Great deal with the cashback offer down to $99 from Sunbeam after already being discounted by The Good Guys to $119. I purchased one of these from Harris Scarfe a few weeks back and paid around $130 on special, so $99 is a steal. Great cooker, we've had quite a few meals in it already with great results. It comes with great review and I can say from personal experience it's well worth the money. Looking around they typically go for around $140-$170.
The fancier ones have a timer setting, a digital readout of the time remaining, and sometimes a sear function or whatnot (that's getting in multi-cooker territory)
The Target one has Low / High / Warm / Off …. which is all you goddamn need.
The older Target one came second in a Choice magazine slow cooker shootout. I love it dearly.
Can't speak for the greatness of the newer version, but this stuff is pretty low-tech, and there's no reason to complicate it. The digital timer is not going to make you a better chef. Just remember to turn it off when you get home and your timer beeps.
"Fit for purpose" - the cheaper ones tend to sometimes run hotter, so you need to experiment with them a little. On the longevity side of things, I've had a Kambrook one for about 6 years and only had the no-name branded one for about 1.5 years. Still going well.
I think Choice showed that expense was not a factor in performance - expensive or cheap, some would simply be too hot in the end.
my Russell Hobbs one (which was $80 rrp) only has the same settings (on, off, low, high and auto) - no timer etc. also I thought it ran colder as the sole meal I've cooked in it so far (lamb shank stew) needed nearly 24 hours of cooking on high before it was ready. was not impressed.
@gizmomelb: From my experience with other items, that's just Russell Hobbs for you in general. Never touching anything with that name on it again.
@promethbastard: well with Winter in Melbourne truly coming on, I'll be cooking more things in it.. so will see how it performs.
no idea of quality, but Target branded 5.5l slow cookers available for $25