VP what? Yeah, I know, right! Whoever came up with that brand name needs to be shot! With that aside, today I want to do a review of the VPCok air fryer so that you don’t have to! Is it an air fryer worth your money? Let’s find out together!
But before any of that, I want to say that I bought this air fryer with my own money and was not sponsored in any way by VPCok. I want to give my readers the most open and honest reviews of air fryers possible. This only comes by buying and trying out the product for myself!
If you are in a rush, here is a quick overview of this product:
Overview of VPCok 3.7 Quart Digital Air Fryer
| What We Like | What We Don’t Like |
|---|---|
| Cooking Performance | Build Quality |
| Value | 30 Minute Timer |
| Locking Air Fryer Basket | Short Power Cable |
| Ventilation | Insulation |
| Basket/ Cooking Compartment Design | |
| Quiet Operation |
Who are VPCok?
With a name like VPCok, it’s pretty clear straight away that this is what I call a generic Chinese brand. On their website they say they are a ‘well-known kitchen appliance goods retail brand in China’, but I have my doubts 🙂 I wish some of these companies would pay someone some money to come up with a better name before they go all in with a brand name like this! Lol!
VPCok don’t just sell air fryers, they sell other kitchen appliances such as the sous vide and vacuum sealer. I do feel more confident in these types of brands if they do at least sell more than just air fryers. It tells me they have the potential to come up with their own air fryer design rather than simply license someone else’s from China.
Having said that, I did find that another air fryer from Iconites looks suspiciously similar in design, even down to the control panel buttons. So maybe they are just a bog standard generic Chinese brand after all 🙂
The VPCok brand was registered as a trademark in 2018 in the west, so this tells me they are not a ‘fly by night’ company!
What is this VPCok Air Fryer All About?
This VPCok air fryer is a traditional bucket or basket style air fryer, so it’s not breaking any new ground here. It has all the features you would expect from this type of air fryer, including:
- Non Stick Coated Air Fryer Basket
- 6 Preset Cooking Modes
- Maximum Cooking Temperature of 400 degrees Fahrenheit
- Automatic Shutoff when basket is removed
At 3.7 quarts in size, this air fryer is in the smaller size range. We have a full article on choosing the right size air fryer for you, if that helps! This air fryer is in the lower end bracket in terms of price too (although not the absolute rock bottom). At the time of writing you can easily find this air fryer for well under $100, lets put it that way. Check out the latest price on Amazon by clicking the link in the table below.
What Were my First Impressions?
The unboxing experience wasn’t anything to write home about, although for an air fryer in this price range at least it came in a glossy box. The air fryer came well packaged in styrofoam (damn the environment) and included a product manual and an over 120 page cookbook.
A lot of people are worried about plastic smells coming from their new air fryers. Yes, this one had a plastic smell upon unboxing, but nothing worse than what I experienced with my more expensive Philips air fryer. This is a by-product of buying cheap kitchen appliances from China 🙂 After a quick wash, I didn’t notice this plastic smell tainting my air fried food in any way.
Upon first inspection, this air fryer felt light and ‘plasticky’ when compared to my Philips air fryer. This is par for the course when you are paying around a third of the price for this unit. Other than that, this is a pretty bog standard air fryer all round. No fancy design, bells or whistles…just a simple air fryer.
This air fryer has the typical heating element arrangement for a traditional air fryer, being that it is an exposed coil at the top of the cooking compartment.
What I like about the VPCok Air Fryer?
Cooking Performance
I like to do a simple real-world test when I review air fryers, by making a dish that many people buy air fryers for….. french fries. I cut up a potato and put a light coating of olive oil and salt and pepper on them. Simple home made fries are one of my favorite air fryer snacks!
I cooked them in the VPcok air fryer at 175 degrees Celsius/ 350 Fahrenheit for fifteen minutes. For my benchmark dish, I cooked the exact same fries in my trusty Philips air fryer. The results are below.
