Mini Induction Cooktop, 500W /110V Mini Electric Countertop Burners Portable Small Induction Hot Plate Even Heating for RV Travel & Outdoor Abangdun

Pro: + Small size + energy efficient for low power situations (solar, emergency, RV, boondocking, etc.) + Good setting range 100W, 200W, 300W, 400W, 500W + Much faster and more efficient than resistive heating (stove/hot plate) Con: - No temperature control - lower power takes more time I bought this mostly for emergency and portable situations where I'm running off a small generator (noisy), or a solar-powered BlueTTI EB3A battery (quiet). 500W won't overload the battery pack power output, or small generator. To test this unit, I filled a 1qt cast iron pot with 4 cups of water and turned it on "hi" (500W) to see what would happen. It got warm enough to steam/simmer, but not boil, if you leave the pot uncovered. If you need furiously boiling water, you will have to cover the pot with an appropriate lid to reach boiling. This and time to cook are the only difference 500W makes vs 1000W+. It took ~16 minutes for 1qt of cold tap water to boil over with a -covered- pot at 500W. This is pretty good performance. With normal stove top resistive 500W type heating, the battery pack is drained in 30 minutes before it barely boils. Next thing I tried is a 16oz can of soup. I pulled the lid off the can and set the can on the unit at 500W. It was only a minute or two until I heard soup boiling in the bottom of the can. So I turned the unit down to 400W, then 300W, then 200W and then the can started to boil over. What I found interesting is I did all this on a small lunchbox size EB3A portable power station battery. The can of soup used about 30% of battery power. The 1qt of boiling water used about 70% of the battery. In an emergency situation, the battery can be recharged in about 3-4 hours of sunshine from a portable solar panel. I can store this next to my emergency supplies and use it to make a not so wonderful hot emergency meal, which in an actual emergency where a hot meal will seem like luxury. What's an emergency? Earthquake, high winds, a car meets power pole at road speed event, where power can be out for hours, days, weeks, months. Or I can keep this inductive unit in the cupboard and use it to make a quick breakfast for one or two people. Or use it to keep something warm away from the kitchen. Performance does what I need for heating, saving battery power, convenience, and small size. I'm happy with this purchase.

I originally bought this to find a smaller induction cook top to fit my small counter, but one more importantly, capable of heating a small mokapot. I've used Aluminum moka pots for decades but they don't work with induction, so I bought a cheap $11.41 Mokapot (originally $22 with 50%, now 40% coupon) by Jingle Choo, which stores far more water than a 2 cup espresso machine needs for strong coffee. Anyways, the best part of this and the reason I bought it was that it has a lower 500 watt setting than my 1000/1800 watt induction cooktop, which is great for cooking pasta and so-so with rice- it can leave rings of burnt food if unattended for too long. I rarely use the 1600-1800 watt setting beyond boiling water/liquids, and frequently simmer between 200-400 watt average setting. However on the Ambiano 1000 watt setting, it cycles in fifths of 5-10 seconds for 200,400, 600 and 800 watt settings at 1000 watts, using a Kill-A-Watt meter for all temps 1000 watts and under, meaning that the lowest setting it's actually running at any time is 1000 watts for 1-2 seconds. This is far too vigorous for simmering rice in some cases, thus needs constant attention beyond a few minutes. The new mokapot boiled in less than 3 minutes. I do not recall how many minutes it ran before the video started recording, but I did another boil today and it was around the same time. I was doubtful my mokapot would run on this and the 1800 watt induction (more doubtful on the 1000/1800) because the minimum size is 4" on this 500 watter and ~6" apparently on the larger one. I did test the moka on the 1000 watt Ambiano setting, and surprisingly, It worked too, but the boil was far too vigorous for good, strong coffee and when water splashes, spills or the pot is not perfectly certain center, there is an error, and some you hear a high pitched buzzing when water gets underneath, which is annoying. I used a thin rice pot made of stainless steel with no induction logo and surprised to see it worked. I could locate the ring of bubbles inside the 4.5" pot and they were clearly positioned very closely under the outer edges of the 3.5" induction mokapot, which means that even though the induction cooktop is only 500watts, its high efficiency, coupled with close contact with the edges of the mokapot means the heat transferred very quickly both vertically and along the base of the mokapot to heat and boil the water within a couple minutes. When heating a larger pot, it will take longer, so use a lid whenever possible. Electric kettles are also very efficient, but this allows more options when cooking small meals that need to simmer on lower temperatures and waste less heat (especially for the summer).

This has worked remarkably well in an outdoor kitchen with a limited wattage, heating a 6-quart pot nearly as quickly as my old electric range. I can’t speak for certain as to whether it modulates heat based on the power setting or alternates on/off at full power, but heating seems even and compared to electric ranges I’ve used it does a better job of simmering beans and grains without boiling over. There is a fan as usual for induction burners that makes some noise when operating, but it’s not overly loud and I notice little sound from the burner otherwise. After several months of regular use I have no complaints.

I got this because it is less of a draw on my solar power. I had been very happy with my nuwave before that but during the rainy season my power wasn't keeping up. This stove has a loud fan, which actually turned out to be a blessing after it woke me in the middle of the night on 2 occasions in less then 2 wks, after turning on by itself. There was a tea pot on it that was boiling by the time I awoke. I thought perhaps a gecko hit the power button. But the 2nd time it happened my power had cut out for a moment and when the inverter beeped and it came back on, the stove turned on by itself and was heating the sm cast iron frying pan I'd left on it from my dinner. I learned not to keep it plugged in. But sometimes I don't remember to do that. Just glad it happened when I was home instead of away because it could've started a fire or burned down my house. Very scary!

Low power 500w efficient appliance works with solar power.