Just depends on how critical you are - a lot of people use them and like them; but a torch will always provide a much more thorough heat soak than a coil with abnormal shaped devices like slurpers. The coils are focusing on heating the dish, when you really want heat in the tower.
The Dnail universal heating station is the only thing I know of that seeks to replicate a torched hit by using radiant heat.
I was working on a more accessible alternative of my own design for heating slurpers recently, but not sure there's enough demand to bother finishing the project.