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.

Note: the burner is 7.5" in diameter. One of the things I've missed most about living in China is going to hot pot restaurants. A friend came over last week with a hot pot kit which included a divided pot and a scary gas burner that used aerosol cans of gas. I got all excited about the pot, but I knew I'd have to have a safer, simpler burner. So, I found this one, thanks to many good reviews (especially Timothy B. Riley's excellent video showing that this burner produces a good rolling boil). We tried this burner last night, and we are very, very happy with it. The flat, smooth plate allows our divided stainless steel pot to sit stably. The burner gets hot enough to keep the soups boiling steadily. The unit is easy to wipe clean after use. One of the limitations of any electric burner is the actual amount of electricity it can draw. The electrical systems of surprisingly many homes fail to let an appliance take all it wants. If, for example, you see the light on your microwave dim a bit when you start it, you know that it is not drawing as much electricity as it can use. This problem does result in different experiences with the same burner. And of course, no quality control system is perfect, so I believe the few unlucky customers who didn't get as much heat as they expected. But for us, the Waring Pro SB30 is perfect. A great purchase, and highly recommened for hot pot or anytime an extra burner is needed to keep soups and sauces hot. Yes, this will easily fry eggs too!

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.

If you haven't noticed from my profile, I'm Asian (Korean to be specific). My wife is Caucasian and if there's one thing that she'll complain about, it will be the smell of Korean food. Korean food isn't exactly popular (the number of Thai, Chinese, and Japanese cuisine restaurants easily outnumber Korean restaurants). I can only assume that the reason for the non-popularity is because of the smells/tastes of Korean cuisine is very intense/overpowering/pungent. If you haven't already noticed, my wife does not like Korean food. But because both my parents are alive and well, they occasionally bring me some Korean food they prepare either in my own house or at theirs. I love Korean food (obviously growing up with it) but given the last visit, I was given an ultimatum. Well not really an ultimatum but a request from my wife to please "do something" about the Korean food stinking the house up. Ranges come in both gas & electric varieties but I wasn't really interested in a gas one. Having a consumable item that I had to continuously buy just to get the range to work wasn't something I wanted. Of course there are benefits to a gas range but really I just wanted one I could plug up outside on one of my outlets outside the house and cook my Korean food. And because of that, I ended up with this product. I've used portable ranges before (the $20 kind from Walmart) but this time around, I wanted something of nicer quality. Reason being is that if I'm going to get a portable range, I wanted something that was good (this one got 4.5 stars and is recommended by numerous reviews) and I wanted something that could be used in case we needed an extra range (like during Thanksgiving). Having cooked on it twice thus far, this range is pretty good. I read the instructions beginning to end so I would know exactly how this appliance functioned. The manual says when the green "ready" light illuminates, it has met the temperature that was set on the deal. In my opinion, it takes a little while to reach the "Ready" temperature but depending on what you're cooking, you really don't have to wait that long for it to be "ready". For example one of the times, I tried heating a can of Chunky Soup on the #3 setting and it started to boil within minutes. However once it reaches the temperature, it does a very good job cooking whatever you need (whether it's boiling water or frying some eggs in a pan). The sides of the range are made of plastic and I read in another review that in the manual it states not to use a pot/pan that's larger than the surface of the burner because doing so can potentially melt the sides (heat reflecting off the oversized pot/pan) but I didn't see any such thing. Still though, it's a good warning because they are made of plastic. So I will likely heed this advice whether it's true or not. I have two disappointments with this appliance. 1. It takes a LONG time for it to cool down. The last two times I used it, I checked it in 15 minute intervals and for it to be comfortable to touch, it took almost an hour. That is too long in my opinion. I was hoping for quicker cooldown so that I could store it shortly after I cook something. 2. There is no carrying case with this thing. My last few ranges I used that my parents owned came in a decent case for storage after use. This one doesn't and that's a little disappointing. Despite my disappointments, the whole point of this range is to cook my Korean food outside and this one does the job superbly and I give it 5 stars.

