West Bend Popcorn Maker - Electric Hot Air Popcorn Popper Machine for Healthy Snacks - Perfect for Movie Nights, Parties & Home Use

This review is for the West Bend 82310R Stir Crazy Deluxe. It seems sometimes reviews for several different products get mixed together, so that is why I am specifying.This unit is my third Stir Crazy popper. Well actually, only MY second, but I'm including the old school yellow-topped one that my parents had back in the day. About a year and a half ago, I purchased the West Bend 82505 Stir Crazy Popcorn Popper. It produces good results, but I am pretty careful with it as it seems quite flimsy (at least in comparison to the original one from years ago). Also, I found that I don't use it as often as I would like because I HATE trying to clean it. The base cannot be submerged in water, so you try to clean the popping basin without getting any water to leak into the base... UGH! Such a pain. So it winds up only getting cleaned about half-way and remains permanently greasy as a result. So, now I discovered the 82310R Stir Crazy Deluxe. I bought this for one reason, and that reason is that the popping tray is removable and can be thrown in the dishwasher! Hallelujah!I used it for the first time tonight and I found out a few things.1) It too feels flimsy and the way the cover fits into the popping tray and that fits onto the base is a bit clunky, but it works.2) Wear your shades when popping corn because when you shut the power switch off, the heating element stays on for a short bit (at least 5-10 seconds it would seem). If you remove the popping tray before that turns off, it will blind you! I can't understand why it continues to stay on after the switch is turned off. I may resort to pulling the plug immediately after turning the switch off from now on.3) I ended up slightly burning my popcorn for some reason. Either because of the previous bullet point, or because the unit gets a little too hot for it's own good. It seems this unit has a very fine line between popping all the kernels and burning the popped corn. I'll need to use it a few times to get the timing down a bit better, but I am certain I should be able find the right balance. A few un-popped kernels is no big deal compared to a burnt batch of popcorn.4) As advertised, I let the popping tray cool a bit and then I rinsed it and threw it in the dishwasher. SO GREAT!At this point, I'm giving this product a 4 star rating. I love the removable tray feature, but between being so flimsy, the staying on after turning the switch off bit, and a pretty steep price, I can't give it a 5.