Yes, my soup maker only takes half an hour to make soup.
Get up in the morning, have a coffee, chop all my ingredients, chuck them in the soup maker, go have shower etc with no fear of a ban boiling over or burning. So yes most definitely
No clue on this thermowotsit, I have no intention of ever spending that much money on a luxury kitchen device. My soup maker isn't in that price bracket at all, not only that its a food blender, can make smoothies, ice cream and all sorts of other stuff