Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have long been a fan of "chewy ice" or as we called it where I lived in the south "Sonic ice" since only Sonic and hospitals had it. When I moved up north, I pretty much lost all places that carry this lovely ice. So, when I heard about this machine I was very interested, but man what a cost! So, upfront the build quality on this thing is amazingly good. Solid steel, clear plexiglass multi-layered to keep the cold in, spinning lights, UV lights to keep germs off, night lights... and it is BT connected too! This machine is not small nor is it light weight. This stands at about 16"(40cm) tall, which fits nicely on a counter but still under cabinets above in a standard home. It has lines in the back to make it easy and quick to empty the water out for cleaning purposes and what not as well, so they thought of everything. It also comes with a very nice little plastic catch basin for any water that falls when you open the front from condensation. Let's get the meat of this thing, what we all care about. It makes sonic ice. It is not 100% exactly like Sonic's, this is more like pellets, but it has the same mouth feel and chew of Sonic's ice. It is not clear, mostly white even with filtered water, which is to be expected on how it is made. If you want Sonic ice, this is the only thing sub $1500 that does it. Lastly the smaller ice like this easily outlasts normal cubes and the larger sphere ice by nearly a 2x margin in my "testing" (ie drinking liquor side by side) so far, and that was always how it was in the past with real Sonic ice. It spits out ice pretty quickly as well, with ice coming out within 5-10 minutes and will hold up to 3 lbs in the bin, which also lasts hours before melting. So on to some things people might be concerned about. It IS loud. It has a massive fan compared to other counter top ice makers and it is quite loud. When it is in the defrost mode it makes loud squeaking sounds, enough that my GF thought it was broken. It is about as loud as a Full size gaming computer, but it is not excessively loud. I do not hear it in the next room. If I had it in my bedroom it would probably be a hair too loud to comfortably sleep to as white noise. I mention this because this could be a deal breaker for some. For me, it is quite manageable and not an issue. The app (android) to control it seems somewhat buggy as well. On mine the night light switch in the app does quite literally nothing at all. Scheduling is pretty simple but they did not say if selecting the times turns it on, or off (for the record I think selecting them turns them ON). Range on it is pretty good, I am currently a floor above it and a room over and it still picks up the Opal. The built in light notifications leave a little to be desired however as they use the same light colors and motions for multiple things. Slow falling white means defrosting whereas faster falling white means making ice, a little confusing. Blue means needs water, yellows are the cleaning cycles. It looks great, the lights are very ascetically pleasing for sure though. Lastly, it has full cleaning cycles, something SORELY missing from "lesser" models and brands out there. They want you to clean it with bleach and water, fill 'er up, turn on the cleaning cycle, come back when it is done. Empty it, run another cleaning cycle with normal water.. and done. So simple. I just got mine, so I cannot speak for it's longevity, but I grabbed a 3 yr warranty add-on just to be sure. If the build quality have anything to say about it, it should last past that warranty though, so I have high hopes. In the end, this is a very expensive machine to just make ice. If you are a hard lover of Sonic or "chewy ice" and have the money to spend, this is a wonderful machine and I love the ice it makes!