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Review: Excellent Quality, Perfect For Travelers - This thing is
so easy to use -- just touch the (touch sensitive, not
mechanical) power button once to turn it on and set it for 212°,
twice for 176°, and so forth, then let it do its thing. Both
volume and weight come in at exactly 14 ounces -- two cups of
coffee or tea, or if you drink it out of a mug like I do, one
full mug :) I accidentally dropped this thing onto a wooden floor
at a height of about three feet, and it was none the worse for
wear -- no marks or dents, and it still worked perfectly fine.
There's really not much to it. It's very simple, and quite
rugged. I placed an SPL meter right next to the unit, and it
topped out at 62db as it approached 160°, then trailed off as the
water got hotter (for reference, 62db is conversation level, or a
fairly quiet office). It took exactly 7 minutes and 19 seconds to
reach 212° Fahrenheit. The cord is 27" long, minus the plugs. The
unit gets comfortably warm to the touch, but not hot. The
interior is made of aluminum, so you needn't worry about any
chemicals leaching into the water. It beeps three times to
indicate when it's reached your desired temperature, and
automatically shuts off. There's a little caution sticker on top
to remind you to wait a minute or so before unscrewing the lid,
because of the pressure buildup during the boiling process. If
you attempt to remove it immediately, there's a (vanishingly
small) chance you could scald your hand due to that pressure
buildup. There's a vent at the top to greatly reduce that risk.
If you overfill the unit (past the line indicator inside), the
excess water WILL escape through that vent and pool around the
unit, so don't overfill! My only regret is that I hadn't
discovered this thing sooner. When travelling, I have found it to
be a Godsend! Very highly recommended for travelers or RVers,
etc. POSTSCRIPT: desertcart is reminding me to remark on its
color and smell. There is no smell at all, either the unit itself
or when in use. The color is a sort of off-white. I have seen
some users express a desire to see this thing in different
colors, so maybe the manufacturer will take note and make it
available in other colors!
Review: Excellent size for travel if you need to make a cup or
two of tea in the hotel room. - I was waiting and looking for
product like this for many years. When we travel and stay in
hotels we like to make tea. Hot water from coffeemakers usually
is not hot enough and smells of stale coffee grounds. So we were
bringing along regular tea kettle and it takes a lot of space in
luggage. This little kettle fits our bill perfectly. - Size.
You'll get less than promised 400 ml of boiling water, probably
350 ml or so, because you cannot fill it to the brim, duh. Just
enough to make one travel mug of tea at a time. Takes as much
place as such a mug in luggage. - Portability. Forget about using
this as a cup or water bottle. I would not brew tea in it or
carry it around filled with liquid of any kind. Tea would stain
the interior and inevitably spill. Use it strictly for boiling
water and pouring it into another cup for brewing. - Speed of
boiling. I see people complaining about it being slow to boil.
Depending on how warm is the water you start with, it takes 6-8
minutes for the unit to beep and indicate 212F. Then it is
boiling when you remove the top. In fact it slows the rate of
heating towards the end to prevent boil-over. You get to 208-210F
in 4-5 minutes and that is enough to brew tea even if it does not
come to roiling boil. So you can unplug before it beeps and open
safely. - Design. They were trying too hard to make this
portable. Carrying handle is flimsy and useless. Threads on the
cover may be larger, easier to open and close with less twisting.
Rubber flap covering the cord connector looks flimsy too. All
these details take away from the otherwise solid feel of the
kettle itself. - Electrical. Yes, this is not cordless. To me a
big plus is that the cord is detachable. No need to struggle
coiling it around the unit. Another plus is that the cord
connector is standard "mickey-mouse-ears" type that you find on
power supplies for laptops. So you can use your laptop cord and
leave the one from the kettle at home. I measured the power draw
when the kettle is heating and it is approximately 300W. That's
why the cord is not as thick and rigid as you would find on large
kettles that draw 1000W+. But that also makes for slower heating
of course. All in all, I am happy with this kettle. Time will
show how long it lasts.
