I keep getting very inconsistent results making hard-boiled eggs for breakfast, trying to do so while getting kids out the door for school, etc. so when I saw this egg-boiling machine at a shop, I thought it would help me out. I live at 6,500 feet above sea level, so wonder if that's part of why I'm having trouble with the eggs.
If I set it up as it says, it makes soft-boiled eggs, then an alarm goes off. If I want hard-boiled eggs, I'll have to set my own timer as well, wait some additional time for them to be done, following some complex chart and pull them out at the right time. It seems just to make the whole process more complicated if I still have to track the egg timing myself, it defeated the whole reason for getting the machine.
Is there any device for hard-boiled eggs that actually adds convenience? My whole reason for getting the machine was so I didn't have to monitor the time so much and attend to the eggs so closely, was hoping a machine would turn off when its done and let the eggs sit for 10-20 minutes if I'm not ready to eat yet.
underlying problem
You live at 6500 feet? Well, then let me tell you that water does not boil at the standard 100°C for you but only... roughly 93°C. That has a lot of implications on cooking.
Whenever you cook a dish with water, like cooking pasta or eggs, you need to add some extra time to get to the same point of having the noodles "aldente" and not hard and the eggs not soft or raw.
Proper egg cookers can handle it with proper setup
In general, there are many different egg cookers, and we don't recommend any specific product. But maybe a specicic design and handling can help you more.
On one hand, water evaporates faster in your situation, and that means that with the factory setup, it will fall dry faster for the same amount of water, while still imparting less heat to the eggs, and thus not reaching the hardboiled point.
And on the other hand, not all egg cookers are the same. Some have just an internal, non setable timer. Those are hot garbage. Others have adjustable timers you could program, that is still not the best solution, because probramming them is tedious. And most are simpler. Like the egg cooker I have is of an older design and detects all water being gone by the heating plate's temperature rising aboce 100°C and turns fully off. That one you set by simply adding the correct amount of water.
In any case, you want a machine that is working like the latter design, and then use more water. Thankfully, the DASH you have shown is of simple yet ingenious make and model and uses the proven "vat gets hot, turn off" method, as the handbook tells:
This Rapid Egg Cooker is equipped with a precision thermal sensor and will turn off automatically when the water has fully evaporated from the Heating Plate and when the buzzer sounds.
That means that when the alarm sounds, the machine turns off, at least if you really got the model on the photo. There's no more heat coming in, the eggs won't ever cook on. Your extra timer shouldn't allow anything. And the very handbook for the DASH tells you how to fix your problem stemming from where you live (emphasis mine):
TIP: If you live at a higher altitude, add up to 25% more water to your
Egg Cooker to ensure best results!
So how much more you might need to figure out yourself.
Evading the pressure problem with rice cookers
Crip correctly noted that you can evade the problem of low pressure by using a pressure cooker. And thanks to rice being a staple food, and thus rice cookers being almost omnipresent in Japan, China and other Asian countries, there are entire cookbooks that use the ricecooker for everything from plain rice to everythign cooked. You see why if you realize that a modern rice cooker is pretty much just a glorified pressure pot with auto-off function based on all water being gone.
Some of the more modern machines have setable timers and adjustable heat... Yes, with the right machine you can bake cheesecake in a ricecooker. Though that recipe is by zojirushi, a ricecooker manufacturer and some of their recipes rely on the extra functions they have above a basic model.
The pressure cooker part means, that the boiling temperature of water to open atmosphere is evaded, and if you have, the time and temperature controlable thermostat means it can be programmed to just apply the heat needed for eggs. So it can be made fire-and-forget.
Example recipes for non-timer (thus overheat protection) based simple rice cookers can be found for example from A Peachy Plate (1 cup water, 6-7 eggs, "just press cook", and relying on auto-turn-off) or A Day In the Kitchen (1 cup water, 6-7 eggs, press cook, rely on timer for doneness: 20 minutes for hard boiled, 13-15 for soft), and many many more. So even if you don't have a fancy, all programmable modern ricecooker... as long as it has auto-turn off (which almost all should have), you can use it for your morning eggs. If you cook a lot of rice, it might actually be a better choice to spend some kitchen space than an egg-cooker.
