I have always owned and ice cream freezer, and this is by far and away the very best one ever! It makes soft serve ice cream in less than 30 minutes, no rock salt or ice is needed, you make it on your kitchen counter, and virtually no mess! I should have gotten one of these years ago. I was always afraid it wouldn't freeze the ice cream hard enough, but I was wrong. It's perfect for serving when it's done, and you can always set it in the freezer for a few minutes to really firm it up if you want to. We like it best right out of the machine when it's done. All of my old favorite recipes work great, and the size of this is perfect because my other machine made so much that we could never eat it fast enough, and I didn't up throwing it away. I love this machine!