Mark Lloyd writes:

On Tue, 03 Jan 2006 03:15:34 GMT, "Rick Brandt"
wrote:

Doug Warner wrote:
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.

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.

Are there any current models with "ears"?

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.

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.