Product review (3 stars): It works like a champ, when it works, so only 3stars
After looking at portable units for clear ice, I finally crossed my fingers and ordered this unit based on plenty of reviews and the fact that they're all made in china....

Clean it thoroughly, and run plenty of ice before you make ice you're going to actually use.  It has a strong 'made in china chemical smell' when you first unbox it.  Reminds me of the little made in china dremel I got one year that actually stated you should wash your hands after handling it due to chemicals used in manufacturing....  When I say clean thoroughly, I mean getting your hands inside the water receptical to wipe it all out, etc.  Q-tips worked for cleaning the freezing grid.  Then make ice constantly for a day, I didn't run soapy water through the plumbing, by the second day it was fine to put in a drink.

The pros:  It makes clear ice, which looks great in your drink!  (this is from water from the tap through a brita filter).  For bigger cubes, hold down the power button and count to 10 when you turn it on.  When it gets going , it drops a waffle of ice every 15 to 20 minutes.  Comparing fridge ice maker ice (a new kenmore), ice from trays (brita water) and ice from the store, this ice tastes best.  Odd that it tastes better than the brita tray water, but it does....

It also cranks out the ice fast enough that it's easy to make enough ice for two days in a evening (we go through ALOT of ice).  I havn't done the math to see if it makes 28 pounds/day, I could care less if it meets the families requirements.  Another thing that's nice is that the cubes are small enough to go into the ice maker bin in the door of the fridge and pass through the door dispenser, so clear ice from the freezer door.  Very convenient and no wasted space by a sub-par freezer ice maker.  The spare ice is in a bin to refill the door hopper as needed.  Since it's not refridgerated, the ice bin is basically a cooler,  let it make a couple waffles of ice, then remove the ice above those as it drops.  This keeps the interior colder, and helps the ice form faster (the 'large cube' setting has the unit make ice 3minutes longer than 'small cube')

The not so pros:  It's loud.  Not jet engine loud, but you'll notice when it shuts off.  It throws a bit of heat.  Not much surprise there, just be ready in the summer.  It's large... Measure it out and make a form from a carbord box or something to see how it will dominate your countertop.  Luckily we had space right next to the sink for it...  It's portable yes, but it's heavy and bulky, so near the sink so you can drain it easily is best if you can fit it in.  The ice cubes are wet and they will freeze into a solid pile of cubes in your freezer, have a ice pick or mallet handy lol.  This isn't a fault of this unit, all these ice makers work that way, it's unavoidable.  Stainless steel finish shows water spots and fingerprints like nothing I've seen before...

The cons:  First of all, Amazon sold out of these and I bought from Brookstone (via Amazon) since I didn't want to wait for Amazon to restock (yeah hindsight is 20/20 right?)  Why is this a con?  Because the unit stopped working a month and a half after we got it, and it cost 65$, yeah SIXTY FIVE dollars to ship it back to brookstone for an exchange.  I'm never buying anything from Brookstone again.  Ever.  Never going to go to the local ups-store again either...

But as I said, it stopped working a month an a half after we got it.  It ran like a champ every other day until the 'add water' light came on and nothing else.  Power cycle, everything in the tiny manual it comes with, no noise, no tripping of some internal switch (you hear a loud click when it starts, or you should).  Since I could exchange it, I did, or I'd go at it with a hammer and pliers to see what was going on inside...

It was missing the left front foot.  Not a big deal?  It showed how well it was manufactured.  The foot didn't come off, it was never installed.  The feet are held on by screws, and you could see the starter hole in the metal where no screw had ever been...

The ice scoop they include is tiny, and the only thing it's really good for is scooping a little bit of dry cat food.  It's that flimsy.

The controls on the unit are pretty spartan...  Yeah you can use one circuit board for multiple functions etc, but it's just cheap...  Your two controls are the power cord, and a button to turn it on and off, and holding the button for a 10count to have it go to 'big ice mode' is just asking for trouble down the road....

The 'filters' (there's two, one in the water receptical and one in the bottom of the ice bin) will filter anything larger than a milimeter.  That's not a filter in my book, that's a grate. And, there's a sticker on it that says that distilled water is not recommended.  Um... Why?  Misprint or it would foil thier mtbf?  I'm not into fluid mechanics but I can't think of a reason why distilled water woudn't be good for a ice maker...

And the "I can't say if this is a pro or a con":  The new unit arrived, and the Stainless finish on the housing looks brighter than the other unit, it has all four feet, and it's working.  I also noticed a little sensor tip in the bottom of the ice bin in the drain depression.  I honestly can't recall if there was such a thing in the returned unit or not, but on the new unit, there is less water sitting at the bottom of the ice bin.  The old unit would release water and fill the cooler to the bottom of the ice tray (maybe a inch or more of water).  The new unit, there's half an inch or less of water in the bottom of the cooler.  Is this a 'new' unit, and the first unit a 'several years old' unit dusted off for the Christmas buying season?  I don't know, but I'll update this review if the new unit stops working.

If it hadn't stopped working, I'd have given the first unit a 4star rating (missing a foot is just too careless to warrant 5stars no matter how good the ice tastes).  If I'd gotten a unit that looks as good as the second unit and it didn't stop working, I'd give this a 5star rating.  It works great when it works, and the ice is the best tasting ice we've had.