Product review (4 stars): Mixed blessing, but so far, so good
I looked at probably 20 portable ice makers before choosing this one.
Price was a factor, but so was customer input from reviews. It seemed like many of the other models were the exact same machine with a different company label stuck on them, and their reviews were so varied, it seemed like you either got a lemon or a good one.

Also, all the others opened at the top and vented on the side. For some reason, I thought this one would work better in our area, with the drawer pulling out at the front, and I THOUGHT the vent would be at the side like all the other machines.

My purpose in buying this is not for a bar or camper, like many people. I am partially disabled, and can't get downstairs to the kitchen on any sort of regular basis. I really wanted to be able to have ice when I wanted some, especially with the heat of summer rolling in very, very soon. I don't like room temperature drinks, esp water or tea, so I'd found myself drinking Pepsi almost exclusively, the only thing I could stand at room temp. That needed to stop!

So, I ended up buying this one, but the experience was not a pleasant one. I love my Amazon prime dearly, but they really botched this one. The shipping dates got moved around even after I paid extra for one-day shipping, and ended up with this being delivered on a totally different day, when I was the only one home and could not come to the door. (Note that Amazon did end up giving me a small credit on my acct to try to make up for the shipping problem, even though it did not solve my problem.) I always chat with the UPS guys through the upstairs window, so they left it for me anyway. I knew my son would be home very shortly after, and he was. He brought the box up, and I have to say that I am almost positive I got a customer return. The box looked like it had previous shipping labels peeled off of it. The box was beat up, torn, and had a crushed in spot on the side. Our UPS guys are really great, so I think it was shipped out from Day One looking like that - who in the warehouses think customers really want something that looks that bad?! (And yes, I know this is a product review section, and I can file shipping problems elsewhere, and I will. Just giving folks a heads-up of how it is shipped and what I received.) This is shipped in its original mfg box with tie cords on it, there is no other packaging other than what the mfg sends it out with - no Amazon packaging whatsoever. Strike One.

I opened the box, not sure of what I would find. It only has two big strips of styrofoam on the sides to hold it.
Ours indeed had a dent in the side, and one of the back exhaust fans had cracked plastic. Not a crisis, but at this price, I really do expect a brand new item in great condition! Strike Two.

SMELLS/TASTE: I read a lot of reviews that talk about the plastic smell and/or taste in the cubes, and how it didn't seem to want to fire up well. IF someone reads the directions (not everyone likes to do that!), you'd see it says to make sure the machine sits for at least an hour to allow the coolant to properly settle back into place after you unpack it. This particular model also says to run a bleach solution through it to help clean it. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT!! The machine indeed smells heavily of plastic. Anyone who has had a relay switch burn out on an item knows what smell I am talking about - sort of like melting plastic. Ugh. However, having read plenty about portable ice makers before buying one, I knew that either vinegar or lemon juice would also work just fine. I chose to go with one that was ingestible, rather than bleach!! We did the lemon juice, and ran an entire cycle of cubes through it with the lemon/water. (Toss the ice please!) I then ran two loads (all the cubes a full water tank would make) through it of plain water. AFTER those cycles, I wiped it out again and ran regular water through it to try making cubes we'd use. We had no problems at all with any funny tastes in our ice this way. If you have a bad quality of tap water though, I'd suggest using either bottled, filtered or distilled water. It is only natural that your cubes will not taste better than your tap water. Ours is okay, so we're good that way. I would have bought a water filter (like a Brita) if that had not been the case. No lemony taste, no plastic taste, no gross tastes or odors at all. (Remember, I really do NOT recommend using bleach like the mfg suggests. While I understand the germ-killing properties of the bleach, I really don't want to ingest any of it. I would also think it would be much more caustic to the plastic parts and hoses of the machine, wearing them out sooner. Stick with lemon juice.) It did smell like plastic out the exhaust fan for quite a while, but it is fading away.

NOISE: Of course it is going to make noise. This has a compressor, and it will be making some noise. However, I've found that at its noisiest part of the cycle, it is no different than a microwave oven running, sometimes a little quieter. The ice cubes dumping make me jump a little bit, at least at first, but then again I am easily startled. Made the cats jump too! LOL! However, they are pretty much used to it now, even if they eyeball it suspiciously while it is running.

