can take chips or even the whole rubber plate out without burning yourself. For anyone who got access to SF Japantown, the Ichibankan in there sells Seria brand (Japanese 100 yen brand) silicon tipped ones for only like $1.75 (a bit more than 100 yen, prob 'cause of shipping and customs tax).---After reading up some reviews, and considering the cheap price, I went ahead and bought this for myself. Please note that I live alone so I won't be making chips for other people in my household too. That's important, because this gadget, unfortunately, is not made for mass production of chips!The slicer that comes with it works really well with potato and firm apples, but for softer apples the slices came out a little thin. not unworkable, but the apple crisps that resulted had a paper like texture after microwaving. tasted great though, just not what i was expecting from apple crisps. Doesn't work quite as well with harder roots such as red or white sweet potato. i had trouble slicing due to the blade getting stuck in the middle of a slice. HOWEVER, it worked well if i sorta swivel the sweet potato in my hand so that it slices through, as opposed to doing a single swipe. i don't own any other slicers so i can't compare, but personally i think it's great that it's included in the set. now i don't have to buy one myself :DThe pan thingy is made of rubber with holes. Feels rather sturdy though (though sorta squishy) so i don't feel like it's going to break or warp or die on me anytime soon.I washed it and the slicing kit, sliced my potato. patted dry on paper towel as direct, and went ahead and salted and peppered it prior to microwaving. I read someone else who reviewed here did that, and I agree that it comes out much better. once it's microwaved, the salt and pepper won't stick anyway!I have a standard sized microwave, not one of the small ones, so the rubber plate fits perfectly. i guess my microwave's power is weak (and I can't seem to figure out how to up it), because it takes a full 5 minutes for my potato to be done. Remember to microwave it until the chips start to turn a little orange/brown (though not completely brown). That's when you know it's done. If it's still pale yellow, even though it's cooked, it won't really be crispy.the taste is DIVINE. so much better than store bought! I think i put too much salt and pepper in my test batch, next time i'm putting either less salt or no salt to taste the true flavor of potatoes. when i did the apple crisp and the white and red sweet potatoes, i cooked them plain and there's that underlying flavor that tend to get totally destroyed by artificially added flavors of store bought product. Having tried this, I feel like I've actually started to appreciate the FOOD and not just whatever was added to it!CON: The plate isn't small but considering the slices of potatoes are round, you really can't fit a ton of the slices on the plate (since you can't overlap them). This is perfectly fine, i think, if you're just making it for yourself, but if you're making it for two or more people, you might end up standing near the microwave for a long time!It could take a good amount of time to just do one or two medium to large sized potatoes due to not being able to fit a lot of slices on the plate, and having to wait the 3-5 min for it to cook. even slicing, patting dry, and salting & peppering the next batch doesn't take quite as long. if you're doing this alone, i suggest bringing a book, or better yet, cook something else while you're at it to get all your cooking done at once. otherwise, have someone around to chat with, or it'll get boring lol.the plate gets really hot as you microwave more and more batches. sometimes i wonder how safe that thing is? also be careful taking the chips off, or taking the plate in or out of the microwave, or you may burn yourself on the microwave or on the plate itself. works well if you have long nails tho (use your nails to hold the plate LOL)i wish the set came with two plates instead of one, as i think having multiple plates will make the process a lot faster. it's so cheap though, that i may consider buying the 2 pack pans by itself.overall a great product, and perfect for someone who like chips but trying to avoid eating the fatty oily processed food.UPDATE: I purchased a new microwave (1250 watt, 2.2 Cubic Feet Panasonic). In this new microwave I can do all three trays with potatoes and have perfect chips in 3.75 minutes!!!! I also do not have the overheating problem my old microwave had. I am using this much more now that I have a more powerful microwave. I have also done apples which came out great (brushed them in Splenda and Cinnamon) and than had cool whip on the side (dip). They cooked perfectly and quickly!!!I saw on TV one day about microwaveable chips so I tried it with a knife and it did not come out (slides too thick). I was watching some cooking show on PBS and saw this thing, I came on here and found it and saw that the price of this kit was cheaper than the mandolines that I have seen in the stores and online. I got this and was happily surprised!I tried this out with some small potatoes (cheap bag from Walmart). The slicer works great and cut them into perfectly small slices and required little effort. I than took the slices and placed them on the tray (make sure not too overlap or they will fuse together). The tray holds about a half of a small potato, I plan on buying the kit of two additional trays so I can do more at once.The tray is nice and fits into my microwave with no problem (standard size microwave, 1100 watts). I have found that for me 4:00 is a perfect time to yield perfect chips! The potato slices should be patted with a paper towel to make them better and not stick to the tray.I have made a few batches now and they have been delicious. I do find the chips in