As a child I was scared to death of my mom's pressure cooker and swore I'd never have one.  But this one is very  nice.  There are two ways to cook with it after the little toggle starts rocking you are instructed to (1) put the pot under water and it cools down all at once, or (2) let it cool down on its own.  If you are instructed to let it cool down on its own, it can take up to 30 minutes to cool down. I thought cooking with this would be a lot quicker; but that aside, it is a great way to have something that really does cook in a fraction of the time it normally takes to cook something; but it is not a "microwave" quick type of instrument.