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Was looking for something cheap for Hot Pots this winter. The usual price is $49-$85 according to Price Hipster.
Quality would be mediocre at best. Comparatively, brand name ones (Tefal, Philips) are around $120.
Kogan 1800W Portable Induction Cooker $39 Delivered @ Kogan
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Are the usual hot pot pots (one with split in the middle) going to work on these?
Only cookware made of such ferromagnetic materials will work with this item.
Pretty sure the usual hot pots will be fine. As long as the base is flat and metallic and it should work.
I prefer to cook my hotpot in a claypot so I'm stuck with using an electric or gas setup.
Has to be ferromagnetic. Aluminium, copper or zinc base pots won't work.
stainless steel won't work either.
Excellent! Basically when purchasing check with the seller if it is induction compatible.
@stumo:
Most do work. Most stainless cookware choose ferromagnetic variants that work fine on induction.All my stainless pots and pans are great on induction.
@stumo: With all due respect thats untrue, SOME alloys of stainless steel won't work - but others will. It all depends on the alloy of SS they use - can't recall if it's 18/10 or 18/0 that works/doesn't but I've an induction top and multiple SS based items work fine.
Only safe way is to test your cookware with a magnet - if it sticks it will 99.9% certain work on all induction tops. :-)
@Nikko: You are right. Only magnetic stainless steels would work. 18/10 or 18/8 (not zero) will not work. 18/8 (or 18/10) is an austenitic stainless steel which is non magnetic. Other stainless stells are either ferritic or martensitic which are magnetic and would work. Metallurgist here ;)
@Bazeegar: Or stick a piece of iron inside the pot. Food will also be rich in iron. materials eng/cheapskate here :)
Easiest way to test is to put a fridge magnet on the bottom of it. If it sticks, it will usually work with induction.
Just check the pot with a magnet. If the magnet sticks to the bottom, the induction coils will heat the pot.
Whoa, amazing price. We currently use one of the $120-$150 Tefal units in a temporary Kitchen scenario while we renovate and it has been absolutely fantastic! The only difference I can see between this cheapie and the Tefal is that the the Tefal has preset programs to help cooking/heating various things.. handy but absolutely not essential. $39 is an amazing price and I'm tempted to get one purely to see how good/bad it is :) Anyone actually own one of these and care to give a review??
377 reviews on the website
Ha, yes… including the very helpful "haven't used it yet" type 'reviews' ;) I always prefer OzBargainer reviews to be honest.
The website that is the vendor's website that is designed to cause you to buy the very item being reviewed.
Around 200 of these leave no comments and give the item 5 stars.
they don't have time to writew, they're too busy cooking (the reviews)
IMO @ 1800w it will be absolutely rubbish
1800 watts I would have thought was quite good. How many watts is an expensive one? SteveAndBelle
Looks like the Tefal we have can stretch that little bit further, up to 2100W: http://www.tefal.com.au/Cooking-appliances/Induction-Hobs/EV… so yeah, I honestly don't think 300W is going to make much difference.
Considering the most you are going to pull down from a standard power point is 2400w @ 10a, your opinion is pretty fascinating.
I have a Kitchen Couture 2000W version, and it's brilliant. At least 2x as fast as my normal stove elements. Even with 200w less, I wouldn't expect it to be much of a problem.
The only time that the 1800 / 2000w ratings matter is when you're trying to bring pots of water up to the boil quickly.. The rest of the time you'll very rarely use the highest power setting.
I have the Tefal 2100w portable cooker and most of my cooking is done on lvl 3 out of 9. I'm pretty sure a 1800w model would be perfectly fine for most cooking, at this price its worth the risk anyway.
Maximum watts for 10amp 240v is 2400 watts but most of these portable inductions are 1800-2100. I've used plenty of these induction hobs from cheap eBay specials to commercial kitchen ones. They are all very similar in the way they perform, the more expensive ones seem to be quieter and better built. They outperform gas imho.
http://www.kmart.com.au/product/2000w-induction-cooker-with-…
I'd rather get the one from Kmart for $49.
At least returns will be easier.The Big W one has a flat glass top with touch buttons. Might be easier to clean than the Kmart one, where food or spilled liquids might get stuck in the crevice between the glass cooktop surface and the control panel.
Oh, good find - looks better as the surface is flat as eug mentioned.
The fan is very noisy on this kogan one compared to the branded ones
Ended up returning mine for a refund
Bought one for $29 , can't complain , thanks OP , I have to try one before upgrade the kitchen .
To be fair, this little portable one won't be a good representation of what a proper built-in induction cooktop will be able to do.
The induction cooktop at my work has a smooth power delivery, whereas I believe these cheap ones do a horrible "pulse" type temperature control.
Apparently some of the cheapie draw incredible amounts of power whilst in Standby - Whirlpool/net.au is littered with terrible stories about the cheap portable induction boxes.
Good ones do exist, but I'd be surprised if this is one.
