Waring SB30 1300-Watt Portable Single Burner

I have been using an Eclipse single for about 3 years now. Before that I used another Eclipse model but it finally quit working. Recently my latest Eclipse started acting funny and so I thought it was time to fund a replacement and while I was at it, I thought I would try to find a higher quality unit. The Waring SB30 was well rated and not too expensive, so I grabbed one. My initial take on the SB30 was that it was very well built and sturdy. This is a great improvement over the Eclipse burners I have used in the past. My only complaint is that cord is fairly short, maybe 3ft long. The knob has a very nice and smooth action to it. The base is rather large but it is very stable with an 8qt stock pot on it, so I guess I can't complain too much about that. The burner weighs a lot. I believe most of that weight is from the metal burner itself. More on this later on. I use this burner as my main burner as I live in a rental and the range is not so good. The burner heats up a little slow but transfers that heat to the pan very quickly. I believe this is because the burner has a lot of metal in it and that allows it to store a lot of heat. This is a very good thing for boiling water and sauteing but not such a good thing for cooking touchier foods like milk and sauces. ONE YEAR UPDATE: The SB30 has performed great over the past year. I have not had a single problem with the burner, it looks and works like new. All in all I am very happy with it.

We're full-time RV'rs and due to propane proplem, couldn't use RV stove. Read all reviews on this product and ordered to be able to cook. Received promptly. Opened and impressed with weight and quality. Broke it in, as instructed and used immediately to make huge pot of vegetable soup (probably 4 gallons of soup). Worked great. Setting 5 got it to boiling, then turned down to 2 for simmer. Have been using for over a month now, and still very happy with it. The heating surface is 8 inches, which is bigger than others I reviewed. Bigger skillets hang over burner, but have no problems with plastic melting, as others have had. (Think it depends on the quality of cookware used...and if level) Element heats up pretty quick (fast enough for us); and on setting 5 boils liquids fine. Turn down to fry, simmer, etc. Does take a long time to cool down, but is easily moved out of the way to cool. Like this product so much that even when we get the propane fixed and I could use RV stove, will continue to use this hot plate because I can control the heat alot better than the propane flame.

the registration is stupid and i do not know what they want-it just seemed to be collecting as much information as possible~ I rent the basement, and have access to the gas stove, and the main kitchen. Yet I enjoy my galley I have setup in the basement. I have a toaster over, microwave, 16" Chef's electric skillet (favorite), and now an extra burner so I can use my Cuisinart pans. The gas stove scratched my pans and this burner is very nice surface so I expect it will be easier on the pans as far as scratching them. It heats fast, even for bacon I only use level 1.5. I really like this product. I think it has a cool name too. it works very well and #2 is high enough to fry bacon fast, or boil so it is powerful. The minimum setting is good as I like to simmer/slow cook often. Food remains warm without burning, or boiling over. This is the first burner I purchased. My Cuisinart pans are not magnetic so I did not get the new kind of burner for the magnetic pans. Is seems well built, & easy to clean with just a pad, or cloth mildly dampened.

I ordered this one on the basis of a number of reviews that showed it boiling water fast and having a bit more wattage than some others. I had tried one that was 900 watts and it took about 30 minutes to boil water and needed the lid on. The SB30 takes about 10 minutes to do a pint of water. It is still a little slow with two quarts of water (for spaghetti noodles, we use brown rice, gluten free, non-GMO, organic noodles) and takes about 20 to 25 minutes with a lid on. What is interesting is that the boiling time seems to differ with the contents. What I gather is that this unit is still weak by comparison to the 220 volt stove/oven unit that I got rid of (it was a very old model that even the replacement parts were from newer units that were really not compatible and the model was feeling like a fire hazard), but it is good enough to do what we need it to do, and looks very sturdy and elegant on the steel prep table I put in to the nook where the old stove/oven was. What I get is that the stove top is like a ceramic furnace and it takes a little time for the coil to heat up the plate above it. The unit also seems to have a thermostat that regulates the temperature and I like this safety feature. It may mean that its upper heat limit is restrained, but I do not want the unit burning down my house either. I have cooked a number of items on this and find that it sautes veggies very fast, cooks tofu slices well (I use the Wildwood sprouted organic, non-GMO, gluten free version, it seems that sprouting the soybeans first makes them very digestible) for a vegan burger substitute, and does spaghetti passably. What we have found is that it will cook the pasta before it comes to boil and that when it does boil it finishes the cooking. It took a little getting used to how to cook with it, but it has met our needs. It is better than the stove/oven it replaced for safety and ease, and is more powerful than the 900 watt unit I eventually sent back. I would recommend getting a hotplate over 1000 watts for serious cooking and this unit is 300 watts over. I think I have seen them go as high as 1500 watts, but 1300 watts seems good enough. All in all, I am happy. I am giving it 4 stars rather than 5 stars because I have one reservation and this is about it not being as powerful as the 220 volt stoves. This is more of a cautionary note for buyers, because it is not going to be as powerful as them. If this limitation is understood, then this one is very good for most cooking, and, you need to put the lid on to get it to boil fast enough.

Nice sturdy product and heats quickly.

We used it to heat our 16 qt pressure canner and it done an excellent job for us.

It is slower to heat up than I expected but generally, it works good.

If using this burner for canning, get the water boiling in a kettle first or it will take quite a while to get the canner up to temperature. If you do this, the burner does work for canning.

After spending and returning so many coil elements, I found this one. It is my only source of cooking (besides a toaster oven) on this homestead and so far, it has exceeded my expectations by leaps and bounds. Definitely recommend.