Induction Cooker?

[CamperAllen]

Hello there,
has anyone ever used an induction cooker when camping? I'm thinking about purchasing one but would like to see if anyone has used them and what your thoughts are before I purchase.

thanks,
allen

[renodesertfox]

Howdy CamperAllen,
I don't see any obvious reason why a free-standing induction unit should work substantially differently than a built-in induction unit.

As to whether they work better or worse than resistive coils, that's an entirely different question. I would tend to think that they'd be better at heating up and cooling down than resistive coils, but. but...

The how it works documentation makes very clear that you have to use steel or iron cookware; aluminum and copper and ceramic and pyrex are no good.

If I had a pacemaker, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near one of these when it was in operation. I bet they'd do a job on a digital watch, too, if the cook is wearing one. A mechanical watch with ferrous parts would be even worse.

They say that maybe, someday, a new version of induction units will work with any kind of metal cookware. If I was wearing a wedding ring I wouldn't want to have that kind of induction unit; it could cost me my finger.

They make some claims about safety but I don't buy that the situation is quite as absolute as they say, e.g. "while an element is actually working, all of its energy goes into the metal cooking vessel right over it--there is none left 'floating around' to heat up anything else." I believe that most of it goes into the cooking vessel, but I don't buy that there is none at all for rings, digital watches, and pacemakers, the latter of which wouldn't need very many milliwatts to get thoroughly loused up.

I have titanium screws and pins in my back and have been told not to use an induction top so we cook with gas both at home and camping. Good luck, just my persoanl insights.

[CamperAllen]

Thank's for your reply. The one that I have been looking at is here:

http://www.apwagner.com/index.php?ma...del=FGIC13P3KS

I've just never used one before and with them being a few hundred dollars, wanted to do some research, you've definitley given me some things to consider.

Thanks again.