Product review (2 stars): Very Uneven Cooking & Little Temperature Control
I've owned a Max Burton 6000 induction (1800 watts) for over 2 years; it's a much better option.  I mainly use a portable induction burner for cooking outside; if you are cooking something stinky like deep frying oil or it's summer & you're craving pasta but don't want to warm up the kitchen or you're grilling and want to warm a sauce or side dish.  We also like to use it on the deck in the summer for making pancakes.  We eat breakfast outside frequently & it's really convenient to set it up on the table while cooking batches of pancakes.

So to test this Nesco (1500 watts), we took it out on the deck to make pancakes.  We use a Lodge cast iron pancake skillet/griddle.  This skillet is 10.5 inches outside measurement/10 inches inside cooking measurement so should be a good test.  To test the evenness in cooking, we poured pancake batter to near the edge of the pan, leaving a little space for turning.  This Nesco did a terrible job at cooking evenly.  Even though the circle (cooking zone) is 10 inches, the pan did not get hot enough to the edge so we had a gummy/white pancake & a very overdone center where the element is under the pan.  We tried again, fiddling with the temperature level & making a small pancake in the center.  That was better but this would be annoying to make 1 small pancake at a time & it needed constant watching/adjusting of the temperature.
**See photo of pancake above.

There is very little fine tuning in the temperature selection.  You choose between 5 "Cooking Modes"; Melt/Warm, Simmer, Boil, Fry & Sear.  My Max Burton has 10 cooking levels which I discovered is important if you're doing anything other than boiling water.  On level 2 (Simmer) it is too cool and on level 3 (Boil) it is too hot; the food burns.  Having only 5 cooking levels is not enough for items that need specific heat control.  Even though the circle (cooking zone) is 10 inches, the pan did not get hot enough to the edge to cook evenly.  With a strong backlight, I could see and measure the induction element; it is approximately 7 inches in diameter.

When no pan is present, it beeps at you, a helpful feature.  However, after initially beeping quickly at me, it behaved oddly and after I held a pan away from it for 30 seconds it never beeped.  Either it wasn't actively heating (on level 2) or it decided not to beep.  I started to question the beeping accuracy /effectiveness.

I also tested it boiling water & in that it does a very good/fast job.  So if you're just using this to warm liquids such as water, soup, oil for deep frying; it will probably suffice.  If you want to cook something evenly, look elsewhere.

Induction cooking requires a magnetic pan.  To test your pans, put a magnet on the bottom.  If the magnet sticks, your pan will work on induction.  If it doesn't stick, it won't get hot & you need to choose another pan.  A cheap refrigerator magnet is included with this cooktop.  Handy if you're going shopping for new pans but most people probably already own a magnet or two so not really a selling point.

<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Max-Burton-6000-1800-Watt-Portable-Induction-Cooktop-Black/dp/B000MVN1M6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Max Burton 6000 1800-Watt Portable Induction Cooktop, Black</a>&nbsp;A much better choice.
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Lodge-Logic-L9OG3-Pre-Seasoned-10-1-2-Inch-Round-Griddle/dp/B00008GKDN/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Lodge Logic L9OG3 Pre-Seasoned 10-1/2-Inch Round Griddle</a>&nbsp;My cast iron pancake griddle; works great on other cooktops.