the middle get a little browner, but still taste the same as the lighter colored chips. I personally think they taste like regular Lays chips, they are crispy and are just delicious! They are strong enough to hold dips and salsa and is a healthy alternative to regular chips (plus they are a lot cheaper). I also find that salting them before microwaving makes the salt stick to the chips better than salting afterwards. I plan on finding some BBQ and ranch and other flavor powders to use on these as well.In the end I highly recommend this! The slicer makes perfect size chips and the cooking tray cooks them perfectly and is very sturdy. I plan on getting more trays to do more in one microwave (they sit on top of each other). I find that they taste like Lays regular chips and have a great crunch. I love this and am enjoying chips without guilt! One small potato makes more than enough for two people. I also look forward to trying some Apples, I think adding cinnamon on some Apple chips would be a delicious snack!!!I purchased the additional trays, however, I found that my microwave does not like doing more than one tray at a time (takes a long time and top tray burns). So, I do each tray seperately ,but still save time having multiple trays since I can have the next one ready to go. My microwave also seems to overheat after about 3 or 4 cycles (each tray takes about 4 minutes) and the microwave cuts off, after it cools it comes back on and nothing is wrong with it, I think it just overheats from the moisture in the potatoes. I have used this several times now and love it! --NOTE: when you use the mandolin, be sure to rinse it with water before tossing it in the sink, or you will have to scrub to get the potato liquid off once it dries.Would have been great had the idea booklet with the set had been written in English. Pictures look great, just have no idea of the instructions since I only speak English.I purchased this product because I want to eat clean but I don't want to give up the crunchy fun of eating potato chips. I experienced the same as most reviewers here. The chips located in middle of the tray browned after about 2 min, then the second outer-most layer browned about 30 seconds later. The rest needed about 60 seconds longer. A good chip is orange-brown in the center, maybe 1/4-1/3 of the chip, no more than that. Anything less will be chewy and will not resemble a potato chip. The problem with keeping an eye on the chips as they cook is if your microwave is attached to the bottom of a cabinet to keep it out of the way...what's cooking is also out of view. You need to keep an eye on the chips and make sure they are not burning. After the third batch, I quit standing on the chair and just took them out based on the times above. The browning time stayed consistent as I made 5 trays worth. The taste was awesome. The thickness was perfect. I only added sea salt. As I ate the crispier browned ones, I realized there's no need to ever eat a fried potato chip again. Then I hit the non-browned chewy ones, They were like under-cooked potato chips (have you ever tried to make them in a frying pan or in the oven and failed?), so I advise buyers to experiment with their microwaves, see what works and do it the same way.In conclusion, it took time to peel the potatoes, slice them (the slicer is sharp, nonadjustable, and nice and small), dry them, place them on the tray and cook. If you have a tv in the kitchen or someone to keep you company, or if you don't mind slightly labor intensive cooking, it's definitely worth it.The size and power of your microwave are really important to the success of this product. My microwave although fairly large did not allow this silicon plate to spin. I am not sure if this was important or not but I sure did end up with many burned chips. It is also a trial and error endeavor to get the right timing of your chips. In my opinion, if you are patient and can track the exact required for the crispiness you need you will enjoy using this. Unfortunately this is easier said than done. I found it impossible to get consistent results and the chips often had a funny silicon burn taste.Purchased 2 sets, one for a gift. Unfortunately I had to return both as the set I opened had a faulty slicer. It was set off balance so only half the blade sliced. I tried the slices that came out on the chip maker and actually the potato chips came out quite crispy but tiny because of the half slice the cutter produced. Since my set was defective, I could not risk giving the other one as a present so I returned both. I actually preferred the taste of these chips over the commercially made chips as they were not greasy at all. Too bad the slicer did not work. Also, I had to wait a few minutes before making a second batch because my microwave had to cool down.It made excellent chips in our microwave. I cooked them until they were a little bit browned in the center. Took 3 1\2 minutes and they were nice and crispy. I took it to my sister's for the kids to try out. It took 6 minutes and could have taken longer to get a really crispy chip but they enjoyed them so I gave it to them. I then ordered another one for myself. I found russets tasted too raw potato-ie, red tasted better and sweet potatoes were excellent. Going to try Yukon gold and white potatoes next. I experimented with salt and found that a light sprinkle with ground sea salt before they were cooked gave good results but I would eat them mostly with no salt at all.Bottom line is, you need a powerful microwave to get good results in a short time.Platter thingy works, makes decent crispy chips! Had to experiment with the cooking time to get it right. The little slicer doesn't work well tho, use your own.Fun to make. Doesn’t stick on the platform. Makes healthy potato chips. Better with a large microwave.