Tulsi Solar Oven
04/05/10 08:23 Filed in: sun ovens | solar ovens
Unit:
The first thing that will impress you about the Tulsi Solar Cooker is the look. It's bright red hard case looks great — though the religious Hindu sun symbol will be a turn off for some.
Next you will probably notice the poor quality of the unit. Our test unit had a broken latch which needed to be drilled out and a new one riveted in place. We had already read of this and other problems with this unit.
The weight of the unit is disappointing — but that shouldn't stop you testing it out.
Moving it to the place where it will be used, then opening the lid will give you a huge blast of (presumably) toxic gas. This was so bad that we decided we would not use the unit for food at all. Some may not mind — or may think it is fine for covered food. The smell may go away after using it for a while but we would not guarantee that.
LIfting the lid and the glass gives more evidence of poor quality, though the design features are quite good. The lid and the glass have a latch that hold them in place which is very handy. They are flimsy and poor quality aluminium though.
The best thing about this Solar Oven is the glass lid which is double glazed — which would undoubtedly help in the insulation properties of the oven.
The cooking space is wide but very, very low. Using it for small, flat dishes this is great — but for larger meals, post of anything with height (i.e. bread) it cannot be used.
The single solar reflector is highly reflective but the black coating on the inside of the cooking area is very poor and has started flaking away before any use.
Use:
This solar oven performed quite well in the test we did of this, up against the Global Sun Oven ® and a Parabolic Solar Cooker. The test did favour the Tulsi though, a partly cloudy day with 2L of water.
On a fully clear day the Tulsi does not perform as well against the same ovens.
It is easy to adjust the Tulsi and it does warm up fairly quickly and have good insulation properties.
It doesn't heat up as quickly or get as hot as the Global Sun Oven ® but would be useable under the right circumstances.
The Tulsi Solar Oven is a cheaper option for a commercial Solar Oven - unfortunately it is very limited in its usability and is very poor quality.
Quality *
Cooking Size **
Size / Weight **
Temperature ***
Insulation ***
Easy of use ****
Cost ****
The first thing that will impress you about the Tulsi Solar Cooker is the look. It's bright red hard case looks great — though the religious Hindu sun symbol will be a turn off for some.
Next you will probably notice the poor quality of the unit. Our test unit had a broken latch which needed to be drilled out and a new one riveted in place. We had already read of this and other problems with this unit.
The weight of the unit is disappointing — but that shouldn't stop you testing it out.
Moving it to the place where it will be used, then opening the lid will give you a huge blast of (presumably) toxic gas. This was so bad that we decided we would not use the unit for food at all. Some may not mind — or may think it is fine for covered food. The smell may go away after using it for a while but we would not guarantee that.
LIfting the lid and the glass gives more evidence of poor quality, though the design features are quite good. The lid and the glass have a latch that hold them in place which is very handy. They are flimsy and poor quality aluminium though.
The best thing about this Solar Oven is the glass lid which is double glazed — which would undoubtedly help in the insulation properties of the oven.
The cooking space is wide but very, very low. Using it for small, flat dishes this is great — but for larger meals, post of anything with height (i.e. bread) it cannot be used.
The single solar reflector is highly reflective but the black coating on the inside of the cooking area is very poor and has started flaking away before any use.
Use:
This solar oven performed quite well in the test we did of this, up against the Global Sun Oven ® and a Parabolic Solar Cooker. The test did favour the Tulsi though, a partly cloudy day with 2L of water.
On a fully clear day the Tulsi does not perform as well against the same ovens.
It is easy to adjust the Tulsi and it does warm up fairly quickly and have good insulation properties.
It doesn't heat up as quickly or get as hot as the Global Sun Oven ® but would be useable under the right circumstances.
The Tulsi Solar Oven is a cheaper option for a commercial Solar Oven - unfortunately it is very limited in its usability and is very poor quality.
Quality *
Cooking Size **
Size / Weight **
Temperature ***
Insulation ***
Easy of use ****
Cost ****
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