Product review (4 stars): Great freezer - bad manual...
Good freezer, though I think the instructions need to be better... It seems that when the freezer is set to MAX, there is some kind of quick-freeze setting that is not mentioned in the manual. With my freezer, I set the temperature to MAX on the initial use, because it is hot out here in the desert, even in the middle of winter. The freezer refused to go below 10 degrees with about 4 gallons of water inside. In fact, it would go down to 10, then drift back up to 20, before going back to 10.

I moved the freezer, thinking it was not getting enough airflow, and it did the same thing, after testing for two days, I shut it off. The next day, I turned it back on, but only set it to medium. With a few hours, it was at 0 degrees, and by the next day it was below zero.

I think the MAX setting must runt the compressor constantly, then cycle the compressor off after a while to avoid overheating it, while the lower settings can turn the compressor on and off at will.

Again, this was not mentioned in the manual, but another brand of freezer I have has a similar setting, so I should have known. (Should be stated in the manual though.)

I did let the freezer stand for over 24 hours before using it to avoid problems from shipping, though the manual only recommends 2 hours. That seems insufficient, and I would recommend at least 24. Also, the manual states that "too much food" can cause the freezer to run inefficiently. Yes, if packed too tight to allow airflow, i think this is true, but the fuller a freezer is, the better it operates in my understanding. Later it warns against adding too much warm food at a time, which is a separate case.

In any case, the manual could use some serious improvement, but the freeze itself works great..