I am really pleased with this rice cooker. It's very simple to use, basically you measure out how many cups of rice you want ie 1 cup per person, add the equivalent in water switch it on and wait about 10 mins and voila, perfect rice. You can also put your rice on to cook, leave it and then it will switch over to the keep warm function when it is ready so it doesn't burn, so if you need to pop out for an hour or so you can put it on before you leave and it is ready and waiting when you get back. I haven't really had any problems with it overflowing or leaving a starchy mess either...I usually only cook up to about 3 cups worth so maybe the problems occur if you cook larger quantities.