well, lets see...

The 500 and 800 have direct selection of power levels. The 300 does not.

The 800 has the AutoChef sensors. The 300 and 500 do not.

The 500 and 800 have stainless trim top and bottom. The 300 does not.

The 800 has the power selector 'bar' on the steel trim. The 500 has it on the glass. With the 800 you can slide your finger along the steel to select the power. Not sure about the 500.

The 800 comes with a pan. Whoopee!

They all have individual timers. They all have the same power requirements.

800 also has 4400 W to the 11" element. 300 and 500 have 3600 W

Thank you so much!!!
I figured I was missing something.
I told DH he'd better pull the trigger fast or I may switch back to propane again. Sigh. Decisions are hard!

Aliceinwonderland, I am looking on ajmadison's site and the 800 bosch series shows the same 3600 W on their 11"...may I ask where you spotted the 4400??
Thanks.
If that is true, I wonder if they are selling older models.
if it was a typo somewhere, then looks like the Autochef is the only difference between the 500 and 800 that I can spot....

and the 800 controls on the frame rather than on the glass if it matters. AutoChef good in theory (thermostatic control) but seemed confusing to use. Think you're right that wattage is same on all of them. BTW the Thermador 30" induction is nearly identical to the Bosch (same parent company) and even more expensive than the 800 but they do offer it in a light color if you don't want a black stove.

I got my information from the Bosch website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bosch Induction cooktops

Aliceinwonderlnad, thank you so much for the link.
I did a click/compare on the 500 and the 800 and both the 11" are 3600 on their website.
So maybe the touch on the stainless trim and the autochef are the difference. I'm not sure if I would like autochef since I am not even 100% convinced I want induction (yikes on the $1000 of all-clad cookware in the aluminum clad), but looks like that is my own issue ;-)
If the price is within a 100 or so, it may be nice to have the feature. I may find an appliance store out here in nowhere land and see if I can look at the stainless touch to see if that is my tipping point :-))

Thank you all again!

I would call Bosch and clarify - On the overview section for all induction cooktops it says 4400w for the 800, but if you click to compare, it only says 3600w.

(yikes on the $1000 of all-clad cookware in the aluminum clad

I wouldn't shy away from induction because of the perception that you need to also buy very expensive cookware. You don't. Having spent my budget on the kitchen remodel (including a Miele induction cooktop), I bought the 10 piece Tramontina Triply Clad cookware from Walmart. Cooks Illustrated rated it highly, and I figured it would get me by until I could afford the "yikes" cookware. When it came, I was surprise at how nice it actually is. Really quite acceptable, they're heavy, have good handles, and the lids fit well. I'm now in no hurry to replace it--I may not ever replace it! I'm not usually one to buy a 'set' of cookware, but in this one, every piece is actually useful. Induction does not require expensive cookware, just cookware that a magnet will stick to.

Cj

Here is a link that might be useful: Alternative to YIKES

The questions and comments in this thread remind me about looking for induction stuff, months ago. I didn't seriously consider Bosch then: there was just too much mystery around what features their various induction cooktop models had, and what they actually did or meant.

If I'm looking to buy an expensive product, I'm also looking for evidence that a manufacturer has it together. Bosch didn't seem to, for reasons I forget in detail but feel similar to the fuzziness around their cooktop models now -- more than a year later. [I vaguely remember seeing a brochure that listed the three cooktops, but I couldn't tell what the differences were, and the big box store's sales staff seemed out to lunch that afternoon.]

Does Bosch not know if their 11" hob uses 3600 or 4400 watts? Is it too much bother to say, or to specify differences like which models have what features and what they actually do, so customers can easily and quickly know which model they might want?

This issue is certainly not limited to Bosch, but I don't recall being as confused about other companies' kitchen appliances. And evidently this is not just a temporary glitch. Maybe its just me, but I interpret the very presence of such uncertainties and questions as a flashing red light that says "stay away from this company and all their stuff!" From a marketing perspective, it seems like an inexcusably basic thing for any manufacturer to ignore.

Thanks all.
I have an equal amount of "yikes, Le Creuset" which would easily work on the induction. Yes, my name is wallycat, and I am a cookware hoarder *gasp* .

I'm not impressed with the description of the AutoChef. It MAY take a special pan for it to work, I'm not sure. What it does is 'regulate' the temperature of the pan for frying with a High, Medium, Low. There is a popup temperature sensor thingy on the corner.

Seems too gadgety to me.

I like the steel trim better, but $500 is a lot to pay for that feature.

Oh, the other thing that bothers me about the Bosch is that it wants you to shut off the other hob of a pair when using boost. Other manufacturers just lower the power on the other hob rather than turning it off.

weemeister - Where did you get the info about Bosch boost? This is the first I've heard that.

Never mind - found it in the manual (I haven't read the manuals for all of the cooktops I am contemplating).

I guess I don't see this as a problem. Some insist the other element in the same zone be off for boost. Some "share" power back and forth to boost one element. Reality is, boost won't actually be working if the power is sharing back and forth - you'll get boost that is on/off in rapid frequency, UNLESS one zone can steal power from another zone as well - I don't know of any that do that (not to say it doesn't exist).

The Brandt that I have currently shares power within each zone for boost. If both elements in a zone are on and I boost one, it will drop the other to half power and then share power between the two, resulting in possibly a slight boost, but nowhere near what it is if the other element is off entirely. I quickly learned to just shut off the second element to get a true boost.

Wallycat: I was in your spot this spring/summer and ended up with the 800 instead of the 500. It was a decision based on reading comments on GW from folks who said they liked having the controls on the stainless strip instead of on the glass surface.

I've come to understand why. If you have one of those smart phones with a touch screen, you'll understand. If your fingers are wet - or, it seems to me, too dry (if that makes sense) -- there isn't enough spark to communicate with the touch pad on the ceramic surface. Finger condition, though, makes no difference to selections made on the stainless strip. (With the 800, you still use the touch screen to select the burners you'll use.) Maybe I'm just rationalizing my decision, but I think that for something I use every day, it was worth the extra price for the selections on the strip.

As to the boost issue, I just tried this experiment, I have a 36", so the two 7" burners on the left share power. I put one of the 7" burners on boost and then turned on the other 7" one. Turning on the second burner resulted in the cooktop automatically moving the first burner's cook level from boost to "9." I was able to put both burners on "9."

In day-to-day cooking, though, I've not found the boost situation to be a problem. Probably because I haven't needed to use boost on two "shared" burners at the same time. Usually if I need boost on two, it's the large center burner + one of the side burners. So there's not been a sharing issue.

Oh, yes, keep your eyes out for Bosch promos. The company seems to cycle at $300 off promo on cooktops with regularity.

There is a current $300 rebate on Bosch induction - good through 2/29. The rebate comes as a pre-paid Visa card. However, if you purchase at Lowes, Sears or Best Buy, there is no rebate, which is interesting since those are the most expensive places to purchase anyway. Also, many companies currently have holiday promos - they aren't much, but every $20 helps. Sometimes you have to search their websites pretty extensively to find the promo codes.