HA SH R-530EK METALLIC BLACK 1 (Sharp R530EK) (MICOVEN R530EK) - Online Store

By 

T. DeGroot “Fly Navy” (Bellingham, WA USA) –

  

Our Sharp Carousel microwave finally died after 18 years of faithful service. Even the light bulb lasted 18 years. It was heavy and reliable; an awesome appliance….Naturally, I planned to replace it with another Carousel. The reviews were not spectacular. Poorly designed touch-pad, plastic latch mechanism, etc. Unfortunately, other manufacturers seemed to be as bad or worse. I needed a microwave and couldn’t find anything better, so I ordered a Sharp R-530E (R-530 EKT according to the label). That’s the very large, 1200 watt oven in gleaming black with a 16 inch turntable. Now that I’ve used it for a couple of weeks, I’m ready to offer my appraisal.

The Good:

Good price. Hard to believe how inexpensive these are.
Awesome size. This bad boy can accept your largest dishware and has a substantial glass turntable.
Good power. A large cup of water will be piping-hot in 2 minutes. Re-heating a large casserole dish of leftovers is quick and reasonably even, but is likely to make a mess unless covered.
Unit looks great. The gleaming black is unobtrusive and looks great on our dark granite counter. The digital readout is OK and the clock is easy to set, although it lacks a 12/24 hour choice. Odd since it offers foreign language choices.

The Bad:

Flimsy plastic latch mechanism. My previous unit had plastic latch hooks, but they were substantial. If you barely brush against these, they WILL snap off. Much worse than I expected.
Ridiculous touch-pad. The ON, OFF, and MINUTE PLUS are hard to find and way too small. The pad is cluttered with lots of choices you probably will never use.
A lightweight. Although some electronic components have gotten lighter, the light weight of this unit is perhaps indicative of the overall move to cheaper components. I don’t expect it to last.
No turntable disable or 30 second quick heat buttons.
No easy access to change the light bulb. When mine fails, I will rewire it with a LED, assuming I haven’t already thrown it away because the cheap plastic latches snapped off.

Bottom line: Looks good, great size, good price, works adequately, but probably won’t last. What were they thinking with those cheap plastic latches ready to snap off? Did any of those engineers use that horrible touchpad before they put it into production?

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I’m looking at buying the 4th one of these in 5 years. Why the same model every time? The space was custom built for it & so far haven’t been able to find another that fits as well. First one had to be repaired after a month as the door refused to open, ultimately that one burned out after cooking microwave popcorn for the lowest amount of time listed on the package. (Everything cooks in lower range of recipe recommended times or less – have never dared to try any higher time amounts.) 2nd one came & door would not open at all – bravo Amazon – they replaced it quickly. 3rd one has worked for 18 months – door is starting to fail – it will still open if you pull up on the handle while pushing the button, but it’s only a matter of time…

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One week with the microwave and the control panel segments started to fail. 3 months and the thing got very loud. inside stains easier than most. uneven heating. We use it alot (2 meals a day). Shopping for a new microwave.

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