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Digital Kettle Pro -- First Impressions

This puppy was worth every penny!!! (Sorry, Rainy)

I always have complaints, but I'll put them at the end. First for the good points.

  1. It just plain damn works. Of course, I've only heated 3 pots of water so far, but damn!!! It's slick.

  1. The temperature control looks to be very accurate, just as reported by Natarajan. I filled it up with 1.5 liters of cold tap water. I first set the temperature to 104F, the lowest setting. When the alarm sounded, I put a thermometer in the water and it read 104F. I watched it for a few minutes. It varied from 104 to about 108. I then increased the temperature to 120, 140, 160, 180, and 200. At each stop, my thermometer read the exact same temperature or 1 degree higher. Most of the time, it was right on.

  2. Temp hold works very well. As reported by Natarajan, it appears to "slow down" as it gets close to the target temperature. Then it varies by a few degrees, usually on the high side.

  1. The cordless feature is great. It lifts off the base easily anmd oges back on easily.

  2. The lid snaps into place, but opens easily.

  1. It pours without dripping unless I pour too fast.

  2. The digital readout shows the current water temperature. It's kinda cool to watch it gradually heat up.

Now for the complaints. Most are not significant.

  1. No external water level guage. There is a hokey little strip of metal with tabs punched out of it for 250 ml. It just sticks into a slot in the top underneath the lid and hangs down into the pot. Mind was rattling artound loose inside the pot when it arrived. It actually works well enough.

  1. At 1,000 watts, it's a little under-powered. My first pot started out at 70F. It took it 8:13 to get 1.5 liters (6 cups) to 212. My second pot started out at 80F (probably because the pot was still hot). It took 7:42 to get 1.5 liters to 212. This is a minor problem because it will sound an alarm when ready and then hold the temperature.

  2. The owner's manual is minimal and typical Asian-English. I couldn't find where it was manufactured anywhere on the box or papers. Aren't they required to post that?

  1. There is no indication of the target temperature. Because of the way the up/down buttons work with the on/odd button, it would be easy to set the wrong temperature.

I really like this thing so far. I'll make my first pot in a little bit. If I have any new experiences, I'll post them. If anyone hsa any questions, fire away.

The kettle is made by a company called Del-Savo, Inc., in Los Gatos California. The kettle is bears the brand name Pino. The website,

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shows several other tea-making products,. It does not show this unit. It does show something called the Digital Tea Express, which looks exactly like the Digital Kettle Pro, except that it is not cordless.

This will make making tea much simpler, especially when I get into teas that need lower temperatures, which is next on my list.

Reply to
Square Peg
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Thanks, Square Peg, for the report. I've bookmarked the product page, and I'll buy it when my finances permit. Best, ~grasshopper

Reply to
Grasshopper

Just to make sure that you have the correct product page...

The link I gave in the this thread,

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is for the manufacturer. They have a kettle, the Tea Express digital ($79.95), that is similar to the one I bought, but does not appear to be cordless, even though it says it is, which would be a pertty big difference to me.

Mine, the Digital Kettle Pro, is not on that site. It is sold by Tea Treasures. That web page is

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Cheers

Reply to
Square Peg

seems interesting !

does the outside get HOT eg if you touch anything but the handle do you get burned? is there a minimum of water it can heat - can it do something like 8oz for ex?

Thanks.

Reply to
SN

It's a good thing that it doesn't have an external gauge, because those are typically plastic, and I don't want plastic near my boiling water.

What is the material/coating on the inside?

I might consider it for later although now I don't want to spend $90. But all the $50 ones have plastic gauges. I also looked yesterday in a local dept. store for a kettle without variable temps, and they're all plastic on the inside!!

Reply to
Rainy

Pennys sells their cookware Cooks namebrand which is a 1.5L 1500w stainless steel blow torch I use everyday that simply boils water. It has an external water guage which acts like a bubble chamber and is the way Chinese tell water temperature.

Jim

PS Price $20 when > I also

Reply to
Space Cowboy

Is that the one that has the corded base so that the kettle itself is cordless? I just saw that at Macy's I think (might have been Pennys) and I was really impressed. I might just pick one up today. I use a

1.5L plastic electric kettle with a metal immersion-type element which totally goes against my beliefs but it works darn well and I just haven't settled on a replacement. I think it is Proctor-Silex made and it actually imparts no flavor on the water which is why I use it, it just has a paddle for on/off but I can tell by time and sound when to manually flip it to off to get a desired temp.

Water temp falls into that common-sense and old time theory of mine that for thousands of years tea has been made at fairly imprecise temps and yet endures. Long before digital thermostats and exact read thermometers. I have about four temps, warm/hot/just boiling/boiling. Occasionally I use a quick read mechanical tea thermometer to check my work on a new/different tea but that's about it.

- Dominic

Reply to
Dominic T.

Update: The water level guage is more of a kludge than I first thought.

It's a piece of metal that has been cut and bent into a three-sided rectangular tube about 5" long and 3/4" wide with 2 1/4" sides. There is a tab at the top that is bent so that when the tab is inserted into a slot in the plastic lid hinge, the guage protrudes down into the kettle at a slight angle.

Five small tabs have been raised out of the face of the guage and are stamped with 0.5L, 0.75L, 1.0L, 1.25L, and MAX. When filling the kettle, the water rises until it reaches one of the raised tabs.

As I said above, when my kettle arrived, the guage was loose and rattling around inside the kettle. The kettle opening is fairly small and it was difficult to get my hands in a position to insert the tab into the plastic slot.

When rinsing the kettle this afternoon, the guage came loose and fell out. I spent about 5-6 minutes trying to get it back in the slot. This time, I tried to push it in more fully. There does not appear to be a positive "click" into place. If it comes loose very often, I may just go without it. Very poor design.

Reply to
Square Peg

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