If you’re just starting out, then sure.

But if you cook a lot of rice, it’s a noticeable step up in both quality and consistency. They are extremely common in Japan afaik.

We've used our Zojirushi almost every single day for almost 5 years now. It cooks perfect rice and keeps it warm and fresh for 12 hours. 100% worth the investment.

The thing they don't tell you about the expensive rice cookers is that they take 40 minutes to make rice, while the cheap ones make it in 20. To me it's not worth planning my day around having "perfect" rice, so I still use a cheap one every day :/.

I got a small and cheap one, thinking it would be good for 1 or 2 servings and better than getting the microwave rice. It took an hour, made a mess, and the rice was horrible. I should probably experiment more with it and try different types of rice, but it was such a bad experience I don’t want to use it again. I had a rice cooker a long time ago and it was fine, but it was really too big for my needs.

A few months ago I was looking at some of the more expensive ones people see to swear by to see if they could handle small portions and be more clean and reliable. If they are, I think it would be worth the cost.

What rice meals are you cooking that take less than 40 minutes anyway? Just start the rice first, before prep, and you should be fine.

I just have a cheap rice cooker though. I couldn't find a fancy one that avoids teflon (or other similar) coating that I liked.

Almost every family in Japan has an expensive rice cooker. They eat rice 2-3 times a day so I trust them. The end result is a lot better, and water is too important to be eyeballed.