Product review (5 stars): A Hesitant Five Stars
I was gifted this ice maker for Christmas off my wishlist. I'm pleased to report it is day one and currently it is making ice cubes as prescribed, minus a hiccup where it kept demanding more water despite having a full tank (we'll get to that).

First, bear with me on my rationale for getting this: It doesn't need to be attached to a giant fridge. This is convenient for me because every time I've ever lived with one of those fridge-door ice makers it breaks and becomes a ridiculous nuisance to have fixed. Honestly, I wanted this  because I am willing to drop $100-$200 vs. paying for bagged ice or a fridge repair man at a ridiculous hourly rate. If it survives a year or two I will be elated. If not, I'll be back to update this because this product is expensive compared to others and doesn't quite tow the line for that worth in some ways. The only reason I got this was because Ivation has some decent products I have really loved. Otherwise this would have not been on my wishlist at all.

The ice maker itself is rather big. It's heavy and the idea that it's portable is ... cute but not entirely practical. Yes, if you are determined it'll go with you wherever but, I mean, it's not meant to be lugged, nor is it a rugged sort of traveling thing. It's just an ice maker. It's heavy. But it's a luxury item. If you need to take it up to your second home or something it'll be fine but if you need camping portable this is not your item.

Does it make Ice? That it does! It currently just dumped another bunch of cubes in the tray as I'm typing this.

Is it loud? Yes but I'm not mad at it. My life is loud so how much I want to be angry at this thing for being a bit rattly is up for debate. It sounds like a bit of an angry, cheap but tiny freezer. It's churning out ice cubes loudly. I'm not sure I'd pay more for a 'stealth moded' ice maker anyway. Regardless, it does prattle and rattle, I'm just immune. I live in a house full of pellet stoves, fans, and roaring toddlers. If you live in a house with a tiny kitchen, plan on sleeping next to it, or otherwise cannot tolerate some interrupting hums/rattles/fan-noises and the sound of falling ice, do not purchase this item. It's doing its job of making ice, fast, and that job is just a bit noisy so I'll overlook it. (But, yeah, it's noisy)

The biggest ding I'm going to give it right at the moment is that there is no warranty. I repeat -- there is no freakin' warranty. For nearly $200 this thing should have a warranty but it does not. It has a distribution address for a company called C&A marketing out of New Jersey. This is what sort of makes me really irritated with this product but I own several other Ivation products that have served me really-really-REALLY well. That's an apples to oranges comparison, I know, but I'm rationalizing they aren't selling complete junk this way. It wound up preferred over the other ice makers out there simply because I know the Ivation name and have begun to like their products a bit.

The scariest thing about this machine is its got a bit of a habit. That habit is alarming. Now, it's not buzzing nonstop or anything ridiculous, but I'm giving it the side eye a bit here because it seems to get angry. The add water feature sometimes won't stop asking for more water when it is obviously and clearly full. How did I combat this? Well, I read the slim direction pamphlet, attempted to remedy it by pushing the star power button. When that didn't immediately work my husband just unplugged it and plugged it back it, then turned it on and it started making ice again with no further qualms. My advice is DO NOT over fill it. If it's asking for more water and it hasn't reset despite having a full tank there may be other issues afoot. It does need some kind of reset after it cues for more water -- that cue (to reset) is to push the star button as the instructions say. If that doesn't respond, unplug, then plug it back in and attempt to start over from scratch (leaving the tank full, of course, but never over filling it)

If the problem crops up again we're going to have a customer to product pow-wow and I will be in touch with Ivation (for what little that looks like its worth). I will also update here if things change.

So far I have been happy with this little ice maker, but it's only been 24 hours. We have a long year or two that I'd like to get through before this five star review is set in stone (I figure it's equipment so it will, ultimately, fail but how long and to what end will matter if its worth the price-tag in the scheme of things).

UPDATE 2/9/2017 -- It's been over TWO YEARS and the ice maker is still heavy, large, noisy, and makin' ice! I have to say I absolutely love having ice on demand. It's gone down in price since I wrote this review and, overall, I love this freakin' thing. It also has not repeated the little water request issue I first had with it. It just... makes ice. Which means the five-star review stays. I should note, this ice-queen has been put through her paces at a pretty constant rate and tolerates that well enough -- daily operation for hours at a time. She's almost always on -- ice is constantly being churned out until the thing fills and it triggers the ice is full via the internal thermometer. It sometimes does get an ice cube stuck on the thermometer which turns itself off prematurely and other times it makes ice too fast and in too much quantity and it jams -- but we forgive it for tiny faults and my somewhat lazy ownership skills. It has survived us and been worth it to me since I don't ever need to fill ice trays anymore. Worth it? Yes. I believe so.

I will update when she finally goes to that big appliance place in the sky -- but so far, so good.