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- Verified Buyer
This will be our 3rd ice maker, and 2nd identical one. The first time we bought this ice maker was 12/29/17; the day our daughter's entire softball team was coming to spend the night, and the exact day our other ice maker decided to die. Now May 31, 2019 this one stopped working. TBH, I considered ordering a part and fixing it myself, because it seems to be the pump that stopped working, but given the cost and the time to order a part, replace it and hope I diagnosed it correctly, I've decided to replace the entire thing since we use it nonstop and 2 years seems to be the average life span of one of these machines. I hate to waste time and money, but in the end it seems worth the $200 to have a new one.Our daughter plays travel softball on a competitive team, and she's a pitcher, so we use A LOT of ice. It runs continuously, and has since we got it. I love the self clean feature, although be aware that you still need to manually clean the water tray, and it's still a pain to access. I've found the best way is to use a flexible bottle/ straw cleaning brush to get behind the freezing rods, and a water bottle like they use for football teams (you know, the kind that can be squeezed to spray a stream of water through an angled straw). I put a monthly cleaning reminder on my calendar. It takes about 30 minutes: run the self clean cycle (1:1 vinegar: water solution, so no need to buy the ice machine cleaners you'll see advertised), wipe it out, clean the water tray, drain the water and run it through a quick ice cycle (you have to discard the first couple of batches of ice).As you should expect with a large capacity ice maker, this has a significant footprint, so instead of taking counter space, we bought a low table that sits on the floor next to our fridge and put the ice maker on it. The drain plug is on the left side, so it works perfectly for easy access. We use an extension cord that is plugged into the outlet behind our fridge because periodically, you will need to unplug it for a couple of minutes to reset it (like if the power goes out in a storm). Trust me, it saves frustration when you don't have to move the fridge to unplug it!Because we use this continuously, I've extensively researched and tried to find a better ice maker. As soon as I finish this review, I will be buying this exact model again, and here's why:- Self-cleaning feature (most portable ice makers don't have it)- 3 ice sizes (we use the small one most often because it cranks it out quickly, though for tournament days we make the large size because it doesn't seem to melt as quickly). This is another feature that's surprisingly uncommon.- Side drain hole allows easy accessHere are the reasons I tried to find a better option:- Spending $200 every 2 years isn't ideal. However, for the price point, it's hard to find a capacity larger than 24lb/day without making the jump to a commercial ice maker that has to be directly plumbed.- Bullet ice isn't my favorite. As awesome as it would be to make the nugget (aka "Sonic" ice) at home, those machines cost twice as much and make half the ice per day. Considering that we use this ice for water bottles/ ice packs for shoulders every day, the slower melting bullet ice makes the most sense for us. Unlike square cubes, the smallest bullet size will fit into water bottles, even ones with smaller openings.- It's not exactly quiet. The sound of the water pump and especially the ice dropping onto the platform after being frozen and then dumped into the ice bucket is loud. It's actually not any louder than the other portable ice machine we had, and you do get used to it. However, you may want to consider placing it in a room with a door and away from bedrooms if you have light sleepers.- You need to get into the habit of taking a few minutes every morning to refill the water if you use it continuously.Although my family teases me about the bright red color, I like it and it's frankly not worth $30 to get a stainless silver one that may or may not match our other appliances anyway. We've been without this for about a week while I researched repair/ replacement options, and we miss it! If you entertain or have athletes in your family, it's worth the expense. Our fridge does a great job making ice, and we store the extra in the freezer every night, but it still can't keep up with our need. $200-$210 does seem expensive for an ice maker (and the price has gone up about $30 in 2 years), but it's still cheaper than buying ice all the time. During the summer, I fill ziploc bags with ice a few days before a tournament so we will have plenty, and we still never run out because it literally makes ice every 8-10 minutes if the bucket isn't full.Don't let my 4 star rating fool