Product review (5 stars): YOU WILL BE PLEASED WITH THIS UNIT FOR THE PRICE
very pleased with this affordable compact ice maker.  While I saved money being forced to choose the color "RED" that was totally cool because it just so happens all my counter accessories are red so that limitation worked out well.

The ice maker itself works great.  Makes ice very fast.  If you live in a warm climate and you are doing an initial start up I suggest you chill your water first either in a freezer or refrigerator as this will help the actual ice cubes to be true to size.  Once a couple of batches are made as the ice sits in the unit basket waiting to be used the melting ice keeps the reservoir holding tank of water chilled so that future batches are produced at normal size cubes.

I suggest that you only keep the unit plugged in and in working mode only if you are going to keep using the ice continually.  If you need ice on rare occasion, keeping the unit in off mode will preserve longevity of unit. (This is just a suggestion), I have not owned the unit for a long period of time to know if wear and tear would result from keeping the unit constantly on.  This is just a cautious observation and opinion I give.

This unit has not been designed for commercial use, but will definitely make enough ice for a party and guest get together if you need fast repetitive ice quantity for beverages.  The unit really does make repetitive quantities of ice in the time frame outlined in the owners manual. (Each new batch in about 8 to 13 min.)  If the ice basket gets full before you use several batches that are produced, the unit will stop making ice so as not to cause a back up.

I suggest that if you are going to stop using the device for any given time, to empty the water reservoir and do not allow standing water for long periods of time to prevent the opportunity of mold/mildew smell from forming.

Overall I am very pleased with the unit and for the price I do not think you can go wrong.  The motor and fan are very quiet and the only sound you will really hear that is somewhat loud is the actual ice dropping into the basket between cycles.