Portable Countertop Ice Maker Machine, Automatic Icemaker with Digital Controls, Makes 26 lbs of Ice, Black

First, let's get this out of the way up front. Is this like Sonic ice? No. Does it have a highly similar mouth feel (soft crunch) when one gets to the end of their beverage? Yes. Very much. Does someone (my beautiful bride) who has access to a hospital ice machine producing "Sonic" ice find this more than acceptable for the price? Absolutely. She is tickled. I am tickled at her tickledness.Is it loud? Not to me or anyone in the family. Some might find it objectionable, but no more so than a typical drip coffee maker's bubbling sound in terms of magnitude. At the end of the ice freezing cycle, the scooping mechanism gets your attention, but it's not at all offensive. If one is expecting silence for a system capable of freezing water in 6-13 minutes, one is not being reasonable.Is it warm? A bit. The condensor fan produces some heat, but that's what has to happen for a refrigeration cycle. You're taking heat out of the water, and it has to go somewhere. Make sure you have 6" clearance on the right side of the machine from a wall. They recommend 6" on both sides and back - not an issue as we generally pull it out from under the cabinet to be able to open the ice door. A medium saucepan on a "burner" set to medium puts out FAR more heat.Ice cube formation: All timed trials were 8-11 minutes.Notable bits and pieces:1) First batch of cubes can be somewhat anemic. Probably because the water and cube freezing rods are warmest. I prefer to just dump back into the reservoir.2) Add some ice to the reservoir. By cooling the reservoir, the first batch is improved, speed is improved and melt rate is reduced.3) If you're filling a freezer bin with the output, two options:a) Do each fresh dump as it happens to minimize melt. shake basket and roll ice around to get rid of excess water.b) Wait for an entire bin to fill, shake and roll basket to all sides to remove excess water and dump into gallon bag to re-freeze. Treat it like a purchased bag of ice - break it up and dump it into the freezer bin.Note that we use R/O filtered and deionized water... essentially pure water, so your mileage may vary if your water quality is lower.

Why buy a new fridge with ice on the door when my expensive stainless steel fridge works marvelously in every other way?...This little machine takes care of all our ice needs. I don't use ice all the time but my other half does. I just turn this little guy on about an hour before he comes home and ice is ready and waiting for him when he gets here. I got it for him on his birthday when he started talking about getting a new fridge cuz he really missed the ice maker.....this little machine has stopped all thoughts of needing to buy another fridge. I get told nightly what a wonderful birthday present this was :D We have only had this for close to 3 months but it has not let us down....I even put the extra ice made in the few hours we use it daily in the freezer to accumulate some extra ice just in case we need some in a hurry. It does make a little bit of noise but no more than a fan or similar item would make and one gets used to it like any other background noise...it isn't so loud that it will bother anyone very much. It is not so heavy and it doesn't take up that much counter space...we have it in a corner near the sink (which makes it convenient when it needs water added OR when you need to drain it for any reason) and it doesn't take up any more width than say a 4 slice toaster....it is longer but not wider. I can't say if it will last a long time but I did buy the extended warranty just cuz I was not familiar with the brand. Oh, I did research the product before the purchase and it had quite a few positive reviews throughout the web....I believe it was even listed in an article about the best models of this type of ice makers. I am so happy it has made him happy and we saved all that money we did not need to waste on a new fridge....for an ice maker of all things.

I wish I could give this about 4.5 stars. We cook and drink water filtered through a Berkey water filter system. We also wanted to make ice with this filtered water and this machine works well for doing that. We can generate ice much faster with this, than using ice cube trays in the freezer.Operation - Simple. Fill with water, plug the unit in, push a button and walk away. There are two cube sizes to pick from, I have only used the smaller size option. There is a drain plug on the bottom of the machine you must remove to drain the left over water when you're finished making ice. In my opinion it is unnecessarily hard to remove. (My wife gave up trying to get it out.) Because this machine has a compressor, you want to avoid turning it upside down or on it's side to drain it. If you do, you'll want to unplug it, and let it sit upright for a long time before plugging it back in again.Speed - It drops 9 cubes about every six minutes, and a paddle scoops them into a removable basket. It takes just short of an hour for the machine to fill this basket. It takes about three of these baskets to fill a gallon ziploc bag with ice.The internal temperature of the machine is not refrigerated, so the cubes that collect in the basket are wet on the surface because they begin to slowly melt. If you transfer the ice from the basket into a freezer, all the cubes will freeze and stick together, but they are easily broken apart again.The machine has a small red LED light to notify you that the internal basket is full of ice, or that the machine needs refilled with water. An audible alarm would have been much more useful. I set a timer when I'm making ice so I don't forget to empty the machine.Pros -It does make cubes faster than filling ice cube trays. The machine does not impart any taste to the cubes, they taste just like the water you put into it.Cons- Not much really, the drain plug needs to be easier to remove, and an audible alarm to notify when the basket is full or the unit is out of water would have made this a 5 star review.I would recommend the machine for home use, and I would buy the machine again.