[..]
>
> Me, I just have a cheapie that I got from Sears about 8 years ago. Paid
> $40 and it works great. You really don;t need to spend big bucks

I bought mien from Sear too; unfortunately, when I couldn't find the
weight piece (assuming that it would turn up) all that time, it was
sitting on one of the gas stove top and the plastic part at the tipe
burned. I did smell something when I used that stove top (low heat)
but thought some left over food was giving that smell.

I don't know whether the company would sell that replacement piece
"for that particular size one"; they do sell a few other things like
insert, etc. for the smaller size.