If it is, though - let me know!
I purchased this one and have been very happy with it so far. It's a good option.
The pan however is completely useless, and you will likely never use it. I have cups made of thicker metal than this pan.
Ah, so this is the kinda thing some YouTube foodies use…
FWIW I've one thats VERY similar to this Kogan model - I suspect a common design is used to turn out multiple models - they just change the fascia/exterior slightly.
Word of warning is that the plastic to the left and right of the hob glass tends to develop stress fractures pretty easily. I'm a lil unsure how safe they are WHEN (not if) you get boilovers on them - as all the electronics are right below that and it'd be quite easy for liquids to get through onto them - and these units do not have auto-detection of boilovers as some builtins do.
Don't get me wrong, they're still great value and at these prices make me wonder HOW people justify paying $2-3k for a Bosch/Smeg builtin unit which is ESSENTIALLY the same technology just with a few more tweaks…certainly they're making some big margins on those!
Very good price delivered but I'd buy the Kmart one myself as has it's hob glass go right to the edges and steel exterior.
Yeah this pisses me off, why a 4 burner cooktop is 1k+ when I can buy 4 of these for under 200 bucks kills me. I have had 2 induction hobs and both have failed on me
Your answer is right in your question…
a 4 burner cooktop is 1k+ when I can buy 4 of these for under 200 bucks
and both have failed on me
In case it wasn't clear, the small ones are the ones going strong and the big ones are the ones that are failing
im about to get 2 of these, not these ones but induction and just found out there are stainless steel plates you can sit on top of these induction cooktops to use other types of metals like aluminium, our gas bill is going through the roof (otherwise AGL is ripping us off) so i have to find other ways to cook not using gas.
our gas bill is going through the roof
I would have thought cooking with gas would be cheaper than cooking with electricity. Are induction cooktops cheaper to run than gas?
Same. I would've thought gas is cheaper than electricity even if it's induction.
Been through this dilemma myself while building a house… gas or electric? What's better and/or cheaper!? Decided to go with electric everything because of one simple fact… there's no easy alternative to fuel gas appliances however anything electric can take advantage of solar, battery storage or even a good ol' generator if the power ever gets cut for long periods (as per 2011 Brisbane floods). Power your induction cooktop with a solar storage system while running everything else in the house and I'd say the costs would be minimal even when considering the cost of the system and it's payback period etc. etc. On top of that I'm glad we went induction as it's friggin fantastic to cook with… so fast yet with amazing heat control. We had gas in most previous houses and loved it but I don't think we'll ever go back now.
I have gas for hot water only, and it's expensive.
A recent bill was $204 before adding GST, and of that $109 was "Supply Charge" and the remaining $95 was my actual usage. So the gas is cheap, but having the connection to town gas is more expensive than the gas itself!
I'm thinking of changing to bottled gas or straight electric instead. Don't know yet how to estimate whether it will save me money, and there will also be the up-front charges of installing the new hardware.
I dumped mains gas years ago for this very reason - supply charges exceeding usage.
My solution was LPG. I have an ebay sourced LPG hot water service (my hot water service was also due for replacement, which is what brought the issue to a head for me) that uses a 9kg bottle from Bunnings, averaging about 60 days/recharge. Costs about $20/refill. I have an LPG stove/oven thing that I've never used the oven on but that I use the stove on frequently. It seems a bit slower than my old mains gas stove, but there's not a lot in it. It has another 9kg bottle. I've not had to replace that yet, so I don't know about usage other than "not much".
The HWS is instantaneous too, and there's no pilot light. It works off a pressure switch detecting flow on the hot water, then the pilot kicks on then the gas. 15 seconds later, hot water arrives. It has a single D sized battery to light the pilot.
Be warned though - they don't like you disconnecting from the grid. It took ages to organise - actual paper forms appeared & had to be posted - and I had to physically get the meter removed ("abolished" in their parlance) which cost about $90. If you tell them your place is a rental and it's empty (and you don't have gas and power with the same company) they'll just suspend the account and, from what I was told, stop charging access. In my case though, I had both power and gas w/ the one company so I wasn't able to do that as I didn't want the power shut off too.
Longer term, there's nothing stopping me using the gas piping in the house for the LPG, rather than bottles - ie., get a big bottle. Or two.
Anyway TL:DR - I do this and my total gas spend via Bunnings is less than my connection fee used to be. It's easy and cheap. And, if you're a DIY type, the next logical step is a methane biodigester. But, that's another post ;-)
Edit to add - Russ: you may, if going from natural gas to LPG, be able to get conversion kits for your hardware - stove, etc. From my (limited) understanding the only actual differences are minor. So you may not need to replace everything, just update it.
@kale chips suck:
Wow, that sounds great, I never would have thought you could do an LPG HWS cost-effectively.How do you manage bottle swap overs to ensure you're not left in a cold shower?
@kiitos: You can have two gas bottles; when one runs out you switch it over to the other one and get the empty one replaced.
