That's because the rice setting is a bit of a sham. The rice mode just sets a timer for the rice to cook, assuming you are just using cheap, commodity-level white rice, but any other type of rice, you have to adjust. You can make good rice in an instant pot, it just takes more work. You need to know the right amount of time and pressure for that specific type of rice.

Rice cookers have one or more sensors that detect when the rice is done (e.g., when the pot gets hotter than the boiling temp of water, so it knows all the water is absorbed). That makes purpose built rice cookers more foolproof.

That's a shame. I've made all kinds of rice in ours, from delicate Jasmine rice to parboiled, and even wild rice. We just use the rice setting and let it cook.

We do have a small rice cooker for 1 or 2 servings, too. It has a nonstick pot and I wouldn't consider it a BIFL product because of that. It's also not as versatile as the IP.

But, really. Use whatever gets the results you want. I'm not a fan of wasted/ruined food 😖