I bought a Black and Decker unit from Walmart and it was junk. This Waring on the other hand (for just $6 more) is a "10" Key points 1 It is built like a tank. Must weigh 5 lbs. If it ever wears out you can use it to as a murder weapon. 2 Heating surface is solid metal (not coils like other units) 3 Heating surface and top area are sealed - no need to worry about spills shorting it out 4 As I found out most units are only 800 watts and take forever to heat boiling water- this unit is 1300 watts. Heats water as fast as my old electric stove. 5 Solid high quality temperature knob clearly marked so I can read it without my reading glasses. 6 Has a red light to indicate it is turned on, which helps me because I sometimes forget to turn it off/ 7 Has a green "status" light that comes on when it heats up to your temperature setting. 8 Will heat oil to 350 degrees for frying at a setting of 3.5 (out of 5) with no problems. 9 Has a longer cord then I would have expected. I have used this several times a day for a month to cook and boil water for tea and it is just great. You cannot beat this for the $36 price. CONS - It has a three prong plug so you need a converter to run it in (cheap) motels that only take 2 prong plugs

I remember my grandparents always had "Waring" appliances in their restaurant' I purchased this burner 3 years ago, I used it for every day, cooking only with cast iron pans and dutch ovens, maybe once a month for long simmering of Stews , Gumbos and Chill. (over 3 hours cooking time.) First off, the heating element takes awhile to get up to temp, (Kind of expected with a cast Iron heat plate) It holds heat relatively well. the coating on the cast Iron heat plate burns off within 3-4 uses, leaving a raw cast iron surface that now takes a moderate amount of maintenance. the surface of the over all unit is sealed well and easy enough to clean, the painted on markings wipe off very easy as well. the ready indicator lamp does work. the makings on the dial are not truly indicative of nor reference to any set temperature scale used by home cooks or chefs. they seem to be nicely printed and evenly spaced on the dial, but it will take awhile to figure out that pancakes need to cooked at 1/8" before setting #1 & Setting #5 will melt cast iron. Kitchen safety says "Never Leave an unattended Pot on the cooking surface, No problem here kids. As there is no "Low Simmer" setting, you must stand in front of your dinner turning the heat on and off to maintain a true cooking "Simmer" the "Min" setting is NOT a keep warm level !!! It will reliably keep cooking at a full boil . . . . for hours. After 3 years of use the heat regulator had a "small failure" first it refused to turn "Off" Mildly surprising after your finished cooking and remove the pan, turn the knob to "off" and it keeps going . . . and getting hotter. then regardless of setting of the heat on the knob, the heat goes to and stays at melt down setting "Full beans or unplug it" you can expect three years of "Happy homeowner use . . . or 6 months of commercial use. I was going to pack it up and ship it back to "Waring" in china with a letter detailing my displeasure, but the trash can was closer, writing this was quicker and the commercial induction cook-top I ordered yesterday from Amazon has just arrived.

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.

Had mine since 2011 (I am writing this in Dec 2022) and it works like a champ. I looked at several of the cheaper light-weight knock-offs that have an "open heating element" that debris and especially any liquid could easily get inside the unit. Who would even buy those? Even though they can be up to half the price? Well I tried one. Well I never actually plugged them in; I just noticed that the package was ultra-light, and the heating coil was not sealed around the body like this Waring, and I said forget this! Another thing. The Waring SB30 1300 W Single Burner heating element (the main reason you buy a hot plate) is heavy metal and locked into the heavy duty body- it rocks. The others are a little wimpy swirly-cue that a baby could rip out. These and the easy to control rheostat make this the unit that I would buy again. And I did. I bought another one for myself and one for my mom too. I think Cuisinart took over Waring since that is the name on the units now.

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.

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.

Nice sturdy product and heats quickly.

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

Great quality, but it does not get as hot as I wanted.