Mini Induction Cooktop, 500W /110V Mini Electric Countertop Burners Portable Small Induction Hot Plate

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 timeI 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.

The media could not be loaded. 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).

For being only a 700W induction unit it does what you should expect. Espresso pot perfect application to the 8 inch pot with 1 qt water. Reasonable heating times. Espresso pot took around 1.5 minutes. Good English manual listing simple instructions and specifications. Some may not like using anything larger than 7 inch diameter as it can cover the control buttons and display. The unit has such basic functions (power level or temp) that I did not find it an issue with the 8 inch pot. Certainly if you want to hear up several quarts of water in a large pot or use a 10-12 inch fry pan this was not designed for that application. Compact, portable and light. Lower power consumption than full size 1800W units. If this fits your application it’s a good choice. Only ran it for 15 minutes test heating several things before writing this. Time will tell how it holds up in the long run.

I purchased this little induction cooker to start experimenting with induction cooking and for use camping with a portable power station. I've used it on two camping trips so far, about six mornings and evenings. It works well for boiling water or cooking up rice or stew in a small 1L pot with a glass lid. It has basically zero parasitic power draw when turned off, and has five power settings up to about 500W. It's nice and small and light weight.