This is a very useful immersion heater. I was impressed by how quickly this began to heat. I set up an experiment/test with a bucket of 3 gallons of tap-cold water. You can see in my photos the start temperature of 60F. I took a photo of the actual heater in the water just a minute after plugging it into the outlet, it was clearly heating very quickly.I used my own cooking thermometer as well as their little thermometer which is included in the box. Both gave very similar readings, so I a certain the test was accurate. There was one point where I saw a drastic difference and realized that one of the probes had fallen to the bottom of the bucket while the other was near the top. Once I fixed this they were very close. So, the included thermometer will give you a safe accurate reading.I set my timer to 10 minutes and then set it for a second 10 minutes. It took 8 minutes for the water to go from 60F to 67F, but by 10 minutes it was 99F. The device actually shut off at the 19 minute mark because it was nearing the maximum temperature. The instructions state that the internal thermostat will turn the heater off at 75C +/- 10 degrees, this would be (149F (65C) - 185F (85C)). Mine shut off at 130F (54C); however, I heard it come back on after about a minute of off time. So, it was slowing down/not running continually as it got closer to the maximum temperature. I was impressed by the speed and accuracy. I would not have wanted to put my hand in the water for very long if it got much hotter.There is a review here where someone went on about the warnings about not touching the water while this device is submerged. I believe it is a good practice to not put your hand into the water while this is plugged in; however, the physics of the whole system dictates that this is not some electrocution device. You also should not take a bath with your toaster...we see movies where the bad guy shoves a toaster into the bath...but in reality there are safety measures built into most electrical systems now-a-days. Follow the instructions, but you don't need to freak out about this.It is so easy to use, and can make things like washing dishes while camping or cleaning muddy hands on a chilly day outdoors more comfortable. I plan to use this to heat 5 gallon buckets of water to rinse our hands out in the pottery studio in winter. 5 gallons of water will stay warm for quite a while when thoroughly heated with this. It is generally in the 40s here during the day in winter. Water from the hose is uncomfortable at that temperature, but I don't like bringing all of the mud into the house. This is an easy solution. We can prepare ahead of time in less than 20 minutes and save a lot of mess.For less than $30 I love the convenience of this! It is much more substantial than the type that looks like a twisted piece of iron attached to a cord. That type will make you a cup of coffee or a pot of tea in half an hour, but you have to be careful not to let it touch the side of anything that can melt. This baby will get you 4 gallons of hot water in less time and it can be put into a plastic bucket because the heating element is encapsulated.It's really well made for what it is and the cost for a camping accessory or emergency water heater is great!

I have never really needed one of these before, but then I thought about all the times my power has gone out and needing warm or hot water for something (like a bath). While it does take a little while to heat up, I would say that using this is exactly as described. I actually used this to poor on my sons car bumper, which was hit by a Uber Eats driver in a hit & run accident last year. To my surprise, the hot water from the bucket of water that I used actually heated the bumper up enough for it to become pliable. So where there was a dent and a gouge in the paint is now just a gouge in the paint. I know I could have used a heat gun, but I was worried about the extreme heat ruining the plastic and/or the paint.

I plan to use this primarily to heat up a 5 gallon bucket of water to use during swim meets for the swimmers to dunk rags in fresh water to clean off. I tested it out two times and it works well, here are my results with about 4 gallons in the bucket:I had it just laying in the bottom and touching the bottom and side and it didn't overheat or melt any of the plastic bucket. I touched the outside where the heater was making contact and it felt the same temperature as the other areas so it seems like the plastic on the top and bottom as well as the stainless shield keep anything from getting too hot.My 4 gallons rose in temperature as follows (all temps in F):0 minutes - 54 degrees5 minutes - 72 degrees10 minutes - 85.6 degrees15 minutes - 99 degrees20 minutes - 112 degrees25 minutes - 127 degreesAt this point it started cycling on and off, I assume because the thermostat hit its safety point of 70C (158F) close to the unit and then turned on as the water temp started to normalize in the bucket. I stoped it when it reached 138F because we never need water that hot but I assume that it would probably stop and hold around 150F if you left it on.I unplugged the unit and removed from the bucket by holding the cord (which is super heavy duty and fits their description of a 2000w appliance). After 10 seconds I lightly tapped on the stainless guard and found that I could actually put my hand around the whole heater with it being warm but not uncomfortable or burning. I like this because I can easily pull it out, leave it on the pool deck to cool for a bit and then throw it in a bag to keep it safe.I'm really happy with it and plan to get daily use from it over the next swim season.

Great idea for camping but not sure if I can use it long term especially when I am submersible in water

Heats up fast, very easy to use. Easy to store definitely worth the money