The claim: Hot Logic Mini is the world's first portable mini oven that knows how to multitask. It can cook meals from scratch, reheat leftovers or frozen dinners and keep food piping hot for hours. And, because it's fully automatic (no buttons, dials, settings or timers) it's completely safe and simple to use whether you're 7 or 87. Just pop a meal in the bag, plug it in and off you go. Eat one to eight hours later. Your food will be cooked — or reheated — to perfection. There's even an optional power inverter for people who travel in their car.

Cost: $39.99

Where: Sears, Walmart or hotlogicmini.com

The HotLogic Mini is simply a hot plate in an insulated bag, but it's very convenient. There are some rules to follow — use a container with a flat bottom, be sure to use a secure lid — but it's pretty easy to use. When I used it to heat up leftovers, I was surprised to find that it gives off little heat and I couldn't smell what was heating. I also tried a frozen dinner in a paper box in the Mini, and it went from freezer to temperature-safe cooked in 2 hours.

Calling itself a personal portable “oven” seems a little misleading. It won't get hotter than 212 degrees. The packaging suggests that cooking from scratch is an option, so I tried making some thinly sliced zucchini in tomato sauce with the Mini, using a Pyrex dish with a plastic lid. The zucchini softened and it was hot enough, but it wasn't even close to what I'd expect to come out of a real oven. Hours passed before I finally gave up, and the smell of plastic from the long cooking time was apparent and unappetizing. The HotLogic website has recipes to try, but the links are broken at this time. In my opinion, cooking from scratch would be challenging, but I guess it's possible.

The Mini is also limited by its size. Not all sizes of containers will fit into it, and larger frozen entrees won't make the cut. But the company offers a Pyrex dish (at an additional cost) that fits perfectly inside — and it holds a hearty amount of food.

Despite the drawbacks, I think the Mini is useful, even beyond heating lunches at work. It could hold a hot dip at a party or keep a cup of coffee warm, for instance. It's certainly affordable and it would make a great gift, too.

— Chrissy Zirngibl

The Hot Logic Mini is a cute little insulated tote with, essentially, a hot plate inside. It doesn't sound like much, so my hopes weren't that high. But the unit's performance far exceeded my expectations. Almost everything I put in it — leftover casseroles, meat-and-potato dinners, packaged frozen meals — came out piping hot and evenly so, not like the hot and cold pockets from warming in a microwave.

The unit holds the rather standard-size frozen meal box, or a 1.5 liter Pyrex rectangular glass dish. I also used a 4-cup round glass dish with no problems, although it was a little taller and made the zipper on the case that much more snug.

One thing to be aware of: The instructions say not to heat soup, and I'd add to this really saucy dishes. Such foods can cause condensation that can slip through the seal of the dish and drip onto the heating element. It congealed on the element and I had to let a damp paper towel soak on it for a while to remove it because the element can't be submerged for washing.

I also had a reheated sandwich get a bit soggy because its filling was too moist.

The Hot Logic Mini did make the top of my desk a bit warm to the touch — not dangerously so by any stretch of the imagination — but just to be cautious, I started to put a silicon pot-holder/trivet under it. Having that handy made removing the dish from the unit so much easier — and safer — too.

— Vaunda Bonnett

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