Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought an AeroGarden for my wife back in May. I'll start with the positives: It's a clever, generally well-designed item that generally functions well and is a nice addition to the kitchen. It's really great to have easy access to fresh herbs. In fact, if not for my one big complaint, I'd seriously consider getting another AeroGarden, so we could grow a greater variety and have a continuous supply of herbs. However, there's a fundamental design problem with the AeroGarden's pump. After having the AeroGarden for about a month, the pump became terribly noisy, to the point where it could be heard vibrating in adjacent rooms. After running through a few steps with customer service, they sent me a new pump. However, because they've apparently had so many problems with the pumps, they were back-ordered and it took about three or four weeks for the replacement to arrive. Once I replaced the pump, the AeroGarden was again a welcome cohabitant, virtually silent except for the gentle sound of water trickling through the system. All was fine until I pulled out the last crop of plants and inserted new seed pods and nutrients. I thoroughly cleaned out the reservoir unit, but within a few days, the pump (a replacement) started getting noisy. I just called AeroGrow's customer service department and they are shipping another pump. The customer service folks have been very helpful, but they've acknowledged that there's a design problem. The pumps get noisy because tiny bits of root or nutrients get past the foam filter in the base unit, then get sucked into the pump's impeller. A small nick in the impeller throws off the balance of the pump and they become increasingly noisy. The only answer--at this point--is to periodically replace the pump. So, just a little shy of four months into AeroGarden ownership, I will soon be on my third pump. I'm hopeful that they'll get this figured out at some point. They're very understanding and helpful in replacing the noisy pumps, but it appears to me that there's a fundamental design problem. As much as I like the AeroGarden when it's functioning as it's supposed to, I can't in good conscience recommend buying one at this time. I'd wait until they get this problem sorted out. UPDATE: The third pump did the trick. I haven't had to replace it since. I'm not changing my rating, however. Overall, I like the AeroGarden, but their seed pod packages are overpriced and underperform. The tomato garden was a total bust--lots of leaves, but not a single tomato--and the herb gardens always include one or two plants that die out within a few weeks. Some herbs consistently do well--basil and parsley come immediately to mind--but others just wither and die (and, yes, I'm very careful about water levels, nutrients, and trimming the herbs appropriately). I think they could do a much better job of selecting quality plants that would actually perform well. Since this has been a consistent theme with each of the herb packages I've tried, I have to assume that most purchasers will have the same problems.