"Mr. Induction" - Sunpentown SR-964TB: (This review includes notes about use with an off-grid Trace SW-4024 sinewave inverter, as well as with utility power. Items in square brackets [] apply to the inverter power.) Measurements are from a Kill-A-Watt P4400 meter [and other tools]. Look for my comparable review of the Eurodib P3D... There is a spark on connection to AC power, and an instant draw of 111 VA [140 VA], but only 1 W of real power. This reactive current continues even with the cooker completely off. Since residential users are only billed for "real power", there is no disadvantage when using utility power. [The continuous draw at the input to my inverter is about 5 W, plus it keeps the inverter constantly awake. If your inverter does not include a hundred-pound iron transformer to reflect the reactive spikes, you may see the full 140 W consumption, even when the cooker is "off"! A switched power outlet is advised!] When you press "on", the cooker starts at a nominal 700 W in Cook Mode. You can press '+' to see higher nominal power settings up to "1300", but my Kill-A-Watt meter shows the highest setting to be under 1200 W [1080 W max using inverter power]. You can press '-' to see lower nominal input power down to "100", but the actual AC input never goes below about 500 W. Heat output is reduced by switching the power completely off (except for the fan) in between short bursts of heat. The lowest setting must average well above the nominal 100 W, it is far too high for slow simmering. The Kill-A-Watt meter samples over periods much longer than the short spikes of power used, but far too short to integrate the intermittent mode into a useful average, so its readings jump around and are not very useful. Its "VA" scale seems to have even slower response than the Watt scale. FWIW, here are the Watt readings observed on utility power: Setting Power 1300 1120-1190 1100 1075-1138 900 975-1050 700 900 500 770 300 660 (intermittent) 100 540 (intermittent) You can press "Temp" to set a controlled temperature. Regardless of the previous power setting, Temp Mode uses the nominal "700" setting. Once the setpoint is reached, power cycles between the 4 W drawn by the cooling fan and the nominal 700 W setting as needed. I have not used the higher temperature settings, I don't do much cooking in oils. The following experience is with a 20 cm enameled cast iron saucepan: Temp setting 210 is perfect for water based cooking, it does not push grains to boil over. Temp setting 180 produces occasional bursts of boiling with long pauses between them. Temp setting 150 is probably only useful for "keep warm" use. It is good that Temp Mode works well, because the Cook Mode low power settings are not low enough for slow simmering. My experience with the temperature sensors may depend upon my particular pans. I tend to use the same pans for the same tasks every time, and have not verified that the same setting produces the same result in a different pan. But the same pan on my two different cookers produces quite different results. I quickly adapted to pressing the "lock" button before pressing "on". It seems unnecessary, especially with buttons that require physical force to depress, but there is little chance of turning the unit on while wiping it clean. When you lift the pan off of the cooker, it begins beeping, and you have about ten seconds to replace the pan or place another one, otherwise it turns itself off. My Eurodib P3D goes up to a real 1550 W, produces the same output on inverter power as on grid power, and is fully power-factor corrected, so it would be a better off-grid choice. Its power settings are just shown as 1-10, but the lower settings go much lower than the Sunpentown Cook Mode does. Its temperature choices behave quite differently, 210 is a constant rolling boil and 180 is still too much for some grains. I like the Sunpentown Temp Mode settings better, but a continuous temperature dial would be better still. The cooling fans are about equally noisy, but Eurodib's goes off immediately while Sunpentown's runs for minutes after you press "off". They should be variable speed, like modern computer fans! For most of my cooking, induction is my first choice. Even 1000 W of induction is dramatically faster than the expensive full-size electric quartz radiant range, and quite comparable to my ancient Wedgewood commercial gas range on propane. The best part is setting a temperature and walking away, knowing you won't find a mess when you return.
