Short Life Span

I bought this ice cream maker on eBay, slightly used, for $20. At that price, I figured it was certainly worth a try.

Update

I will leave the remainder of my review in place, but it is now June 30 and I have used this ice cream maker less than fifteen times and today the motor started making a horrid squealing noise and is not functioning. Because I bought it used on eBay with no paperwork, other than a 30-day money-back guarantee and it has been 45 days, I am out of luck. Now it was "slightly used" when I bought it, but from the appearance of the freezer container and the housing, I still believe this to be true. I really don't think the machine wore out from tremendous use - I think it is not durable. So, I no longer recommend this brand.

This machine, like most others in this price range, has a stainless insert with freezer gel/solution in its walls. It is large enough to make one quart of ice cream at a time. You need to freeze this bowl for at least six hours (I'd say 24 hours for the average freezer) before you can make ice cream. Once the bowl is frozen, you will need to make your ice cream/sherbet/gelato/sorbet mix and let it cool, too. In other words, this is not an impulse sort of thing - you have to plan ahead.

Once you are ready to make ice cream, you plug in the machine's base, put the freezer bowl on top, drop in the mixing blade, and put the clear plastic cover on top. Turn the machine on, pour in your mix through the hole in the top, and let it run for 20 minutes or so. There are no timers or automatic shutoff switches, so you do have to pay attention.

The ice cream is going to look like soft serve when it is done, and this is true of all ice cream makers. You need to put it in the freezer for a few hours afterward to get it nice and firm.

I am pleased with the performance of this machine and the way my ice cream looks and tastes. It is very easy to clean, because the plastic top hardly gets dirty at all and the other parts just need to soak in a little warm water. The base shouldn't get dirty, either, so you can just put it away as soon as the ice cream is done.

The machine runs in both low and high speed. The high speed is more for soft serve, so I haven't tried it. As for the noise level, I would say it is fairly quiet, about the same as my dishwasher. The machine does not attempt to walk itself off of the counter while in operation - it's very stable while running.

If you are imagining making ice cream as a fun family activity for after dinner, think again. Remember, you need to plan ahead for about 24 hours, get the ice cream mix made and chilled, then make the ice cream, then put it in the freezer to let it harden off. It's really something that you do in the afternoon to have a great dessert ready for after dinner. Given that the machine is automatic, there's not much to do in the way of participation, either, so I don't think kids would be that excited about it. They'll love the end product, but perhaps not the process.

The best part about this for me is being able to experiment with sorbets and gelato, and coming up with my own unique creations. It will also cost less than buying ice cream of the same quality.

I can't say much about the durability of the machine right now because I just got it, but I would recommend this if you understand that when they say you can make ice cream in 20 minutes, that's not quite true. This is an issue with all of these machines, not just this particular brand or model, so I do not consider it to be a "con."