I don't know why the post title changed to all lowercase. Weird.

Anyway, one more thing to add- someone was mentioning pulsing of an older induction unit. The Fagor also audibly pulses under the 6 setting, probably a couple of pulses a second with the duty cycle decreasing (shorter pulses every half second) as you go lower.

The spot in the middle is normal. The induction drivers are round and the center contains the pan detector and temperature sensor.

Thanks for posting your review. I've been trying to decide between the 30" GE and the Fagor. Based on your review, I'm now leaning toward the GE.

Good to know about pulsing.

I've been reading about induction for two years and have never had so much clear information all in one place.

Thank you for the helpful, comprehensive review. 30" for me, with 2 6"diameter hobs and 2 9" hobs on the Fagor. The Fagor price and thinness is alluring, but I haven't decided yet.

Very nice review, fencesitter. I'm sure there are many that will benfit from it.

In my induction cooktop (an AEG bought in 2008) I hear a pulsing noise, too.
There was NO noise to be heard at the retailer (in 2008) when their working demonstrator heated a pot there.

At high power I hear another noise, not a pulsing noise.
So far, it's noisiest with low-cost cookware, and almost imperceptible with expensive cookware.

Here is a link that might be useful: vibration noise in induction cookware

davidro1-

I find I do have physical vibration of the pots- as I mentioned, the lids will rattle on some. If you get a very high pitched rattling (without the lid), I'd assume there's flex in your cookware such that it's hitting the ceramic surface.

As others have suggested- a silicone mat would help not only in cleanup and slip prevention, but it may also damp the vibration a bit.

I tried padding underneath, and it never changed the noise.

I guess I should conclude that it's got to do with the induction cooktop, and secondly, with some other factor in the cookware, like perhaps the mass of magnetized steel. Cast iron makes no noise at all. It is interesting that the most expensive of the stainless steel products make less noise. I'm still purchasing and returning products, every month.

Perhaps my noise is not your noise. The lids don't rattle, or if they did I didn't notice it because the irritating buzz was so strong.

fencesitter- Love your username by the way, feel like it should be mine! Do you have any cast iron cookware? If so, does the Fagor make the same noise with cast iron? Just wondering...

fencesitter- another thanks for your review. I have gathered info on the Fagor units and am glad to see a review posted here. I haven't found retailers locally so a lot of what I've looked in to is online.

Some of your considerations match exactly for the research I am doing for a family member (mom). I don't see it as a negative against Fagor at all.
In addition to your thinness, price, power, presets - I would add layout. In realizing the habits of how someone cooks it is important to see what layout would match that. For instance, if someone uses the big burner the most, the Fagor is one of the few I've seen that offer that on the RH side front.

Knowing some limitations of the unit the user can then make accommodations accordingly. (In our case, new pots is a given!)
Hard to say without actually using an induction range but power sharing wouldn't be an issue because she rarely uses more than one burner at a time - period. Timers - don't have them for burners now - so wouldn't miss not having them. Sep power button? Don't see that as a negative here. I guess where this is going is for folks considering this as an alternative - how do they really cook on a day to day basis. It is so easy to get wrapped up in the "best of" discussions here.

Do you have any feedback on the simmer? If it is pulsating as mentioned earlier does it hold the temp adequately?

Again - thanks!

numbersjunkie- I wasn't to sure whether to got with this username or "vacillator." I'm still not sure I made the right choice :)

Cast iron- yes, I've got a few pieces of cast iron, both bare and enameled. The hobs all hum to a certain extent. I assume it's more the power going through the coils than anything else- sort of like power lines hum. The hum might be a bit more muted with the cast iron, or it's just cognitive bias.

Interestingly, I noticed that on max with the cast iron, the hob pulses for a few seconds before going to a steady drone. With my Emerilware (sandwiched stainless bottom pots), it goes immediately into a steady drone. I assume this is the same for levels 6 through 12 but I'm not at home to verify right now.

plumorchard- as I mentioned, sometimes I feel that a half setting might be nice, but I attribute that to lack of skill more than anything else. As for the simmer and pulsing, since the pulsing is about a couple of times a second, I don't think the temperature has that much time to vary.

I assume the simmer is not as bad as on some gas hobs that turn the gas on and off over (I assume again) the course of many seconds (tens of seconds? a minute?), allowing more time for the pot to cool.

Even then, for my long slow simmers when I'm making a big pot of stew, gumbo, or whatever, the thermal mass of the whole pot is so great that even pulsing the power on and off over the course of thirty seconds probably wouldn't cause the temperature to fluctuate that much.

Also, I don't think I've ever used the lowest power setting since my big pots have so much surface area they'd radiate more heat than the lowest setting puts out. But again, I need to add the caveat that my cooking isn't that adventurous, so I haven't really explored the lower limits of the range (pardon the pun) like others might.