"them into turning.

yes, with abysmally uneven cooking as the result. "

Some of them weren't all that bad. Chernobyl wasn't bad, and the one at the shop wasn't bad, but then those were not $ 59 specials either. They were BIG.

"Of course it still doesn't counter the tendency for things to be boiling on the outside & ice in the centre. "

Yup, people think they cook from the inside out but that is an old Husband's tale. They heat the water in the food.

And there are no power levels, the supposed power levels are just duty cycle turning the magnetron on and off. (I wonder if it accelerates cathode stripping) I only saw one microwave with 2 actual power levels and it was ancient. It actually had an extra tap on the primary of the power transformer to cut the voltage. I don't remember but I assume it would have to have a separate filament transformer, but back when they were willing to put more than ten bucks into a $ 300 item we got things like that.