Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I recently replaced our bullet icemaker that failed after about a year of steady use, with this machine, and I am quite happy with the change. PROS: The new ice is clear, lasts much longer than the bullet ice, and has a higher capacity for both ice and water. The icemaking cycle is fairly quick and you can adjust the time in 1 minute increments either longer (for thicker ice), or shorter (for smaller cubes). I set mine for -2 minutes which give perfectly acceptable square cubes with slight indentations. This ice is much better than bullet ice. Scooping the ice out is fairly easy because of the wide opening when you lift the lid, and the separate water reservoir makes filling easier than the old bullet machine. CONS: The one significant negative is that the shutoff mechanism for detecting when the bucket is full of ice doesnt always work and this leads to a thick slab of ice getting stuck in the freezing tray. When this happens you have to manually activate the tray heating/release (hold the on/off button down for 5 seconds) and, sometimes if the ice is too thick, actually pry it out of the freezing tray. This happens frequently enough to be annoying (a couple of times a week with continuous use) but I still recommend the machine. The old bullet icemaker used a photodiode to detect a full bucket which worked reasonably well. This machine uses a mechanical system with ice falling out of the tray onto a little paddle switch in front of the tray, depressing it, and staying there (which happens if the bucket is full and the ice cant fall into it). But a piece of ice can easily get stuck under the paddle and then the system doesnt work and it just keeps trying to make ice - not great engineering. Some of the reviews mentioned noise, but it hasnt been a problem for me. ACCESSORIES: Because the ice generally comes out of the tray with the cubes connected, you should get a heavier scoop to break it up (especially the thick slabs that form when the shutoff doesnt work). The machine comes with a little plastic one but you'll probably want/need something better. I got this one and am pretty happy with it. LIANYU Ice Scoop, Stainless Steel Ice Scooper, Food Candy Popcorn Sugar Scoop, Flat Bottom, Heavy Duty, Mirror Finish - 8 Oz SUMMARY: So the quick summary is, great ice, good capacity, fairly fast, but bad ice-full detection. I'll update on reliability and cleaning when I've had it longer.