If you live in a town with Asian grocery stores, take a look there. I
use two woks, a 14" carbon steel from a local Asian market, bought 30
years ago and an 18" one, also carbon steel, bought from the local
restaurants supply store about 15 years ago. Neither cost close to
$80, even taking into account the decades of inflation. The
restaurant supply places has Cantonese woks in 16-21" from $17-$26
today. .

That said, I doubt that the traditional wok shape and material will
work with an induction element. My observation is that pans on our
portable induction unit really only heat the FLAT bottom and a tiny
bit of the sides. My guess is that only a couple of inches at the
bottom of the wok would heat, if that.

Personally, if I had to use an induction range and wanted to "stir
fry", I would use a deep skillet, of the type some call a chicken
fryer, made of whatever suits you that will work on the induction
element you have. In any case, you need a flat bottom in contact with
the electric element.

YMMV

On Sat, 23 Apr 2016 14:41:21 -0700, "W" >
wrote:

>I am trying to find a decent Wok under $80 that would work on either an
>electric stove or an induction top.
>
>The two I find a
>
>* stainless steel (with no anti-stick surface) that is a sandwich on an
>aluminum core
>
>* carbon steel
>
>Does anyone have opionions on which of these would be better? I guess
>carbon steel is going to be similar to cast iron and would require
>seasoning. I also guess carbon steel is not going to heat uniformly on an
>electric stove. How uniformly will carbon steel heat on an induction
>stovetop? I have noticed that cast iron does best inside an oven where
>all surfaces get high heat, so not sure that it is best suited to any heat
>source that comes from below in a small area.
>
>I'm concerned that a stainless Wok is going to stick to food and be
>difficult to clean.