Any microwave ovens available with pop sensors?

My 8-10 year old Sharp microwave oven has died from a shorted HV
capacitor. I'll probably fix it, if the part is still available. =20

If not, I'd like my next oven to "listen" to popcorn, and shut off
after the popping rate slows to a threshold level. My current oven's
popcorn mode always comes up about 40 seconds short.

Why don't you just set your microwave timer to pop 40 seconds more than
the popcorn mode?

Or is pressing 4 more buttons too much work for you?

Because, at least in my oven, the transition time between all-popped
and burnt to a crisp is about one second. The way I do it, to avoid
burning, is to push the PC button, which gets it close then dive for
the minute plus button when it times out. =20
Since I only use one type and brand, I really need to time a few bags,
and put a label on the oven with the optimum cooking time.=20

BTW: The a new capacitor and fuse ($27.00) fixed it. =20

If they made this:
it would blow the door off when it popped :-)

Are there any current models with "ears"?

I was going to say the same thing. Not to put down the OP, but how lazy have
we become? What's next? A remote that will come to you when you call it???

Hey.....wait a minute...........

Most of the ovens I have seen that have a popcorn auto-setting do it by sensing
the amount of moisture in the oven. It guarantees that the popcorn doesn't
burn, but it (as you say) grossly underestimates the cooking time leaving lots
of unpopped kernels.

We just bought a new 1200 watt Sharp and I have yet to find a power setting and
time combination that does a good bag of popcorn. I think the wattage might
simply be too high and the lower power levels do nothing more than cycle full
power off and on at different intervals. Our older Panasonic 1000 watter did a

I can hear the cycling on my microwave, when it's set for less than
full power.

BTW, this microwave is around 20 years old and still works. It came
from Penney's when they sold things other than clothes.

We just got a new MW at Sears.
It has a popcorn setting, and it leaves about a dozen kernels unpopped.
Close enough for me.

I'm not sure of the model, but it's large and has a rounded inside.

perfect bag of corn at 2:35 with almost no unpopped kernels. On the new one I
have to choose between many unpopped kernels or burnt corn. I point this out
because even with me standing there listening to the popping I still can't get
good results. That means an oven that did its own listening (if such a thing
exists) might not do any better if the power level is not correct.

Hmm, you may be right. Our two small Panasonic units in the office
break room died, (they did perfect popcorn), They were replaced with
big commercial grade units with higher power and no turntables.
The exhibit the same problem. If you wait for the last 30 kernels to
pop, it'll burn.

I think the issue with these is that hot spots develop and start
burning before all the kernels have popped.

And, no, I don't have the patience to stand in one spot for 3-4
minutes waiting for popcorn to finish. I'm usually doing something
else in the meantime, and forget to listen. It shuts off early or
late, leaving it incomplete or burnt. (Popcorn simply has no margin
for error.)

If you pop the same type, it's usually easy enought to figure out the time
to the best pop, and then set the timer to that for all your future popcorn
cook times. Popcorn kernels have a specific moisture content (13% as I
rcall) and if the weight and power are the same then there's no reason why
the same time shouldn't give fairly repeatable results.

late, leaving it incomplete or burnt. (Popcorn simply has no margin
for error.)