Hamilton Beach 34102 Portable Induction Cooktop

I had high hopes to increase the efficiency of our kitchen both in available counter space and electric usage. I decided to buy one just to test before making the decision to replace our electric 4 burner range with two of these portable cook-tops. We're not chefs but we do use the stove every other day at least but rarely use more than two burners at a time. Turns out the test was a wise decision.I love Amazon for a simple reason, it's simple. Click a button and a day or two it shows up at the doorstep. Unfortunately the pleasure with this transaction ended there. I unboxed the cook-top like a toddler on Christmas. First off I noted how much larger it was than I had anticipated. So much for space savings, two of these units would be almost as large as my existing 4 burner range. But keeping in mind the portability, I still plugged it in eager to test the awesome power of magnetic induction. I put some water in a cast iron skillet and with a stopwatch in hand attempted to turn the device on. The "chime" each time a button is pushed is alarm clock irritating and equally loud. I guess not a bad thing for the hearing impaired, but most will probably also find it a little annoying after a few presses. The next annoyance was the fan kicking in followed very closely by the alarm like sound and accompanied "E3" error flashing on the red LED display. After a few attempts to remedy the error with different pots, unplugging, changing settings. Defeated, I shuffled through the remaining contents of the box searching for the directions. Feeling like an idiot for not being capable of working a hotplate I searched for the error code. The instructions were what was to be expected when purchasing a hotplate, simple and not very informative. No surprise there, but I did discover that an E3 error code was due to overloading on the circuit...strange, a 1500w microwave has no problem at all working simultaneously with other appliances, but decided to try it on another circuit anyway. No Joy...I even took it to my neighbors to try but concluded with the same result.Summary: too big, too annoying, too complicated, and just didn't work.Congratulations to the inventor for taking a simple process and through technology making it far too complicated while simultaneously making 2/3 of your cookware incompatible. I think the technology will someday become more reliable, but for me, I'm sticking with simple and reliable. The only reason for the two stars instead of 1 is because potentially a person who finds their kitchen too empty, too quiet and too simple may find temporary enjoyment through this product...assuming they find a working one.

I live in a household of two, and running a stove is very inefficient and costly.After a lot of research, I settled on this cooktop, because it gave me the features that I want within my budget. I have been using this for several months now, and I have no real complaints.If things splatter, they are easy to clean. It's a glass top, so it's pretty low maintenance. I haven't had a problem with scratching or anything, and it looks very nice. It's a bit bigger than I expected, but that was fine with me. It uses a standard outlet, there are 6 temperature settings, and a timer. If you pull the pan off, you have fifteen seconds before the burner pauses. To turn it off, you hold the "On/Off" button, and it will turn off. The fan still runs for a few seconds after, but don't be alarmed.It is louder than I expected, but certainly not deafening. And as the buttons are sensors, sometimes I hit a button (usually "Timer") by mistake, but that's hardly an inconvenience.One thing that is a small inconvenience is that with bigger pots, you can tell the diameter of where it's working. It's similar to a hotspot on a regular stove, so sometimes you have to move it around, but I do that out of habit from dealing with electric burners.I gave it four stars, because of the smallish diameter and the sound. I'm used to it, but other people might not be.Overall, it was well worth the investment.

Has been works fine for 5 weeks. i used it to boil water & cook. sometimes when use it to boil large pot of water, it does take a little longer than my previous induction cooktop because the induction heating comes on and off possibly due to the deactivation and activation of the internal overheating protection mechanism. And, like all other infrared and induction cooktop, the fan will stay on for a little while to make sure the inside is cooled after the heating is turned off.

It has a short chord, heats up quickly and overall works well, the low heat setting isn't as low as I'd like, however, the noise of the ding's is what I'm so surprised none of the other reviewers have mentioned. Every time you push a button to turn the cook-top on or to increase or decrease the heat settings it dings and the ding is so piercingly loud that I'm looking to purchase another cook-top so I can retire this Hamilton Beach cook-top just to avoid the darn ding. It's so random I know, but thought I'd share with others who are on the market for a cook-top.

Good for occasional use. Makes lot of noise while it’s been on all the time. Ok for occasional use.

It's better than I could have imagined. I use it on my patio for canning. I love that when the timer goes off, so does the stove itself. I don't always hear the timer so this is a bonus. I also love the slim design that takes little room for storage. So happy with this purchase. Can't say I've been this happy with an online purchase in awhile. Thanks. Well worth every penny. Do you have any more?

very good product, sometimes the wireless connection does not work but after some retries, it does...

I mainly use them for parties to do misc Asian HOT POT dishes. That way guests can try different dishes at the same time.

I mainly got this cooktop to do Chinese hot pot. The cooktop is advertised for pan sizes from 5-10" and my pot is 11". I didn't have any issues with it being an inch larger than what is recommended. It still brought my broth in the pot up to a rolling boil without any problems. There was still plenty of space on the glass surface so it was not like the edges of my pot were hanging off the edges and at risk of tipping over either.Surface of the cooktop is completely smooth so it was extremely easy to wipe up the mess after we were done eating. Being easy to clean is one of its best features. The old gas cooktop for hot pot was so hard to clean.Some other reviewers have commented that the fan is loud and I agree. It is a bit loud but not so loud that it will make it hard to speak with family members sitting at the table around the cooktop. You get used to the sound of the fan pretty quickly and it becomes negligible white noise. The beeps when you press the touch sensitive controls can be a bit loud too but it isn't like you are repeatedly pressing buttons and beeping non stop so that isn't an issue either.In my opinion, the only issue I had with the cooktop was the short power cord. It measures to be only 30" in length. I had to use an extension cable in order to use it on the dining table. If you plan on using your cooktop on your kitchen countertop near a power plug then it shouldn't be an issue but if you plan on using it anywhere else, be prepared to get an extension cable for power.

Been using this hotplate for eleven months and it's been quite dependable. It has a fan which certainly makes a sound but is tolerable; what I found definitely annoying was the sound of the buzzer (shrill dinging) which activates at power on/off, changing modes etc. I attenuated this sound by stuffing stic-tac into, and atop of, the buzzer, which can be located by removing the glass top. The top is very simple to remove and the buzzer is on a circuit board (attached under the front of the glass top) which contains the touch controls. It's much better now; the sound was such a high frequency it used to make the dog go skittering across the floor.The device has six discrete power levels which take some getting used to; would be nice if one could adjust between these levels but it works pretty well as is. Re power saving: really heats water etc very quickly and only heats what is in the magnetic field, not the air or heating surface around.

I've used it quite a bit but them for some reason it sitting there with stuff on top.. not company problem but my sister has one to and she done the same.. is it just a fad.. but it still works.. I think for camping with a generator would be a great asset. Nice to have the option.

Seems to last easy to cleanThis should be acceptable to alot of res standardsUsed it for a semester then stored it in the box for 2 years brought it back out to serve as my "stove" for now still works wellThe only annoyance I have is to turn it off sometimes the power "button" doesn't register turns on no problem starts the heating no problem but turning it off kinda annoying

Lo bueno:- Un diseño sencillo pero elegante, queda perfecta en cualquier superficie- Hasta el momento no hemos visto cambios drásticos en el consumo de energía eléctrica (solo la usamos media hora diaria)- Calienta muy bien aun poniéndola en nivel medio que es el que siempre uso, supongo esto se ve reflejado en el consumo de energíaLo malo:- Hace mucho ruido su ventilador, en un cuarto mediano de 30m2 se escucha mucho, llegando casi al nivel de un extractor de baño. No se puede utilizar para calentar algo en la mesa o durante una reunión