duxtopProfessional Portable Induction Cooktop, Commercial Range Countertop Burner, 1800 Watts Induction Burner with Sensor Touch and LCD Screen, P961LS/BT-C35-D, Silver/Black

TLDR: Nice.I'm comparing the Secura Professional against the smaller one that I've had for almost 3yrs now, the Secura 9100MC Portable.Photos (from left to right):1. The portable (left) with my 10in All-Clad fry pan vs professional with a 12qt All-Clad stock pot.2. The portable (left) with my 8qt All-Clad stock pot vs professional with the 12qt.3. The professional with the 10in fry pan, and a 12in ruler on the side for scale.4. Same as (3), but from the front.Why induction?I live in a desert, and a while back I got tired of the heat radiating from my stovetop fighting with the AC for dominance. The stove was winning. So I bought an induction stovetop to more efficiently heat the cookware. It worked. Hot cookware still radiates heat, of coure, but at least the stovetop's "leaky" heating was solved.Why this one?I bought this because I wanted to make a larger pot of broth and I because I needed to cook it for longer. The portable has served me well, but being the portable it is smaller and doesn't have the heavy reinforced structure of its bigger brother. It only supports about 20lbs max, hence why I've only been using an 8qt stock pot. I've been making broth from chicken scraps and bones and vegetables for a while, but I wanted to make more, and more means a bigger pot, and bigger pot with more water is too heavy. Also, for some reason the portable only has a 2hr max timer (might have something to do with cooling the heating elements). To make a good broth, I need to simmer for much longer.The professional is a stainless steel beast that is rated to support 65lbs. That's more than enough for a full 12qt. And it has a 10hr timer, which I can reset if I need to go for longer.Temperature control:Once it is at temperature, it seems to hold well. On my first time making broth, I brought it to a boil, which took about 3hrs because I was being gentle with the heating. If I had cranked the power level to 9000 it would have gone faster. Once it was boiling, I put the lid on, switched to temperature mode and set it at 200F. I set the timer for 10hrs, and then reset it a couple times so that it would go for a full 24hrs. It never overflowed. This tells me that it never went above the boiling point, so I'd say long term temperature control is pretty good.Coming _up_ to temperature though is a different story. It is quite...eager. In my fry pan I use cooking oil rated for smoking point above 400F. When I turn the stovetop on and use temperature mode set to 300F, it reaches smoking point in less than 30sec. I don't have a thermometer, so I can't get an estimate of the real temperature, but whatever it is, it appears to drastically overshoot at first.But that's only part of the story. The cause is mentioned in the manual, saying that the temperature sensor is below the surface of the cooktop and therefore can differ from the actual temperature. This behavior wasn't observed when I was cooking a big pot full of broth, which tells me that as long as I'm cooking something that can absorb the influx of energy long enough for the cooktop below it to conduct heat from the cookware and reach temperature, then I'm golden. A 10in fry pan with a little bit of oil isn't enough. I had the same issue with the portable.In practice, I compensate for this by bringing it up to temperature in a more constant and controlled power mode. By practice, I've learned to use power mode 7, and once it reaches smoke point, I set it back to temp mode and it seems okay. This isn't a big deal if you're more patient than me and can wait for power mode 5 or 6 to reach temperature. Point is, it's workable.Build quality:- Very sturdy, as mentioned previously.- I miss the tacticle buttons of the portable, but since the touch-sensitive surface is covered with a thin layer of glass, it is really easy to clean, and in the long run, I will favor easy to clean over tactile buttons.- In the 3rd picture (professional from the side), an overhang is visible on the back. This is nice. I've accidentally boiled over my 8qt pot on a number of occassions, and when that happens, it runs over the back and slips down the sides of the vent. That's a little bit of a pain to clean. With the overhang bolted to the back of the professional, that isn't going to happen. If it boils over, it will still drip off the back, but the radiator vent will be untouched and I won't need to clean it. This is nice.- The feet are big, thick, and fastened to the frame with screws. This is much better than the glued-on pads for the portable. The consequence is that the underside of the professional sits almost an inch higher than the portable, but if you're buying this thing, you're not doing it for the compactness, so it shouldn't be an issue.- It sounds like it has a larger fan than the portable. In practice, it doesn't sound much louder though, so I'm guessing that it's a bigger fan moving at slower speed that still ends up moving more ai. As a result, this thing can run for hours on end and not overheat.Quirks:- There are no "temp" or "power" mode buttons like on the portable. Instead, use the "Menu" button to switch between them.- If the professional's timer is active, pressing the Menu button to switch between temp/power modes resets the timers. The timer can't go up to 24hrs, so I'm resetting it anyway over the course of making broth, so this quirk doesn't impact me. Honestly though, I couldn't really make a good case for the timer _not_ resetting upon switching modes. It's just a quirk.Overall, I'm pleased with it.

