TiannaTayl
Senior Member
For homemade chips I definitely prefer the Actifry - in my opinion there's no comparison on the taste. Like you say, you can do the other things in the oven anyway. Actually I've just seen they now do a two tier Actifry which has a second plate with no paddle so you can cook those breaded things at the same time - its about twice the price of the basic one though!
I thought I'd do a bit of a comparison based on our use of the Actifry and Airfryer:
Tefal Actifry (basic one)
+ makes great tasting chips - this is because the chips are moved around by the stirring arm and do actually fry in just a little bit of oil
+ can be used for other things such as sausages, meatballs, roast potatoes
+ food is evenly cooked because the stirring arm turns it over for you
- can't handle delicate items that will be broken up by the stirring arm (eg. breaded items or fish)
Philips Airfryer
+ can also cook breaded and delicate items eg. fish
+/- can cook sausages, meatballs etc. but I've found fatty foods produce a lot of smoke - I think the fat splashes on the element
- chips are not so evenly cooked and taste more like oven baked chips rather than fried - I think this is because although you toss the raw chips in oil before cooking, most of it drops through into the drip pan so they effectively bake rather than fry
- difficult to keep clean - this only became apparent recently, but its become increasingly difficult to get the basket part properly clean
Thanks for the detailed write-up!