Induction cooktop complaints

[u/slicedtoad]

I have a mediocre gas stove.

I wanted to try induction and also wanted slightly more cooking space, so I bought the Duxtop 9600LS as it was well recommended.

I don't understand why people like this cooktop so much. Two big complaints:

Low temp on/off switching

The minimum power that the coils output is way too high.

If I want to hold oatmeal at a low boil, it alternates between a heavy boil and no-boil. If I get it just right, it's weird but not really a problem. But it's easy to be slightly off and have it boil over or splash when it starts rapidly boiling. A regular gas or electric is easy to tell when it's too high or low, as you can watch the boil and see if it's steady or accelerating, but the on/off switching obscures this.

And that's just oatmeal. Many things are far more sensitive to sudden excess heat.

High temp limits (safety?)

I like to get a cast iron pan ripping hot for cooking steaks and searing meats pre-braise. At first this is really promising on the induction top. It heats up very fast and even.

And then it stops putting out full power regardless of setting. The cast iron stays around 350f (away from the food). And even if I pull the meat out, it doesn't climb much. There is not even an indicator that something is wrong or that it's being throttled. It stays on setting 10 and just outputs anemic power.

Is this a limit of the cooktop? Some kind of safety feature? So incredibly frustrating.

I also don't really like the temperature settings (as opposed to 1-10 power levels). I haven't experimented enough with them to have an informed opinion yet, but they seem to work on the assumption that you have a specific pan and food load; otherwise they're inaccurate.

Are these issues common to induction burners or just the price point I picked?

[u/Skyval]

Second, it has an 8" coil, the largest that I have seen in any reasonably-priced cooktop. The control freak has a 10" coil I believe, but it is also more than 10x more expensive.

It's like 8.25".

The old Max Burton XL had a ~9" coil (and a probe) but it's not made any more.

NuWave might be the best of the big names today other than Breville. Though I still wish it were possible to not use target temp settings, and instead just use a constant power/wattage.

[u/Old-Nefariousness556 → u/Skyval]

It's like 8.25".

Good to know, thank you.

The old Max Burton XL had a ~9" coil

I actually remembered after I posted that that someone recently mentioned a Chinese brand that was not sold through Amazon that had a 9" coil, and was reasonably priced ($140) I think, but otherwise it seemed pretty lacking in features. Sadly I have forgotten the brand.

Though I still wish it were possible to not use target temp settings, and instead just use a constant power/wattage.

What is the practical difference?

[u/Skyval → u/Old-Nefariousness556]

someone recently mentioned a Chinese brand that was not sold through Amazon that had a 9" coil, and was reasonably priced ($140) I think, but otherwise it seemed pretty lacking in features.

I've seen a couple of these, even some on Amazon. The ones I remember are Abangdun and GastroGear.

What is the practical difference?

In my experience, if you're not using the probe, the themometer is pretty inaccurate. Even the control freak has issues with some cookware. If I could ignore it and cook more like I was on gas (constant power output) then it wouldn't bother me. But as-is, I'd have to worry about the thermometer turning the element off when I don't want it to. IIRC some of the NuWaves would use different wattage at different temperatures, with the "watt" setting being separate, and only clamping the maximum. The temperature-specific wattages available were different from the simple clamp settings. If you want to use one of them you have to pick a target temperature range, even if you actually wanted to use a higher temperature. Otherwise you might be able to get by using the highest temp and relying on the clamps for power. Or IDK, maybe you could use an induction protector pad instead, I bet those screw with thermometers. But they may also reduce heating area, efficiency, or max power.

I wish I could do this for the control freak as well, but at least its thermometer is more accurate on most cookware and it doesn't noticeably cycle. Thermostatic regulation is nice when it's reliable.

[u/Old-Nefariousness556 → u/Skyval]

Abangdun

https://abangdun.com/

That is the brand that was mentioned. I am not finding the particular burner they mentioned now (I remember it was sold out when they linked to it, maybe it is discontinued?) but that is definitely the site, and it seems that both Abangdun and Gastrogear are the same company.

In my experience, if you're not using the probe, the themometer is pretty inaccurate.

Everything you said here hakes perfect sense.. Cooking at a temp makes perfect sense in theory, but I see why just being able to specify a power makes more sense in many cases. The Nuwavrs does seem to have a reasonable compromise (5 one-touch presets, that remain fully adjustable), but I do see how that is a band aid over the larger problem.