Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Got this for Christmas. We have seen very similar ones of these working at fairs & some cafes. It takes a while to learn how to make the batter the right consistency to make good donut shapes, and some will scrunch a bit in the drop process if not properly mixed where there isn't really much of hole to where some may think it is just making blobs, but once you get past this learning curve, you can make very good donuts with this machine. The key is getting the right batter consistency (somewhat thicker than pancake batter) and helping the flipping process on some of the donuts. You do have to watch the donuts as they travel through the cooking process and flip some of them with an appropriate hot oil spatula to make sure they cook evenly on both sides. It is not a machine that you can just put the batter in and have donuts come out the other end like the description makes one believe. It does take a great deal of supervision and your own input into the process, for sure! Like I said, a learning curve that some may not be willing to put up with, but not really that bad for fresh mini bakery style donuts you can make at home. This machine is NOT a kid item due to the fact you really need to watch the process and somewhat multi-task to get the donuts to come through properly and working with the hot oil, and it takes longer than described as well to get the donuts to come out. Ours has worked fine as far as the conveyer pulling the donuts out, so far. Since we've only had it since Christmas, we haven't used it that much so an update will probably be coming later to this review if the conditions change, but for what it is, it is a fun weekend morning activity to make some fresh breakfast donuts and the aroma of such will definitely wake up the house. Update, Christmas 2012: After a couple more uses, anything that did work on this machine stopped working. The only thing really going for this machine was the timing for the doughnuts being moved in the oil to the dispenser (sort of like the Krispy Kreme concept, but the conveyor stopped working totally and continually jammed in the dispensing process and the lumped "dough" is overcooked and/or too greasy. Even though at first they all didn't turn properly and some had to be done manually in the process--all turning stopped now and gets stuck. Like most all the other reviewers, I now say, don't bother, don't waste your money. Perhaps someone, someday will actually make a workable home version, but really if they do they will be biting into an easy independent as well as many franchise businesses. For now it is still, if you want a home doughnut maker and have the room & considerable more money, buy a low-end or used professional one.