Product review (4 stars): Easy installation, works well, but new unit seemed dirty and greasy, used.
Our ice maker has been leaking water for the past 6 months if not more, so I knew it was needing to be changed sooner or later but I was able to deal with the icicles  and frozen small puddles of ice for - well, for until it was leaking so badly that it no longer made ice! I'm a bit lazy, plus I have enough other projects to tackle. I've changed an ice maker in a previous Whirlpool - it was 8 years old, no soft water, and a top freezer-type machine with the container also in the freezer. It's not a difficult thing to do, doesn't even take a lot of time.

Before I ordered this ice maker, I did remove the old one first (turn off the ice maker switch, first!), to see what other parts I might possibly need, to check the difficulty (very little), and to see what parts I needed to keep from the old one (don't throw anything from the old one away until the installation is complete, you WILL need a few pieces!).

The reason I gave this ice maker only 4 stars is not for it's ability to make ice, not because it was difficult to install (it wasn't at all), but because it looked like it had been used before. Aside from the hard water deposits in my old one (which is why it failed, same as my previous unit 13-14 years ago), the rest of my old unit was actually cleaner than this "new" one. It had fingerprint smudges and other marks on certain parts, the flat-ish white plastic had scratches on it, and the worst was something like a lubricating jelly on the front edge of the ice cube form, underneath the white ejection "fins" making it very difficult to wipe off, as it was smeared all along the front edge. I truly pondered sending it back - but, being Friday, then it would lead to another entire week with no ice (in Phoenix, 117 degrees outside today!) I cleaned it up best I could, I'll let it make a bucket-full and then dump it before using it. Within an hour of installation, I heard it fill with water and I've heard the first load dump already. That is a nice thing with these, is that they do make ice quickly.

My only other issue with this unit is that this was not quite exactly like my old unit. The water fill hose is a few inches long coming from the top and the water intake guide on my old unit was not very high. The new unit has a different type of water intake device - it's about 1 to 1.5" taller than the old one. The water dispensing tube isn't very flexible and I was concerned about breaking it while sliding the new ice maker in and keeping the tube bent enough for the water intake to clear the tube. I did read that some people actually cut the tube. I was able to get the unit in without cutting the tube or breaking it - but honestly, that was the biggest issue of the night. Had the unit been identical, installation would have been a snap.

Oh, as for not throwing away your old unit until the new one is in, it is because you will need the bottom tray that the motor/ice-making unit is screwed onto with the 3 screws holding it, as well as the plastic "cord protector" and screw that holds that in.

Had my new unit not looked dirty and used, I would have given this 5 stars. Considering the use our ice machine takes every day, I'm impressed that this one has lasted 10 years