Product review (5 stars): It's worth the work!
Great for my needs! I eat ice. A LOT of ice! This machine is great, but I have some tips to make your experience easier. Bear with me here, it's worth the work.
1 - You will need 2 ice bins for your freezer. 1 for the fresh ice and one for the hard frozen ice. The fresh ice comes out wet and porous and soft. (perfect for eating!)
2 - Put refrigerated water, or even ice water in the machine. The first batch will come out MUCH better the colder the water is!
3 - Stir the fresh ice into some already hard frozen ice until it dries and turns white. Dump half of it in your other ice bin. Keep doing this with each batch or two. This will prevent you from having one big "ice cake" that's a real pain to deal with!
4 - ALWAYS drain and rinse your machine after you use it, and leave the lid propped open. This will keep your machine ice and fresh.

I'm so so happy with this purchase!