IMUSA Single Electric Hot Plate, Black

This is s great little burner! Excellent value. Compared to its "familiar 'trusted' brand competition, the Imusa outperforms by all metrixs: The cast iron covering (welded to base) distributes the heat evenly compared to the old coils; it heats up fast, and the extra wattage (1200) is a significant step up from the old 1000. It boils water in a big pot, and simmered chicken consomme, poached 2 eggs, kept all the food piping hot. No impatient "hangry" chef :) The cast iron on black and compact design looks great on the countertop (had to stow my old burner, it looked like a garage item). Elevated feet protect your countertops. One caveat: the entire unit does get hot, even the casing. Use hot plates to move it, keep one handy.

Works well and saves me a lot of room as I live in a small apt. with limited space.

Just got it today. It does heat up fairly slowly in my opinion and it is not cool. Touch at all. I had another hot plate that it was cooled to the touch. This is hot to the touch. I got the single hot plate.

I have had this for 2 years for my small business. It still works , heats as it should

Purchased on March 30th, as a prime member received the next day, which is great. Problem is as of August 3rd, it no longer works. Wont turn on at all. Tried all the troubleshooting to no avail. Tried contacting IMUSA directly, sent an email on 8/4/24 and as of today 8/20/24 they have not responded. Tried calling, but also a waste of time. Tried contacting Amazon customer service, and the bot is basically telling I'm S.O.L. That because its past 30days it's no longer Amazon's responsibility to help, and to contact IMUSA, which has gotten me no where. So. Moral of this post, don't waste your money. I know it's "only $20", but not worth the waste it creates, ending us as part of a landfill Spend that $20 else where.

First one lasted a year, second one lasted 4 months.

My use is "off label" I bought it to heat a small pan of blueing salts. At full power the unit got the molten salts hot enough to produce a uniform dark blue. My lab hot plate melted the salts in the pan but did not reach blueing temperature. It has enough power to boil a small pan of water and is very sturdy. The smooth surface heated my blueing evenly.

I teach 5th grade Sci./Math. I used this to boil water in water cycle experiments. This item was purchased at the start of the second semester and has been used a lot. Now, it's summer time and it still works well, the same as when I fist purchased it. I also use this to boil my water for tea in the morning. The kids know to stay away from the hot plate, but it cools down quickly too.

I would give 3 Star as this is not bad for the price I paid for

After 3 or 4 uses it quit working..very disappointed! My window of return closed,so I couldn't even get a refund.

It works mostly as one would expect for a small hot plate, BUT the cast iron surface retains heat for WAY too long after you turn down the temperature. For example, if you are cooking rice, you need to bring it to a boil, then once it starts to boil you turn down the heat to simmer at a lower temperature to avoid burning. The problem is, this thing holds the heat for so long that it continues to boil for a good 10 minutes even if the power is turned down to zero! It takes way too long to reduce the temperature. So be aware of that when you use it. Also, be prepared to wait a good half hour or much more for it to cool off to the point when you can handle it. The cast iron surface doesn't even distribute heat as effectively as one would like. I measured the surface with a laser thermometer, and when on "high" the centre of it reaches upwards of 1,000 degrees F (!), and the outer areas of the iron plate measure hundreds of degrees cooler than the centre. So don't expect even heat distribution as claimed. It works, but you need to be aware of these shortcomings and adjust your cooking methods. Also, the surface of the plate is very rough, like sandpaper, so it will be a chore to clean fully if you spill anything on it. Overall, I do not recommend this unit unless you are OK with its shortcomings and you need to heat something up using the cheapest possible hot plate available.