I bought my first gas range in 2017 and am sad to realize that as much as I cook that I'm probably contaminating the air in our home. The only exhaust fan we have is the one in the over range microwave which isn't great. I bought this to see how induction works and I wanted something sturdy that I could travel with. I have really enjoyed not heating up the kitchen when I cook with this. I enjoy the granular control of the heat and responsiveness of the burner. Clean up is a breeze with the glass top, unlike cleaning up a gas hob. It's not in use every day though I have started to use it more now that the weather is warming up.

I can't compare to competing brands from experience, but this thing is fabulous. The element is as large as they get in this wattage, adjustment gradations usefully fine; in function, it's at the high end of contemporary countertop induction cookers. What sets it apart from others is that it's wrapped in stainless steel with a splash guard over the vulnerable rear exhaust vent and massive 14AWG power cord. If you think you won't have spills, spatters, drips and occasional overflows with an induction cooktop, you're dreaming. The entire unit being sealed in stainless puts it in a league of its own, built like industrial 240V units (which are more powerful, versatile, and necessarily cost much more). It's heavy, and its giant feet are fixed (no levelers, aside from unscrewing a bit), so it's only semi-portable, but this armored, sealed design is what you want if you intend to use it daily or put anything heavy on it.A small note: mine came from Amazon Warehouse, not working. It had been returned, refurbished, resold. Because it's heavy, returning it is a PIA. But having been refurbished, the Warranty Void security seal had already been breached, so I opened it, fixed it, couldn't be happier with the result. I don't recommend doing that; capacitors inside mean you could fry yourself and/or your cooktop, but it is possible.I should add: what makes this unit "professional" is the rugged physical build, wiring and fan. It's precision, range, awesome timer and brilliant touch controls are shared with the less-expensive 9600LS, but this can handle more mass, more jostling, more spills, more heat. For canning, reducing sap to syrup, big boils or long simmers, anything you might prefer doing outdoors, this is definitely the one you want. If you cook creatively with induction, and don't have a 240V cooktop, this is still the one you want, unless you plan to store it away between uses (for that, lighter is better). As far as I know, nothing in the price range comes close to its durability + capability. The countertop induction market is flooded with inexpensive (and some not-so-inexpensive) junk, with claims verging on subterfuge. Secura doesn't do that. 120V 15A induction has intrinsic limits; what separates wheat from chaff is control and longevity (which often comes down to heat dissipation). Better cookers are on offer, but they cost far more than this one.I'd also like to say: using temperature controls is unwise. The built-in thermostat on this Duxtop is better than most, but none is accurate enough for cooking. They're there to protect the ceramic surface and delicate electronics below, to prevent your inattention leading to overheating. Only a thermocouple inside the cookware can measure food temperature accurately. (Warming is a different matter: low temperatures can be maintained reasonably consistently via thermostat for long periods, but that isn't cooking.) Use power settings, and the timer, and pay attention. You're cooking, so cook; don't expect a hob to cook for you. If you want an automatic appliance, buy one of those.