#2 Do the elements heat up quickly. Many other makes I'm looking at say they are really slow, my current one is quite fast (though now broken)
yes, the rings heat up almost instantly. A couple of seconds after switching on, the ring glows bright red, like a radiated heat, you can feel it straight away. The trick is, as with any electric ring is to turn it on full at the start, then turn it down to the desired level. This is because the ring switches itself on and off to regulate the heat, and keep it at the desired level. I have had the product for around a year now, and find it very good.