I put in enough rice and water to make 1 cup of cook rice and then turn the cooker on . a few minute later the water be boil madly - bubble up and out of the lid to form a little , starchy moat around its rim . either the cooker be too hot or the hole in the lid too small , but whichever the case , this little , shaky devise could hardly handle 100 ml of water . Heaven know how other people have manage to get 3 cup of cook rice out of it -lrb- see other review -rrb- . I be alarm by the violence of its splutter as cooking get into full swing , so I decide to take the lid off and add some more water . I go away for five minute to check a e-mail and when I get back the light have go off . accord to the manual the `` indicator light will stay on until the appliance be unplugged '' . the appliance be not unplugged . the rice have only be cook for about ten minute , albeit at a very high temperature , and since then I have never be able to get the light to turn back on again , nor make the cooker cook . I presume something have blow . I buy this cooker simply because I be a student and this one be nearly the cheapest on the market . also Black & Decker be a fairly well know and trust brand , i.e. I purchase it without much discretion . I do , however , have a few concern before make my purchase . most notably ; there do not appear to be any way to set a timer for the cooking duration . the cooker only have a plug and one switch -lrb- with two function : ` cook ' and ` keep warm ' -rrb- . I eat many different type of rice , each with they own cooking time , so a basic ` on button ' do not really suffice . I ignore this concern , since other claim to have achieve perfect jasmine , brown , white , -lrb- you name it -rrb- rice , yet on receive the cooker , there be nothing in the manual to tell I how . my cooker blow on its first trial , so I never find out if time setting be possible . I would be interested if anyone could enlighten I . I have not return this item because I live in the UK and it would cost further money to do so . the strange thing be ; the confidence in my choice of cooker be bolster especially by the review on this website . it be not for I to say whether these review be genuine or accurate etc. but nonetheless I implore you not to listen to they and to see sense in the idea that a rice cooker , as dirt-cheap as this , may well turn out to be every bit as crap as the one send to I . if I have persuade you to look further than ` best price ' and to research cooker that may be more expensive , but that may actually work , then today I have do a service to society . good luck . n.b. I have give this product one star because when I try to give it zero star the site would not allow I to submit my review . ` please rate this comment ' comin ' up in red letter , and all that . Pfft .