For a budget air fryer, I was amazed at how well the VPCok cooked my home fries. This unit clearly equals the power of my Philips air fryer, with both getting an almost identical level of crispiness and golden brown color. Call me impressed.
Value
There is no denying that this is a good amount of air fryer for the price. Especially as I found that it often has special promotions running that make it even cheaper.
And to include things such as a digital display and half decent cookbook is certainly a nice bonus at this price point.
Locking Air Fryer Basket
This VPCok air fryer came with a nifty lock on the air fryer’s basket, meaning you can’t accidentally disconnect it from the handle. There is nothing worse than accidentally dropping your hot air fried food all over the floor!!
The only slight reservation I have is that it feels like pretty cheap plastic, so I am not sure how well this will hold up with heavy use. I will update the review if it does break down the line.
Good Ventilation
Ventilation is very important for the performance and air flow of these types of air fryers, and this one doesn’t disappoint. It has a big beefy vent at the back of the unit.
Air Fryer Basket Design
Air fryer baskets usually come in two varieties, the metal with holes through variety or the mesh variety. My Philips air fryer goes for mesh, and I find it rather annoying to clean sometimes. So I much prefer the VPCok approach of a solid metal basket with holes drilled in 🙂
Cooking Compartment Design
The cooking compartment has a smooth non-stick interior with very little crevices for food to get stuck in. This, combined with the basket design talked about above, makes this air fryer very easy to clean.
Quiet
This is air fryer is pretty quiet, especially considering the price I paid for it! On my decibel meter it comes in at 59.3db (or equivalent to a quiet office apparently!!). This is roughly 6 or 7 decibels quieter than even my Philips air fryer. If you hate noisy air fryers, this might be a good option!
What I don’t like about the VPCok Air Fryer?
Build Quality
I know this is a cheap air fryer, all things considered. However, I would still like them to at least try to hide the cheap plastic used in the air fryer’s construction. I don’t think it helps that it has a simple shiny plastic finish to it.
The way the cooking compartment slides in and out of the unit is not the worst I have seen on a cheaper air fryer but you can definitely feel you are using a cheap product.
30 Minute Timer
The mind boggles why an air fryer of this size has a timer that only runs for 30 minutes. This makes it harder to cook food such as roast chicken, as you would probably need to come back to add more cooking time (especially if it’s a big chicken). Makes me wonder if they are not confident running this unit for extended periods of time? Why else would you limit the timer in this way?
Short Power Cable
Kitchens are getting bigger these days, so power cord length is surprisingly important. This appliance has a ridiculously short power cord that I can just barely stretch to the nearest power socket (and I probably have a much smaller kitchen than you). If your power socket is vaguely far from where you want to place your air fryer, be prepared to use an extension cable.
Insulation
Whilst cooking with this air fryer, I noticed that the exterior gets hot to the touch. Not enough to burn you, but hot all the same. Certainly much hotter than I have ever known my Philips air fryer to get. I am yet to find a budget air fryer that has good insulation, so this seems to be a tradeoff you need to make at this price level.
Before we wrap up….
PLEASE NOTE: The quality of an air fryer’s non-stick coating is a major factor in buying an air fryer. I will use this air fryer for a few weeks (or even months) and update my review with some more details about material quality further down the line.
Should You Buy a VPCok Air Fryer?
I have to say that I like this air fryer. It does well as a budget air fryer and punches above its weight in some categories (mainly the cooking performance). It won’t knock your socks off with innovative features or design, but it will air fry your food well at a cheap price.
If you are in the market for a cheap and relatively small air frying appliance, this would be an excellent choice.
As with all air fryers, the key will be how well the air fryer and its non-stick coating can withstand extended use. I will add this air fryer to my rotation (yes, the Air Fryer Bro has an air fryer rotation!!) and will update the review when I have completed a more long-term test.
If you have any experiences of this air fryer, we would love to hear all about them in the comments section below.
If you want to find out more about this air fryer, check it out over at Amazon.
