Originally Posted by Ramona Byrd

As with most things you expect to use for many years, get the very best you can afford of any brand. Then use it till it falls apart, and I'll suspect it will last far longer than you think it will.

Just keep an eye on the heat UNDER it, if you use wood then that will be your main concern. I used to live in Albuquerque (a heck of a long time ago) and spent weekends in Taos, where we used wood for heat and cooking. Without the pressure cooker beans were a no-no, so we took cooked ones with us. Heard horror stories about exploding pressure cookers and am still nervous around them. Tried to cook rice in one some time ago, it gummed up the vent, so I gave it away and now don't have one.