Okay, here are some quick-and-dirty thermal photos of the 3qt. All-Clad G5 Sauté pan and the corresponding pan from the Demeyere Atlantis (disc bottom w/ copper) and Falk Copper Coeur (induction-compatible copper) lines.
From the marketing materials, my expectation is that the All-Clad Graphite Core pans are designed to provide the benefits of both fully-clad (heat gradient from bottom through the sides of pan) and disc-bottom (even heat on bottom) pans. The thermal photos I’m seeing are making me wonder why my objective experience isn’t matching that expectation.
Disclaimer: these are quick-and-dirty photos. I did take care to compare apples to apples reasonably with the infrared camera I had here, but these are not post-processed or calibrated. They should however be a reasonably accurate representation in relation from one pan to another.
All-Clad Graphite Core (G5) Sauté pan (3qt, ~26cm) - 350 USD at Williams-Sonoma
Demeyere Atlantis Sauté pan (~3qt, ~24cm) - 375 USD retail, 300 USD discount price at Zwilling.com
Falk Copper Coeur Sauté pan (~3qt, ~24cm) - 340 USD retail at copperpans.com
These thermal photos match up to the subjective experience I’ve had with the G5 pans so far. All photos were taken on a medium-sized induction coil (1800 watts), a Polyscience Control Freak.
It would be interesting to attach some thermocouples and take some thermal videos with my higher-resolution thermal camera, both empty and with a layer of heat-conducting oil–and then measure the heating and cooling times, the heat evenness, etc. I will try to take up that project another day.
