Thread: Portable Induction Hotplates - Your recommendation?

I bought one like that to make my bacon and eggs outside my caravan.
I am sick of the small butane stove needing gas warming up on cold mornings and a wind shield.
I will retain it for off grid but the induction should be good where there is power. Not wise to cook bacon and eggs inside a caravan as the range hood has a puny fan..
haven't used it yet so stay tuned.
Regards PhilipA

Tried the Kmart one and it threw fault codes all the time so took it back.
Got an IKEA version for similar cost and it has been faultless.
Cheers

Hello All,

I performed and internet search and found the brand and type of two element electric style portable hotplate that I used in a unit years ago. I read some reviews and a lot of comments were made about how under powered and slow it was to cook things on. Glad I was not the only person to reach this conclusion!

I also found a recent Choice Magazine comparison of the induction cooktops - however I am not a member to so I cannot access the test results. They did range in price from $49 up to a couple of hundred dollars. I will see if I have access to Choice via the Alumni at my old university library. Otherwise, Choice membership would cost me more than the Kmart induction cooker! No Ikea's close by me.

Kind regards
Lionel

We tried three different branded single induction cooktops……

All we performed the same

All under $100

We travel full time, ditched gas for induction cooktop.

The one we are traveling with doesn’t seem to be main anymore. Brought it off catch.com for 60$ from memory.

Hi,
From what I remember reading about a year ago....The cheap ones adjust the temperature by running at full power and pulsing the power off and on, where as the better ones clip the Voltage sine wave for a smoother control.
Happy to be corrected if I have this wrong.
Cheers

We’ve used the ikea ones in our new house while waiting for the kitchen to be installed. Performance was ok but not great. Power pulsing is annoying when trying to simmer and unit seemed to heat unevenly across the plate but, hey, it’s cheap and works.

Now bought a couple of Nuwave units for camping as they have power selection buttons 900W, 1500W, 2000W so can use on our 100A or 250A lithium systems. So far happy with them. 900W setting draws steady 77ish amps on the 100A battery with a 1200W inverter.

Also compared here
Induction Cooker Comparison on Lithium Batteries and 12V Inverter - YouTube

As my house does not have gas I have two of the gas cannister style gas cookers setup to use the wok - but in reality they are easier and quicker to use than the electric stove and only use one gas can every three weeks or so. These work fine but do get messy and hard to clean.

Despite not knowing anything about induction cook tops, after seeing this thread i decided an induction cooktop might be a good replacement for my gas cookers.

I bought a Devanti dual unit off Amazon for half price at $130.

Screenshot 2023-09-07 at 17-55-15 Devanti Electric Induction Cooktop 60cm Portable Kitchen Ceram.jpg

I guess I should have researched better - first it has a 15A plug requires a 15A socket - how many houses have 15 amp wiring as standard - mine certainly does not - my fault for not noticing this but I think I can work around this.

Second - I did not realise you need specialised cookware - I have aluminium frypans and these do not work as the material of pots and pans needs to be magnetised ferrous metal - my stainless steel pots also do not work.

So for the moment the induction top will stay in its box and as I need to replace cookware I will get induction compatible items.

I got a 15 amp plug installed at my place, to run the welder I don't have.But it cost more than your cooker did to do so. And it's outside next to the box....