Product review (5 stars): NewAir AI-100R 100R portable Ice Maker
I bought this NewAir AI-100R portable Ice Maker in March 2011 as a birthday gift to my husband. He likes to drink an ice water or ice with juice all the time.
At the very first couple times of using that icemaker, I had to spill the newly made ice cylinders, because they smelled like plastic, but after that we did not have any problem with the taste of the ice. In 1 month after I bought the ices maker, we had some important family event and had to have a constant flow of the people in the apartment. For a week we had about 60-80 visiting people per day. For all that time my new Ice maker was working and making ice non-stop from 7:00 AM till 11:00 PM.  I was really glad that I was able to make enough ice for all our visitors and was proud to demonstrate them my new ice maker.  And I think that I saved so much money by making my own ice instead of buying it at the supermarket!
Ice maker was working fine every time I need some ice since I bought it (for 9 months already).
If you have guests, you just have to start making ice in advance and store fresh ice in the freezer. I use clean plastic bags to store fresh ice.  If you are expecting a large group of people, it is better to start making ice a day before the event to store enough.  Ice maker makes some noise, but it is mild and does not bother anyone.
 The freshly made ice is wet, and it sticks to each other at the freezer. I have a habit to stir ice cubes in the plastic bag to separate them from each other after it was sitting in the freezer for 15-20 min.
  At the hot summer time, when you start ice maker after it was off for certain amount of time, the 1st portion of the ice cylinders will be very wet, thin and flimsy and it is better to dump it back to the water tank. After that there is no problem.
  Minor inconvenience is that even though machine has a red light on to indicate that there is no more water at the water tank, there are always some water left at the water tank. I always must spill out unused water.  The removal of the water is done by the little pipe at the bottom of the ice maker that has covered by a metal cap (attached to the machine) and a little tiny plastic plug (unattached to anything and very easy to drop). If you will loose that tiny plug, then you will have a big problem. Better to be careful and do not drop and loose it.
  We love our ice maker and its red color adds a cheerful atmosphere to my kitchen.