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I bought this hot pot, along with a 4-pack of Melitta Ready, Set Joe kits, for a road trip during which stopping for coffee, tea and hot chocolate was not an option. My executive summary of the product is that it works well (and, for those wondering about product longevity, still works even after multiple uses) and that it can boil water. We're very happy with it.
Read on to find out why I give the product 4 stars instead of 5.
The product description could do a better job of managing customer expectations. While this hot pot will boil water, it does take 35 minutes or so to bring a full 20 ounces of it to a boil. This isn't due to any defect in the product's design. It has everything to do with the fact that a car's 12-volt, direct current electrical system isn't made for high-wattage appliances. My minivan can supply up to 120W per outlet, i.e., up to 10A at 12VDC, which is not very much, and I assume this is fairly standard. In contrast, conventional hot pots draw 3-5 times as much power from household current, which is why they boil water faster.
Other than that, my few gripes about this hot pot are:
1. It comes with a mounting bracket, but no instructions that might give an inkling on how one might use it to attach the hot pot to anything on the inside of your vehicle. We ended up discarding the bracket and placing the hot pot on our center console, which is flat, as well as several other flat surfaces we created. But this requires somebody to watch the hot pot while the vehicle is in motion.
2. The lid and removable drinking cup sit on top of the pot, but don't snap or screw on. So this hot pot is NOT spillproof. See #1 above, and understand that if it tips over while it's in use, somebody might get hurt.
3. The exterior of the pot gets quite hot to the touch during use (although the handle stays nice and cool), so trying to hold it to prevent it from spilling is a bad idea.
4. The inside of the pot quickly builds up scaling from the minerals left behind when water evaporates. There's no way to reach in there with any kind of a brush to clean that out, and the interior surfaces would probably be damaged by such a brush anyway. I recommend filling the pot with white vinegar and soaking it for an hour or so after every trip to keep the scaling under control.
5. Despite what the product description says, don't even think of making soup, hot chocolate or any other prepared food in this hot pot. You will never be able to get the interior clean again if you do. Stick with instant drink and soup mixes, use a mug or bowl and pour the boiling water from the pot into your mug or bowl in order to make these foods.
6. There's no spout, and it's difficult to pour without spilling, so do be careful.
To help put the 20-ounce capacity into perspective:
1 standard mug holds about 10 ounces of liquid.
A typical travel mug holds 12-14 ounces.
A normal size disposable bowl holds 12 ounces.
A large size disposable bowl holds 20 ounces.
A normal size packet of hot chocolate requires 6 ounces of water and gives you about 8 ounces of hot chocolate.
As annoying as these shortcomings may sound, they're minor compared with the comfort and convenience of being able to have real, high-quality coffee (that's what the Ready, Set, Joe kits were for!), tea, cocoa and soup while traveling in places where service stations are few and far between or just nonexistent.
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This unit works far better than the Max Burton version. The hardwired plug prevents the unit from shorting out. A cup of water almost boils in about 5 minutes. Would be nice if it were sealable like a thermos, and helpful if the measurements on the side were in cups as well as milliliters. about 250 milliliters to a cup. And like my Max Burton review, Nothing but water in these things. They say soups work in these things but even the protein in milk will burn on the heating elements. ONLY WATER! so instant add water drinks, oatmeal, ramen noodles, mashed potatoes.
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I purchased this to use in an RV while boondocking. I have a solar system installed in my RV, and use a 12 volt system, so I needed something to boil water or to at least get water hot enough to make coffee. Well, this hot pot does the job! It definitely boils water with no problem. It takes a while if you have it to the full mark, but that's not a problem for me, as I'm just happy that it works and I don't have to use my propane stove and can now s ave money by using this 12 volt hot pot on power generated by the sun. Works perfect!
UPDATE: When it worked it worked great, but for some reason it stopped heating, but the light still works. I have since requested a replacement, and will return the defective one. I will update in a few months to let you guys know if the new one is still working.
UPDATE #2: I received the replacement unit, and it works fine, but I truly believe the first one stopped working because I left it on after it reached the boiling point, which I guess you need to unplug it at that point. I changed my 5 star rating to a 3 star because you have to really watch this pot or set a timer to make certain it doesn't overheat.
UPDATE #3: Its been 9 months since I've had the replacement unit, and it is still holding on. I heat it up until the boiling point and turn it off. I use the hot water for instant coffee, French press and the mellita drip cones, and all versions do fine with this Hot Pot. I love the fact I don't have to use my propane to heat up water over a stove. This pot has worked wonders for me, but as I had mentioned before.....just don't leave it plugged up too long and it will work wonders for you too. By the way, I noticed on the side of the hot pot is an "imprinted" messages that actually says to UNPLUG the cord as soon as it starts to boil, so that probably explains the failure of the first one. I will up my rating of this product to 4 stars, but now I just use a timer to keep track of the progress. This could be a 5 star product if it had an internal temperature control and wouldn't overheat.
Honest reviews on Roadpro 12V Hot Pot, 20 oz.
In preparation for a weeklong roadtrip with my son, I ordered this hotpot, planning to be able to warm up our coffee as we drove. Well there is a light that comes on when you plug in the pot, to let you know you have power, however the unit we received was defective. After about an hour of waiting for heat, I decided to see if it could be fixed. It is very easy to take apart. The leads for the heating element were loosely wrapped around the connectors, but not soldered. Having no tools with me in the car, I tried to reconnect the wires by hand, but could not get a good enough contact for it to heat. Final result: Cold coffee and 12v hotpot put in trash.
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I ordered the Hot Pot and was worried it would only warm up. But it takes actually 5 minutes and the water is warm and within 10 minutes the water is cooking. I use the Hot Pot to make milkbottles for my baby while we are going by car. No asking for hot water anymore. It's working really great. The bottle is nicely isolated to not burn your hands and a small light is on while cooking so you are always aware it's plugged in. We use it for day trips and camping.