you- I think this is the best option available. If there was a way to remove the water tray and have easier access to clean it, I would give it a full 5 star rating.We purchased this unit for home use. It is replacing a name brand unit that only lasted 2 months past its warranty. The previous one was 9 cubes in 7 min vs this one being 12 in 7 min. It holds an entire gallon of water. It was MUCH larger than I was expecting. I should have actually measured where it was to go instead of relying on memory from the previous purchase. But, we just moved stuff around to make it fit. (Would NOT fit under a cabinet.) After reading the reviews, was slightly concerned about noise. But, except for when it drops the ice into the bin...super quiet. The large bullet cubes are LARGE! They are nice ones, however, that you can chew if you want. Not super hard. It does make a LOT of ice in a day! You could easily bag some up for a cooler or whatever if you wanted.We were very impressed with the packaging. It was packed well, extra corner protectors, etc.So, as I said...So far, so good! Will update if anything changes!Works as advertised. The cubes are smaller then average and have a hollow middle but they work. I’m happy with purchase.The first one I got was no hood never worked but I. A few day a new one came sent old one back and rocking since!The rental house I am in doesn't have an ice maker in the refrigerator. It was the best choice out of all the rentals I looked at the last time I moved and since I don't use ice every day, I decided it was something I could easily live without.I started out using bags of ice from the store, which works OK. Then I decided that it would be nice to have an icemaker in the house, so I looked at portable ice makers. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to run a water line to where the refrigerator is and really don't want to go to that much trouble since I do rent this house. A portable ice maker is easy to set up and can go with me when I move.Having had an excellent experience with the Like the ice choices, like the quantity, all good. It is a bit noisy. Glad it is far from bedrooms, but can hear in the kitchen over the TV often.This is an easy push-button program for different sizes of ice. Ice for drinks in 5-6 minutes. I have it in my office. I like cold drinks. I use it daily without any problems. Of course, the ice melts over a few hours If not used. That's ok because it drains into the same collection as the new water used to fill up the reservoir. I would recommend it.Worth the money .Beaucoup plus gros que je pensais. La glace colle entre elles mais bon un petit coup et up séparé. Nous sommes trois qui consomme beaucoup glace et en 5 mois nous sommes entrés dans notre argent à l’achat de celle-ci. Je croque toujours mes glace et elle est tendre pas dure comme de la roche c’est parfait pour moi.This thing is a little bigger and heavier but so fast at making ice. I previously had the small RCA/Danby unit which was priced very economically but this one... quiet and making 50LBS of ice a day.... and so fast.... 3 different ice sizes... OH YEAH. The price shortly afterwards dropped by $76 to $299 .... sometimes you just miss the breaks but again, works great. Well, after 13 months, the ice maker died. Non-repairable, luckily I had bought the Canopy Insurance (Asurion) that covers an additional 3 years after manufacturer's warranty expires. Canopy refunded me price of ice maker with taxes included in full. Now the price is about $475.00 and it is not a Prime product anymore and there are shipping costs... sheesh.UPDATE: This unit stopped working after 13 months. Warning light blinking for 20 seconds. Manual says internal sensor needs to be replaced. Luckily I had bought the extended insurance (extra 3 years coverage) and was informed where to take my unit to, to get fixed. Technicians deemed not fixable as there was a leak in the tank and in the compressor so it was unfixable. Insurance reimbursed me full price including taxes. When mechanical and electronics run in tandem, always wise to buy insurance.It came so well packaged. When we opened it , it had a scratch on the red top. We were very disappointed as it’s such a nice looking machine. I called and spoke with a manager and they were very understanding and gave us a credit back towards it. The unit is for our coach and works just great. I had previously purchased a 26# ice maker at Canadian tire. When I saw this 50# I returned the small one. Very happy I did. I recommend this ice maker!Bought for the cottage. Produces lots of ice over a short period of time. Very convenient and can put away in the winter. Works as well as my ice maker on my refrigerator at home. One 6 litre bottle of water fills the ice basket.Excellent produit.Un peu bruyant.
