The iron pan is considerably thinner and lighter than Le Creuset and also Staub. I would suggest looking at the Mini Rice pot (3 cups) rather than the original larger version first if weight is a concern. We chose versions that don’t have obvious enamelling though, so am not sure if this affects my perception (both the the “black” and “silver” cookers have plainer iron pots than the others where the enamelling is more obvious.)

It isn’t as easy to clean as a non-stick coated pan. White rice that isn’t removed when it is freshly made and still piping hot is going to crust around the inside and will need some soaking to remove (anything hard or abrasive is discouraged), but that’ll all. It comes off. When washed and dried I smear a little oil along the rims of the pan and lid and that’s it. So far so good. Brown rice didn’t stick at all. Because the heating is even I haven’t had any burned patches to struggle against when making other foods. I do sear foods in another pan before adding them though.

I thought I was going to use the one larger pot for anhydrous cooking and continue using our zojirushi for any accompanying rice. I was really surprised by how much better tasting the rice was (similar to Yumenishiki) using the Vermicular though, so got the smaller version so I didn’t have to choose. It’s a superb rice cooker. It’s also a superb curry-rice style curry cooker.