Product review (5 stars): After two years this thing is 100% rock solid
I wanted to wait a while before giving a review. I had a different model before this one--a cheap gray thing that I got from Target--and two of them broke within 6 months. Although the mechanism on this machine is the same as that one, this thing is a battle veteran that won't quit.

I applaud NewAir for making a machine built to last. I recommend it heartily to anyone looking for an ice machine that doesn't require a plumbing hookup. I wouldn't call this "portable"--it's pretty heavy--but it will go anywhere you put it. I prefer it over those things built into freezers where your ice always tastes like freezer.

A couple tips:

1. Unless you regularly empty/change the water, the water will stagnate and the ice will start to taste funny and you may even get algae build-up. To solve this I started putting 1-2 drops of nascent iodine into the water when I fill it up. You can find nascent iodine here on Amazon. This doesn't affect the taste of the ice *at all* and may even be good for your health. Emptying the tank is somewhat unpleasant given where we have this thing situated in our kitchen, so anything to prevent that weekly ritual is worth it. I've been doing this for 3 months--haven't completely cycled the water since then--and the problem is solved for me.

2. I recommend keeping the ice setting on small ice-cubes. There is a size selector for small/medium/large cubes. The small cubes seem to optimize the recycle rate of ice/water. When the machine spits out the ice one will occasionally fall right on top of its little sensor that it uses to determine if the ice basket is empty (this is a simple temperature sensor). So the machine thinks the basket is full but it's really just one cube confusing it while the basket is mostly full of small/melted bits. Changing the setting to small reduces this for me; I think because the small ones melt faster so if one does end up on top of the sensor it melts quickly.