Philips HD4928/01 Induction Cooktop Review: Fast, Fussy on Pans

The Philips HD4928/01 suits families who want an induction cooktop that boils and fries quickly enough to replace a gas burner for most daily cooking. The trade-off is fussiness: it is rated at 2100 W, so it needs a proper heavy-duty socket, and Philips says to use pans with a base of roughly 12 to 20 cm, which rules out many wide kadhais and tawas.

How fast does it boil water and cook?

We have not timed it ourselves. EverythingBetter.in brought 1 L of water to the boil in about 4.2 minutes in a Prestige pressure-cooker base, and took more than 5.5 minutes with a thin 1.2 L saucepan. The same reviewer saw the cooktop hold around 1800 W with a thick-based pot but stay under 900 W with the thin one. In practice, heavy induction-base cookware gets far more out of the 2100 W rating.

Is it good for rotis, dosas and pressure cooking?

There are five presets: roti/dosa, stir fry, gravy, slow cook and pressure cook. EverythingBetter.in reports the roti, gravy and stir-fry presets cap at about 180 °C, pressure cook at about 220 °C and slow cook at 100 °C, with manual mode reaching 240 °C. Philips support says the cooktop sometimes lowers its temperature during cooking to protect itself, which some owners notice while making rotis. The same reviewer measured a heating coil of only 7 to 8 cm, so heat concentrates in the middle of a large tawa.

Will it work on a 5 A socket?

Not safely. 2100 W works out to about 9 A at 230 V. The plug listings also disagree: EverythingBetter.in says its unit came with a 6 A plug, while Flipkart lists a 10 A three-pin plug. Either way, run it from a 15 A or 16 A socket. A typical home inverter rated under 1000 VA will not run it during a power cut.

What do owners complain about?

The Flipkart listing averages 4.3 out of 5 from over two lakh ratings, which is a large sample. In owner reviews on philips.co.in, people say the display shows only the timer even when you are in temperature mode, and one buyer returned it because they wanted a touch panel instead of push buttons. EverythingBetter.in also found the glossy top shows smudges easily.

What does the warranty cover?

Philips gives one year. Philips has a wide service network in India, which helps outside the metros, but one year is short for an appliance used twice a day. Keep the invoice.

What we could not verify

Listings disagree on the number of presets (five or six), the plug rating and the country of origin, and we found no independent test of the presets themselves. The boiling times above come from a single published test.