Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I got this as a gift and I have already gone through 3 different kits for more than a year now: The first kit I had was the gourmet herb kit they provided in the box. This is simply an amazing collection of herbs. I usually put basil in my pasta sauce, thyme in my rice, and chives/parsley in some sort of soup I make and the flavor is greatly enhanced in everything! At first, I had problems with the chives because it did not sprout at all (grew some mold). But Aerogarden immediately sent me a replacement chives seed pod, no questions asked! Out of all the herbs though, basil seemed to be the best because it grew VERY quickly and I often used the leaves weekly for my meals without worrying about its state. The second kit I had were salad greens, and the kit I am currently using is cherry tomato. Overall, I had great results in every kit I used. UPDATE (4/17/2011): I'm still currently using a tomato kit, that only came with 1 seed pod, but it's going great! There's a really important trick that I discovered! They say in the directions that multiple seedlings will germinate, but we should cut off all but 1 sprout. I, however, decided to plant the rest of the seedlings into separate pots, and I now have a total of 4 individual tomato plants! I do recommend that you only leave one tomato plant in the aerogarden because it will grow extremely large. For a while, I tried leaving two seed pods in the same pot, but they simply grew too large and I eventually had to remove it. What's even greater is that we can grow more by taking off the suckers (look it up) that grow in between the stems and planting these. They are essentially clones of the "mother" plant and will completely form a new tomato plant when placed in soil and well watered for several days! However, the Aerogarden is certainly not for everyone. Here is a brief summary of pros/cons: Pros: 1) Very easy to use. An indicator light will flash when you need to add nutrient tablets (provided in the seed kit) and when you need to replace the water. 2) The instructions on many seed kits state that they only last for 4-6 months, I have noticed that it is actually quite longer if you take better care of it. 3) Gourmet herb kit contains plentiful amounts of each herb, especially the basil. 4) You can also manually keep the light on/off. I tend to keep the light on during the night so it acts as a night light for me. Then during the day, the light will turn off and it will receive sunlight from the window. Cons: 1) Water indicator light is not very reliable. It will often turn on when the water level is so low that it has already had adverse effects on the plants. Therefore, you must check the water level regularly. I highly urge you not to purchase this product if you leave for long periods of time. i have noticed the water level will go down by half just after 2 days. Leaving the plants without water will harm them and the air pump! 2) Maintaining the garden itself is very time consuming (you get out what you put in). You must regularly prune the plants, otherwise the plants will grow too tall and wide, which will cause crowding of the plants to occur. 3) It is best that you do not mix certain seed kits as the nutrient tablets are specific for certain plants. 4) The Aerogarden is connected to a socket 24/7, meaning it is continually draining energy from you. (However, it is an energy star product)