Maybe I'm comparing apples to oranges but I purchased Stonylabs 1000ml heating and stirring mantle in Sept of 2021, spending more than the cost of a cheapo. Right away I noticed how weak the stirring was and the fact that the heating didn't start to work till turned up 1/3 of the way, just like the reviews I had read on the cheap ones. Temperature "control" meant babysitting the knob, constantly adjusting, then after a few weeks while trying to bringing a solution to boil it quit heating all together. Drats! I when to the Amazon site that model was no longer unavailable. Having a reaction half completed I disassembled the darn thing and found the problem, a broken nicrhome wire coming off the heating switch, looked like it had been kinked I spliced it back with a piece of heavier nichrome wire and a small length of 1/16" copper tubing, crimped into place. It worked "as good as new" until today when it crapped out again. I'm glad I bought a spare off ebay of another brand. I'll dissect the stony again tomorrow