@kiitos: I don't - bottle swaps take about a minute, probably less. I keep a full one on hand as standby. Also, the shower goes cold slowly as there's still hot water in the line once the HWS runs out of gas - so when it has happened, I've usually realised it's about to get bloody cold and I'm sorting it out before the shock of the cold comes on.
It's a bit of a nuisance, but not enough (yet) to motivate me to put big bottles outside and plumb into the house's gas lines.
@kale chips suck:
Any more info on the LPG hardware you are using? I'd love to start researching this.Hey Cheep,
This type of heater:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/THERMOMATE-Gas-Hot-Water-Heater-P…This exact stove:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-THERMOMATE-3-Burner-Portable-…Also, these are brilliant - though illegal in some states … specifically, nanny states. Irrespective, they're very useful for heating small rooms quickly. If you get one, get a carbon monoxide monitor too. Just so you're aware, there are others that have more built-in safety features - O2 depletion sensors, knocked over sensors, etc. Personally, I just pay a bit of attention and keep an eye on it. Plus, I have an Aldi $20 air detector thing that'll wake Moses if it detects a build of of something and goes off. It never has, but it tests OK.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SUPAHEAT-6-BURNNERS-2-1-2-STAR-SA… (The gas pipe that comes with them won't connect to an LPG cylinder but a quick visit to any gas supplies place will get you the right connection.)Also, as a final note - there's no need to decommission or disconnect your existing HWS to test this out. I ran this for a year before I disconnected the natural gas because I wanted to be sure it would work, was practical and I could live with it.
If you need any pointers on how to do that just let me know.
Buy a Kogan giftcard in Woolies and make it 5% cheaper.
Didn't realise this sort of product had come down to the $50 range. Might get one as a back up or just something that looks easier to clean than my current stove top for rental inspection purposes (no nooks and ridges crap builds up in)
I'd prob get the BigW instead though, but good deal at $10 less for people wanting one at all.
They are really handy.
I have a small 4-burner gas cooktop which is fine most of the time, but it can get crowded easily with large pots and frypans if you are trying to cook a few things at once.
This is where the induction cooker is great because you can shift a large pot over to the induction top to save space.
It also works well for boiling water say for pasta as it gets the water to a rolling boil much faster.
I've used one from Kogan (this model) for about 2 years now and really love it. Use it every day, sometimes multiple times a day. Started using it when the place i moved in to had to have the stove top replaced.. once it got replaced, I never used it as the induction plate worked better :)
I got an el cheapo portable induction cooker on ebay years ago and it was noisy- how noisy is this one?
The fan isn't quiet at all, but it doesn't bother me but that maybe because I'm use it to. I just love how quickly it heats pans up :)
Ikea also has one. Sorry can link it atm. And Costco has the Cuisinart ones
Any idea on price from Costco?
I think it was $129 normally, but we picked it up on one of those coupon weeks for around $100ish. Works really well. I know it's more expensive than the one listed here, but I prefer the Costco warranty piece of mind in case any dramas (at the time we weren't sure if we were going to keep it)
Thanks for that, I was on the way in to work and receptions was shocking. I've read some really good reviews on this one.
Can anyone confirm how this cooktop works when set to low heat?
I have one of a different brand. When set to low heat, it deactivate intermittently. That is, it achieves lowered wattage through duty cycle reduction, which still burns food.
I think all the cheap ones work like this - this is one of the big differences between the more expensive ones and these cheaper ~$50 units.
My brother's Tefal ones does that too, when on the lowest power '1' and '2'.
Anyone know of a particular brand/model that doesn't do this duty cycle reduction to achieve low temps?
bought 1 thanks
Can I use it as food warmer in cold days. Has anyone tried to put cook food on it on low heat for long time?
The temp is inaccurate on these cheap ones
You would need to invest in a better unit if that is your main requirement.
These cheaper ones aren't good at low temp/wattage control and are inaccurate - they are basically good for using as a "normal" med-high burner.
can I use something like this for camping? How can I power it?
I think a portable butane gas stove is easier for camping. Can get them at Bunnings around $30 i think.
This you'd need a generator to power - not worth the hassle for camping i think.
good point….thanks. Was just thinking the safety aspect as this produce no heat or fire…
Get one of these for camping - the one in OP needs 240V so if you don't have a mains source (cheap 12V inverters can't cope with 2000W) then you're eating cold meals.
thanks mate, yea sounds like it's easier with gas… :)
I use my portable induction cooktop while camping at a powered site.
If it's unpowered forget it.
Much better than those little butane gas stoves.
Why, no butane gas cans to deal with, much more heat/faster to heat up and best of all, isn't affected by wind.
I always take mine when going camping at a powered site.
Used your referral link for 10 off, damn good bargain for $29!
I got a Kogan induction cooker. It seems to heat slower than when I first got it. Anyone got similar experience?
I can't land a Helicopter on that… lol