11/2016Simple: They look cheap. They feel like they are the same weight as my expensive set. Can let the wife cook with them without worry. Not a smooth surface means longer braking in time. 2 seasons (olive oil plus an hour at 500 degrees) and some bacon makes 3 seasons, still cannot cook eggs. Could be me idk. Check out the pics and you decide. I like them. Coat with oil when done so they do not rust!I must say,- these work nicely on an electric stove top at 4 setting or under.- Let them warm up (add a little oil also) BEFORE adding food.- Coat with oil AFTER cleaning with water and before storing,- No soap! Unless you want to reseason the skillets...- reseason before using for the first time. Worked well for me.Update:12/2/2017Still like them! Guests use them and we don’t care what we cook in them. They still work good. More or less non stick. Soak in hot water for ten min then everything brushes right off.April 2018Still really nice! They actually are keeping up with the lodge skillets. Don’t over load them heat or weight wise and they have lasted This long. Year and a half ish of cooking whatever and we just reseason and they are good to go! We will never go back to Teflon non stick skillets again...If these pans were pre-seasoned, which season was it? Certainly not spring... these have has much spring as a four day old corpse. Probably not fall, because it takes a long time to fall for their obvious faults before finding their beauty. That's beauty in cooking, not in looks, feel or cleanliness.Because I was raised on cast iron pots and pans, growing up during the depression, I thought I knew all about them. What I didn't know was that my mother had been using them for ten years before I had the chance to try one out. The old ones were terrific: held their heat, got good and hot fast and didn't let much stick to the bottom. If it did, a little swipe with an SOS pad cleaned it up easily. I still fry my eggs in the small one, do sausages and leftovers in the middle one and pork chops or files mignons in the larger one. However, I do NOT try to make crepes or other delicacies in these. They just look too German to be tender and loving to a paper thin sheet of flour and water. The French do it better with their crepe pans, of which I also have several.Anyway, if you are patient and don't mind doing a bit of housebreaking before the pans begin to show their appreciation, I recommend that you have at least one or two iron pans in your repertoire. Just don't expect your season to be bright right away!I bought this set after the recent issues with Teflon. I did my research on all non-Teflon items and decided upon iron cast pans as the Aluminum pans do give off some aluminum into the food and may (key word here is may) contribute to Alzheimer's (according to some), and the Stainless steel gives off chromium and nickel into the foods, both of which I am allergic too. Pure copper with no aluminum is extremely expensive; a good set of a few items are $600+. There are also ceramic glass pots and pants made by Corning/Pyrex called Visionware (also known as Visions) that can be found on eBay (and a few are left here on Amazon) as they are no longer in production. Finally, there are also items made of ceramics and clay that should be safe alternativesThe items have been great so far, however, you will really want to do some research in google (or any other search engine) on how to care for them as there are some things that you really shouldn't do such as rinse a very hot pan in cold water (it will crack or break) etc. In addition, you will also want to so some research on how to "season" them which makes them very close to being non-stick (you basically smear them with an oil than can take high temperatures and "bake" the pans for an hour at 350 degrees Fahrenheit). I did this and I just made eggs from eggbeaters without any oil which always used to stick in my nonstick Teflon pan, but very little stuck in my seasoned cast iron pan.The downsides are that the handle can get hot when it is left on the stove for long period of time and that you cannot stick the pan into the dishwasher (and I tried....it will come out a little bit rustier-but the little rust does come off very easily). The sizes are also a little bit on the smaller side for me. So I think I will buy one more in a larger size.The upsides are price, no chemicals (except for some iron) in your food, easy to care for, and very non stick when seasoned. This is a great starter set.For the price I paid for these three skillets - less for the set than I paid for my single 12" skillet, a year ago - I expected skillets which needed rust removal and a heavy cleaning. I was pleasantly surprised when they arrived, to open the carton and see what appeared to be near-new items; one each 10", 8" and 6" skillets. (Heck, after one uses a new skillet once - it's a used skillet - but these appeared like new.) Just to be sure, I seasoned them with a bit of lard in a 550° oven for an hour, turned off the heat and let them cool down overnight.No matter what I cook, they clean with a sponge and warm water (no soap!) and are ready for use again. They hold heat so well I have to learn to use lower heat settings to avoid burning the food. (Trust me, blackened, grilled ham & cheese sandwiches are NOT very appetizing.) On the plus side, they can be used in the oven as well as the rangetop so they're very versatile. I love making a no-flip omelette - start it on the range, finish it under the broiler with some cheese on it.I recommend them to anyone interested.Las compré por aquello de que los las menos dañinas para cocinar.Tenía miedo de que todo se pegara, pero no, solo hay que esperar a que esten bien calientes para empezar, cosa que no tarda nada.Solo hay que tener cuidado de no tocar los mangos sin protección ya que se calientan y secarlas después de lavarlas.Son pequeñas asi que si alguien cocina grandes porciones no lo recomendaria.Es mi primer acercamiento a los sartenes de hierro fundido y son una maravilla, mientras sigas las instrucciones de uso no tendrás problemas, ya vienen listos para usar pero se recomienda dar otra “curada” (season)Pans are pre-seasoned BUT they need additional work and seasoning ... also they need less heat than conventional pansalready burned my first eggs cooked lesson learned ... again ... LOLNext up was BACON ... cooked slowly but still left stuff on the bottom ... washed pan with HOT water and plastic scrubber, then warmed the pan up to make sure it was completely dry and put small amount of veg oil and rubbed it in ... bottom and sides ... made sure none was left ...Very nice product. They are on the smaller side but perfect for my needs. A great product at a great price and perfect for someone who is not ready to make the commitment to the more expensive cast iron pans. Even though they are pre-seasoned I would highly recommend cleaning them upon receiving them then seasoning with oil of choice (I used coconut) and baking on, cooling and repeating at least 3 times before first use, and then once after each couple of uses.Great value for under 40 bucks when I got it. I wanted to move away from non-stick garbage dump filling pans.These have seen daily or weekly use for months and work well.Tips (for what it's worth)1 - took a grinder to the inside to smooth out the metal and made it more old-fashioned smooth2 - strip the factory seasoning and re-season with flaxseed oil (google it).