Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

***Update*** March 27, 2020...still working fantastic with nearly TEN years of consistent usage! Cheers! Just made Coronavirus-popcorn last night...may God have mercy on our world. Praying for all of us! We bought this because we were tired of trying to make popcorn using a hot air popper, and we'll never go back. We always found it exceptionally difficult to get the butter mixed in afterwards, and we had a mess combined with our poorly buttered popcorn. Now my wife consistently says this popper makes perfect popcorn every time. Enter the Great Northern SS stovetop popper...we wanted Stainless Steel to avoid issues with aluminum (which is at least theoretically tied into Alzheimer's/dementia issues) so we paid more to get the stainless version. This works really awesome....we just put two tablespoons of coconut oil in, then we place 2-3 kernels of corn in to use as an indicator of when the pot is good and hot. Once they pop, we know the pan is hot, so I add 1 tablespoon of butter, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and then 1/2 cup of kernels. Stir for 2-3 minutes, and you've got a beautifully toasted popcorn with the oil/butter/salt mixture beautifully congealed and evenly distributed, and nothing is burnt. Repeat if desired! Excellent product for the price...steer clear of some other companies...several others have plastic gears, which sounds just plain cheap to me. The gears on this unit are metal, and work outstandingly well. In addition, this unit is almost 1/2 the price of other similar stainless steel units, and gave me no issues, whereas if you read the reviews on the other units, you'll see that some of them have major issues. I highly recommend getting your popping corn from Amazon, and buying organic. See http://smile.amazon.com/Arrowhead-Mills-Organic-28-Ounce-Packages/dp/B0036Z3ULM -----This price buys you SIX 1.75 pound bags of corn....this is LESS than you'll pay most places for "standard" corn. If you don't know, nearly 90% of corn in the US has been genetically modified (GMO), and there is research indicating that this is less than ideal to say the least. Organic foods CANNOT be GMO by federal law. So you get to buy corn that is free of persistent pesticides, is GMO free AND it's less than you'd pay to get the tainted stuff anyways! I might also suggest that you get the book "101 Things to do with Popcorn" at http://smile.amazon.com/101-Things-Popcorn-Christina-Dymock/dp/1423606892 and please note that there is a Kindle version for less money, which is what I bought. Happy popping, and cheers!