Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsI got this unit to replace my old (but great!! ) 3000 watt 220VAC unit ) See
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2016
this is my '2yr post-buy' follow_up .. with bad news .. (My earlier review should follow this entry below ...
Now, after 2 yrs of faultless service by this device, finally we hit a wall!! I'm an engineer and expert in induction cookery ... so do pay attention:
A week ago I did a 'First-ie' for me, I turned one unit, the 'right one' , to the max temp, 460deg F , by the display..
and then: maybe 15 mins into the heating, the cooktop 'blew' .. NOT a consequence of it's main home circuit breaker 'flipping' , (cuz the LEFT side still worked, or so i thought! ) .. Re-setting the breakers , just to be sure, : NO power to the Right unit... The LEFT one SEEMED to show 'ok' , as it's line of 'red dashes' or 'standing by' LED's behaved normally .. (Only later did i learn that it , too, the left unit, was 'blown' as well !!)
So, off to the web i went, found the 'User Manual' which, has NO, ZERO phone number for contacting the manufacturer .. In fact you cane even FIND the manufacturer!! ... Address goes nowhere, and NOwhere is there a phone number... I did dig into the net further and learned that the mfgr seems to be a company named 'Arcus' in Los Angeles, California, USA , but , sadly, no such company seems to now exist..
It is unthinkable and unaccejptable that using any device WITHIN the 'user available parameters' should fail, and DOUBLY outrageous that thee not be any 'support/contact' disclosure ... Hence, my
5 star rating has fallen to 0 stars, (if that were available as a rating option: hence #2 , it's a 1-star product now ..
So , i fully retract my earliner 5star rating for the above reasons...
First off: i'm an experienced 'induction cooking' guy ..... and an engineer .. I got this unit to replace my old (but great!!) 3000 watt 220VAC unit )
See: in years I never did have to use 3000 watts ... If i ever do need to convert food into charcoal, I need only fire up the outdoor grill ... I'd say that 95% of all my cooking is at 1500 Watts or LESS... So, the convenience of TWO cooking surfaces rather my old 'One' unit is quite a boon!!
1800 watts is a tremendously adequate heat for any meal .. IMHO. and fast! I have two 'converter plates that can lay on either hotspot and allow the use of anY sort of pan: NOT merely 'magnetic steel or iron' ..Any 'Inducto-Cook' with old fashioned cookware really outhg to get a couple of such 'converter disks ' .. can be had for $25 or so ...
but IF you have tru magnetic cookware, then you benefit by the fact that inducto will greatly speed up cooking! See, it heats the SIDES of the magnetic pan, too .. and at radically lower cost-of-use !!.
This unit is beautiful: a few inches high on rubber legs: fits on my old electric stove perfectly .. (a stove ive not used in several years!)
I do advise getting an 'induction cooking cookstove pad or cover: so avoid scratches on the glass surface ..All such 'pads' i've seen have a max heat tolerance of 500deg F .
Using the cooktop: It has a very intuitive set of 'touch buttons' :
On activates the electronics ..doe NOT turn on the 'heat'
Touching the 'Funcion' button brings you to 3 options: Power On / Timer (in minutes) / and Temperature ( up to 460deg F. ... a temp where cooking oils and Teflon start to breakdown to become dangerous!! And, btw, in EVERY case, where I've used my Laser temp probe, aLL
induction cooktops that i've experienced do put out a 'pan temperature' significantly HIGHER than whatever 'dial' or 'cooktop indicator showed!!
My reason for 5-stars is it's sheer beauty .. and i dont recall ever doing this before !
--- My Criteria:
5-star: does the job well, with extra advantages
4-star: does the job well
3-star: helpful but doesn't accommodate all needs that one would expect
2-star: sketchy performance at best
1-star: they showed up for evaluation
and:
I have NO connection whatsoever with any mfgr/distributor of this product .. Nor would I EVER accept any compensation in ANY form for ANY of my many reviews!
