REASONS TO BUY
Speedy
Decent at frozen burritos
REASONS TO AVOID
Expensive
Difficult to use
Panasonic NN-SU696S Review
While this model is fast at heating, it got beat in the most important tests
The Panasonic NN-SU696S.
Credit: Panasonic
By David Wise ⋅ Senior Review Editor ⋅ April 3, 2017
Contributions From: Austin Palmer
RELATED: The Best Microwaves of 2025
Our Verdict
The Panasonic NN-SU696S scored low in the group and had a top-tier price. It was a little difficult to use but speedy — overall failing to dazzle us. Its sibling, the Panasonic NN-SD745S took home the Editors' Choice award and the top score, and the NN-SU696S simply failed to match that stellar performance.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The lower half of the group of products in this test seemed to follow the unfortunate trend of scoring lower and costing more. The NN-SU696S cost significantly more than better-performing microwaves, and failed to justify this increased cost through increased performance.
The lasagna was heated sufficiently, but temperature varied more than other models.
Credit: Austin Palmer
Heating
The Panasonic NN-SU696S did a little above average, meriting a 6 out of 10. This model did very well at heating up a frozen burrito, actually doing the second-best out of the entire group. There was only an average temperature difference of 8.9°F, and all regions of the burrito well exceeded the minimum temperature stated by the package directions.
Perfectly heating a frozen burrito proved an impossible task for many models.
Credit: Austin Palmer
The Panasonic NN-SU696S did well at heating up an individual portion of lasagna, though not as well as the burrito. While all areas did exceed the minimum temperature, there was much more temperature variation compared to the other models, around 8.7°F. This was much more than the 3-5°F of average variation present on the Oster, Kenmore, or the Sharp.
This product did about the same at reheating our plate of leftovers — green beans, chicken tenders, and mashed potatoes. We used the sensor reheat function on this model. The green beans were the warmest — like every other model — but there was an extreme temperature discrepancy between the mashed potatoes and the chicken tenders, with the chicken tenders being almost 40°F warmer.
This model did a great job at evenly heating the plate of leftovers.
Credit: Austin Palmer
The NN-SU696S did about average at heating up a chicken pot pie, just barely hitting the minimum temperature in the middle. There was a little more variation than we would have liked, on average about 11°F between areas, but the crust did crisp up very nicely.
The pot pie wasn't the most evenly heated, but the crust was nice and crispy.
Credit: Austin Palmer
Finishing out our last two tests with decent scores, the Panasonic NN-SU696S scored average and above-average in our Hot Pocket and heatmap tests. The Hot Pocket exceeded the stated minimum temperature, but had about 7.2°F of average temperature variation — substantially more than the 1.9°F of the Panasonic NN-SD745S or the 2.7°F of the Westinghouse.
The Hot Pocket varied in temperature more than other models, but all areas exceeded the minimum stated temperature.
Credit: Austin Palmer
The NN-SU696S has mostly good heat distribution, except in the center.
The Panasonic NN-SU696S was a little harder to use than other models.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Ease of Use
It did a little above average in terms of preset effectiveness, as determined by its performance in our popcorn and potato presets. This model did a good job at creating great tasting popcorn, with only a few kernels tasting slightly burnt — not enough to permeate through the entire bag. It did leave a handful of kernels unpopped, but it was better than having a large number burnt. The potato was about average, though a little firmer in the middle than we usually would have preferred.
This model has a “+30 Seconds”, but it won't start the microwave automatically, requiring you to hit the “Start” button. It does have a kitchen timer function, but it can't be used when food is being heated. You could see through the door, but this model lacked an interior light when the door was opened. We did feel that the keypad was above average.
The interface and keypad were typical on the NN-SU696S.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
This model would slide a tiny bit on a smooth counter when the door was opened and closed — slightly less than a quarter of an inch.
The roll of frozen turkey prior to defrosting in the Panasonic NN-SU696S.
Credit: Austin Palmer
Defrosting
The NN-SU696S did very well at defrosting the muffin, earning the second-highest score of the group, just behind the NN-SD745S. The muffin was heated throughout, with only the very bottom being on the cooler side. This model fared a little poorer when it came to defrosting the ground turkey.
The remaining semi-frozen portion after being heated the amount estimated by the NN-SU696S.
Credit: Austin Palmer
9.6 ounces of the ground turkey were completely defrosted, easily scraped off of the log. The remaining turkey was a little difficult to break apart, but still could be done without putting it back in the microwave. This model didn't completely cook any of the turkey, though there were a few very warm parts. This model only has an Auto Defrost setting, where you enter the weight and off it goes!
This model was the fastest microwave of the group.
Credit: Austin Palmer
Speed
The Panasonic NN-SU696S did exceptionally well, raising the temperature of our water by 37°F, just narrowly beating out the 36°F caused by the Panasonic NN-SD745S.
Value
This model is not a great value, being relatively expensive for its performance.
Conclusion
While the Panasonic NN-SU696S did lead the way in terms of speed, it failed to wow us in the rest of the tests. There was a model that exceeded its performance in practically every other test, and most of them cost substantially less.
—David Wise and Austin Palmer
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