FOUR E'S SCIENTIFIC 280℃/536°F 5 inch Digital Hotplate Magnetic Stirrer Hot Plate Ceramic Coated | 100-1500rpm | 5L | 110V Support Stand Stir Bar Retriever Temp Probe Sensor Stir Bars Included

This is an amazing lab device. It is incredibly well built, heats up very quickly and the magnetic motor function works flawlessly. Using the device is a tad steep with some minor things to be aware of in regards to its heating function and stirring.Some are common sense and for anyone using any lab equipment you should test the devices and record your finding prior to actual use. One particular feature is that the device will start the magnetic stirring faster by flashing the RPM and slowing down to the set RPM to overcome the sample inertia. The thicker the sample the longer this may take and the reverse is true too. However, the seller is wonderful enough to message you after ordering so that you are aware of these things and offer their support. Great on them and more than I could ask for in customer service!The ceramic plate gets hot quickly and holds temperature very well. The added PT1000 temperature probe works well with a stand and the hot plate automatically switches from the internal sensor to the PT1000 to regulate the sample's temperature directly as expected.It has a port for a proprietary stand that you can purchase in a bundle or separately which I did not get. Instead I am using my own stand that I had already. If you do not have a stand, I would recommend theirs since it is positioned well and would take up less lab space.Overall I am very happy with the purchase and I hope the device last long.

I've had one of these since March 2020. It has several hundred hours of use on it, and it has yet to fail me.Temperature control: It has always gotten to the target temperature and held very well. It is within +-0.2°C, verified by boiling pure components. ***Note*** I saw people reviewing saying the temperature control is way off "even with the probe installed." -.- There is no temperature probe other than the plug-in one that goes into the solution being heated. It's common sense.Mixing: Not the strongest magnet, but it works if you keep it reasonably slow for the solution you are mixing. The mixing bars will tend to jump out of position if you are using higher viscosity liquids, but generally generating a vortex is not an issue.Overall, great product, and I'm buying two more for my lab at work.

UPDATE: After posting the original review, the company Project Manager contacted me with a very nice email offering to make this right to my satisfaction. We explored 3 options and they chose to send a new replacement. I very much appreciate this and am changing the review to 4-stars, only to reflect the entire situation. Come to find out, this was a know issue of machines of the era I purchased. I wish we could have gotten to that point sooner, but it all worked out in the end. They did communicate all the way through and finally it reached the right person. My advice to anyone who has a unit die is to ask up-front to escalate your case to a Project Manager and skip the back-and-forth with the front-line reps. I always liked this unit and am glad to have another one on my bench. Thank you to the person who made this happen. I appreciate it very much.Original Situation -This was a great unit until it wasn't. Here was my use: 3-4 times per year. One day per use. Total time heating/stirring per day of use, no more than 6 hours. If you do that math (16 days x 6 hrs) that's about 100 hours of use. I was using it for only the 3rd time in 2024 and about 5 minutes after turning it on, it died. It literally went out while warming up, as if the power went out. Just died and would not come back on after several days of trying. Obviously a failure, probably in the power circuit. Probably a fairly easy fix.I reached out to Four Es and found that I was corresponding with China directly. It would take 3-6 days to receive replies (in the middle of the night so you can't dialogue with them same-day). They said the warranty period was 2 years and the unit could not be repaired, so they offered me a $50 coupon after sending proof of purchasing a new one. So be aware, you're getting a unit that could fail and, after two years, you could end up throwing it away like I did. To me, their offer is like a coupon from a restaurant that just took an hour to deliver cold, burnt food. Yeah, I'm comin' back for some more of this! NOT!!I bought the SH-3ABE digital magnetic stirrer at $139.99, which I see is higher now, but it works OK. It's cheaper than the Four Es even with their concession, so if I end up throwing it away, at least it's below $150.One star for several reasons. It sounded (to me) like they're a domestic company. They aren't. Apparently there is no office in the US for repairs. If this is a 100-hour unit, they should knock the price down to the $150 range because with a lot of this stuff, you're basically risking buying a disposable item. One star for product longevity (quality), perceptions, delayed communication, and not enough concession to make up for the inability to repair.

Works well.

Purchased two based on good reviews. These are horrible. I had to remove part way through the project and change to my old origional hotplate as they would not bring solution to boil. Used once and tossed in the trash where they belong.. Don't buy.

The media could not be loaded. This one rocks. Get it.Never thought I'd like a hot plate so much, but here we are.Great quality, holds temperature accurately, stirs well at low speed and high speed, very reliable.We've had this running almost daily at 50C in the lab, off and on for 300 hours and it works perfectly.I have purchased multiple other "cheap" hot plate stirrers, and they've all died.