Breville BSV600PSS Joule Turbo Sous Vide Machine, Polished Stainless Steel

Why it's worth it

The Joule Turbo is about as thick as a paper towel roll and weighs roughly two pounds, so it slides into a drawer. Turbo mode cuts protein cook times sharply, and the doneness picker makes it the easiest unit here to get right on your first try.

Nothing else here is this small. The Joule Turbo is under two inches across and weighs a bit over two pounds, with a magnetic base that sticks to a steel pot so you're not fighting a clamp. If you cook in a galley kitchen or an apartment where every drawer is spoken for, that's the single biggest practical difference between this and our top pick.

Turbo mode is the headline, and it's real. Breville uses cloud-computed cooking algorithms to run proteins hotter at the start and then settle in, which the company says finishes chicken, steak and fish in about half the usual time. Head-to-head testing at The Spruce Eats found the Joule Turbo's 1100-watt element brought a 12-liter bath up to 135°F roughly 15% faster than comparably priced rivals.

From our review of 6 sous vide machines, by David Sinclair, Managing Editor

What we like

• +Nothing else here is this small
• +Turbo mode is the headline, and it's real
• +Visual Doneness is the friendliest onramp in sous vide
• +Breville's cook guides come from its own test kitchen

What to know

• –There are no controls on the cooker
• –Turbo leans on the cloud