Product review (3 stars): Some things are not apparent when shopping for these units ...
Some things are not apparent when shopping for these units. They make ice, they don't "keep" it. The ice is put into a hopper after it is made and the hopper is not refrigerated. If you want to keep the ice you have to put it into a separate freezer. If you have guests and are using the ice as it is made this is not necessary. If you do not remove the ice to a freezer or use it, it will melt. It would essentially keep making the same water into ice if you don't remove it. The ice is a wet product and when you are going to put it into a freezer it helps to shake as much of the loose water off of it as possible. It is also helpful to keep breaking the ice up as you are adding more wet ice or you will end up with it stuck together. The machine makes ice at a decent pace, I just run it every few days and fill a container in the freezer.