I have to say that I haven't stopped to time an actual cycle to make the ice. I've tried the small, medium and large cubes though. They are all gumdrop-shaped (or like the Dots candy at the movies), with a hole in the middle of the bottom. It didn't seem to take very long though. The small ones were a little too small for my uses, but would be good for smaller drink glasses. I use a&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Bubba-Brands-Keg-52-Oz-Mug-Slate-Gray/dp/B003X46LHG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Bubba Brands Keg 52 Oz Mug Slate Gray</a>&nbsp;to hold the ice at the moment, and love it. If you use the medium size, you can get the first batch in around 10 minutes, but the other batches do seem to take longer for some reason. It has also seemed to get "stuck" where it runs and runs, with nothing going on. I turn it off, let it sit a minute and push start again, and off it goes. I am not sure if it is just my machine with the dents from rough handling, or if all of this model is like that.

I was disappointed that this unit does not exhaust on the side, reason being where I planned to locate it, on a table behind my bed! It would vent towards my pillow, which is just not gonna happen. So, I have it turned sideways so it will vent towards the doorway. It makes opening the ice drawer more awkward, and makes me wish I'd tried one of the top-opening models now. There wasn't anything in the photos and such to suggest that this unit would be different than most of the other portable ice makers. It is. I'll post photos at a later date.

This model's book also suggests plugging the machine in to a GFI outlet, or grounded plug that will shut off if it senses dampness. I don't have one in the bedroom, and currently am using a heavy-duty, three-prong extension cord and plugging it in in the bathroom, where we do have a GFI plug. Not ideal, but better than trying to get a special outlet installed in a rented bedroom.

The scoop is VERY tiny. It works best to scoop towards you, so you don't send ice cubes back into the machine.
The measuring cup works well for pouring, because you have a small reservoir to fill, and you have to go over a small clear rubber "wall" that helps to hold the drawer in place and hold temperatures.

Any unused ice does indeed melt back into the reservoir and is recycled back into cubes. Once I have enough ice for anyone who wants it, I turn it off rather than let it continually cycle. I also unplug it in the evenings when I go to bed for the night, since I'm the only one who can't go downstairs for ice if they want it. I hope that saves on the "vampire electricity" of the unit. Note that this is not a refrigerated ice maker, and the unused ice WILL melt. Many people complained about ice cubes stuck together - I've only experienced that when getting ice that has been done for an hour or so (it keeps the ice for at least an hour after the last cycle at this point) - otherwise, the cubes are all loose and easy to use. If you try to take the ice drawer all the way out after leaving the ice sit for a while, it WILL leak water on you - the water is simply the ice melting back and going through the drain holes that let it run back into the reservoir. (Nope - I didn't even think about the drainage holes when I pulled the drawer out the first time, and had water on the table and the floor. That was my fault though.)

For now, I am mostly happy with it. I cannot tell you how nice it is to have ice when I want it, instead of waiting for someone to get home in the evening and get me some! It was an expensive luxury though, and one I really thought long and hard about getting since I can no longer work. I'm thinking I really want to keep it. The cosmetic issues were VERY annoying, since I paid for a new machine, not a used one, but in this case, I blame Amazon for sending this out with a crushed box from the get-go. I would not have accepted it, had I been able to get to the door and saw it. Again - for some reason, this was the most problematic purchase I've ever had in all my time on Amazon.

This machine has not reached Strike Three yet, but you can be sure I'll come back and update my review should that happen. For now, I'll keep running it, and see how it seems to work, dents, cracked exhaust grid and all. (The dents are even more annoying, because it has a stainless steel appearance. It shows readily. It was more of a hassle to return it than to just keep it, as long as it continues to work.)

UPDATE June 29, 2012:
Well, I've had this machine for a little over a month now. Is it perfect? Nope. Does it make ice?
Yep. Does it make a little noise?  Yep, but not unbearable.
So far, the broken parts do not seem to be affecting the basic function of the machine.
While I still have not literally timed the cube cycle (I have good intentions, but seems like there's always
something better to do than watch the clock for ice cubes to drop! Ha!), I have found the medium cubes to be the most useful. In fact, I often use an empty Sobe Lifewater bottle to make quick tea (loving the new tea from Lipton with the honey in it), and the medium cubes fit in this bottle perfectly. So, that might give folks a better idea about the size of the medium cube. The difference in the sizes are basically more (or less) layers of ice on the cubes. The small ones are still too big for a basic 16.9 oz water bottle, and melt too fast when I shake up my tea.
The first batch of the day takes around 10 minutes, but for some reason, they are skinnier than the normal mediums. The machine makes additional batches inbetween 10-15 minutes. Around 2 or 2-1/2 of the water cup it comes with to fill the reservoir to maximum. That will fill the ice bin to the top with medium cubes.

At this point, I increased my stars by one, because of the function of the machine, and it being willing to
do what I "hired" it to do - keep me in cold drinks. Strike three has not yet happened, and I hope it doesn't!
Enjoy!