Sous Vide Cooking

	Addelice Swid	Julabo Pearl Z (Premium)
Type	Immersion Circulator, adaptatif	Immersion Circulator, adaptatif
Size	124mm/190/268mm = 4,200 cm3 4.9"/7.5"/10.5"	339mm/190/335mm = 15,700 cm3 13.3"/7.4"/13.1"
Weight	2.1 kg 4.5 lb	6.5 kg 14.3 lb
Power	2,000 W	2,000 W
Tank/vessel capacity	From 5 to 58 L From 1.3 to 15.3 gal	From 20 to 58 l From 5.2 to 15.3 gal
Water pump	8 L/min	14 L/min
Safety	Float switch	Float switch
Stability	Excellent	Excellent
Ease of use, comfort, silent	Excellent	Good but you can see temperature info and cooking time at the same time on the single display
Maintenance, cleaning	Very good	Good but protective grid difficult to remove and heater element difficult to clean
Warranty	2 years	2 years
Price	EUR 380 excl. VAT	EUR 899 excl. VAT

COMMENTS

• Size and weight: Julabo immersion circulators are massive and heavy compared to the swid. Pictures below talk by themselves.

• Power: immerson circulator’s goal is to stabilize the temperature of a waterbath. For that purpose you don’t need a lot of power (have a look at this test). Power is very usefull to heat the water of a waterbath. Both Julabo Pearl Z and swid benefit from 2,000 W.
• Tank/vessel capacity: Since 2012 the swid benefits from similar technical specifications compared to Julabo Pearl Z. The swid can now regulate water bath from 5 to 58 liters while Pearl Z regulates 20 to 58 liters. This difference can be easily explained by the fact Julabo’s pump is oversized, in my opinion, for containers bellow 40 liters. It generates an unnecessary powerfull stream that makes pouches moving eveywhere. The swid benefits from a 8 L per min pump that is enough for a 58 L tanks and “soft” enough for cooking eggs in a 5 liters pot.
• Safety: both swid and Julabo benefit from a float switch which is the best solution to alert cooks when the waterlevel is too low and pouches risk to float at the surface.
• Temperature stability: these 2 immersion circulators have an exceptional stability (± 0.05°C) which can be achieved especialy if containers are well insulated. I made some tests with bubble wrap surrounding a pot and the results were amazing.
• Ease of use, comfort, silent: both immersion circulators are easy to use. The swid also benefits from a second display to indicate the cooking time which is very convenient. Both sous vide equipments are silent, a little noise of running water can be heard with Pearl Z due to the powerful water pump.
• Maintenance, cleaning: the swid and Julabo Pearl should be cleaned to remove the limescale appearing after some days of intensive use on the grid and heater element. Removing the Julabo grid is not an easy thing, you don’t have this problem with the swid. The heater element of the Julabo Pearl is made in a way that it is not easy to remove all the limescale (see the picture below). Both swid and Pearl Z have immersed parts made of stainless steal.

Julabo Pearl Z heater element. Difficult to clean between the coils

Addelice swid heater element, simple design, easy to clean

• Warranty: 2 years for both Addelice and Julabo which is compulsory for many European contries.
• Price: the Julabo Pearl is almost 2.5 more expensive than the swid.

SUMMARY

• Both Addelice swid and Julabo Pearl are made for professional use. The swid will also please amateur cooks.
• If as a professional you need to travel to make demo or catering, then the swid will probably be a better solution (2.1 kg compared to the 6.5 kg for Julabo).
• Price is an issue for Julabo Pearl Z. If you are a professional and you need a 58 liter water bath you should maybe consider if having 2 swids for the price of 1 Julabo isn’t a bad option. This could give you more flexibility (at certain occasions you could have 2 water baths at different temperatures) and the equivalent of a replacement device if your immersion circulator is out of work.

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