Tramontina Induction Cooktop at Costco

[Porthos]

Does anyone have experience with this 1500 watt Tramontina induction how?

 

 

Edited November 23, 2016 by Smithy
Title adjusted for accuracy. (log)

[Yiannos]

I bought one a couple of weeks ago. It is OK but the temp range is a little coarse, sometimes I find myself wishing for a setting in between the given ones. It does not feel super heavy duty to me, mostly plastic and very lightweight. For $70 it's fine, but  nothing I would use every day or rely on for an important event.

[btbyrd]

It's my impression that all induction burners under $200 (and perhaps under $450) are essentially the same, with the differences being primarily in aesthetics and fit/finish. They're nice if you need a cheap, extra burner and don't need much in the way of temperature control. It's hard to maintain a simmer with these units; the power settings are either "not really a simmer" or "full-on boil." But if you're not using it for simmering work, pressure cooking, or other application that requires finessed heat, I'm sure it'd be fine.

 

I am, however, wary of any sort of burner that comes as a set with a pan. Or any pan that comes in a set with a burner. Or any other unnecessary package deal. 

[Yiannos]

Yeah lots of items sold at Costco come this way, appliances sold as package deals with accessories and things. I will say the pan that came with it seems to be very nice quality for what it all cost. Totally agree with your light duty assessment of the burner.

[phatj]

I just got one of these and the induction ring is much smaller than the bottom diameter of the pan that comes with it, as shown by boiling water in it, where you can clearly see bubbles forming in a ~4-inch ring at the bottom. I tried it with a 10-qt stockpot, with a much larger bottom diameter, and got the same results.  

 

This is not a high-end unit. 

[chromedome]

For those who know more about the technology than I: Would it be possible to cobble up something with a dimmer switch or (potentiometer of some sort, anyway) to act as a secondary, analog controller for the induction unit?

[fledflew]

4 hours ago, chromedome said:

For those who know more about the technology than I: Would it be possible to cobble up something with a dimmer switch or (potentiometer of some sort, anyway) to act as a secondary, analog controller for the induction unit?

 

Not an expert, but I don't think so (at least not likely with the one that I have).  My induction unit is a cheapie and there is a digital display and controls.  I think if you were to hook up a dimmer switch or speed controller and were to throttle the power, the digital circuitry wouldn't function properly (like trying to use a dimmer switch with a laptop). 

As for controlling the heat output, my unit is either on or off and throttles the output by cycling the time that it stays on.  That is, if I select the 5 power level setting (out of 10), the unit will switch the induction component on and off every couple seconds to achieve half the power output. Similar to a microwave oven - if you set it to 30% it won't send out 30% of the microwaves the whole time.  It will simply toggle on and off and not apply power for 70% of a given time and will apply power 30% of that time.  Dimmer switches would likely be fine with an older style electric coil buffet burner but not with the digital circuitry of an induction unit. 

 

[chromedome]

That was what I suspected, but thought I'd ask anyway.