Rival 3040 4-Qt crockpot -- bad design?

I have had this Rival slow cooker for about 2-3 years. Today at Target I noticed a recall because of the easily-broken plastic handles on the exterior (cooker base). Indeed, one of the handles on my cooker broke partially within the past six months, leaving a sharp edge. I have gone ahead and registered for a replacement base, despite my reservations about the entire cooker:

Much heat is lost through the walls of the aluminum cooker base. It gets so hot that it is a safety hazard on the kitchen counter -- if someone touches the side walls he will get burned. I can also imagine that this waste of heat accounts for the poor performance of the cooker at the low heat setting. Even when I follow tested cooker recipes that call for using the low setting, the food does not cook through. I have had to resort to the high setting, which often brings food to too high a temperature thereby negating the benefits of slow cooking. This also often brings food to a boil, which then splashes out of the crockery pot past the glass lid down into the cooker base, there to bake semi-permanently onto the aluminum floor of the base.

My larger question is whether there is even another manufacturer of these cookers besides Rival/Hamilton. The idea of a slow cooker is great but if a decently made one is not available then what is the point? At this point I would just as soon use a traditional ceramic casserole or Dutch-oven pot, such as Le Creuset makes, in a conventional slow oven. I used to think that a countertop slow cooker would use less electricity and heat up the house less than using the regular oven, but with this Rival product I have my doubts.