Downside I've had 2. They need to be cleaned often. When you follow the instructions on cleaning and consistency schedule it's very inconvenient. This is my second unit. The first broke within a year. Bought a new one and now this one too broke in 7months. Not worth the time effort or money. Upside: Ice was good produced ice quickly.

Overall the ice maker is good and does the job it was designed for but from initial installation I notice, what i think is, a flaw. When the machine starts to make Ice, it spill water out at first few seconds that went into ice bin. If there was some kind of "mesh" just before the spill over for the ice it would allow the water to fall back into the reservoir and not into the bin with the ice. I also think that the ice bin is a little small. 3 lbs? Maybe the 5 to 10 lbs range would be better.

First off, I love the ice and I love this ice maker … when it's working. Unfortunately, I've had four (yes, FOUR) of these machines crap out on me within a couple of years. The last three have stopped making ice and displayed the “add water” message, even when full of water. Yes, I tried futzing with it 100 times, turned on clean mode, stuck my finger on the intake to prime the pump, drained it, refilled it … in all cases, this worked for a couple weeks but eventually it stopped making ice completely. So disappointing, because having this ice around makes everything better. Please work out the bugs and give me a machine that lasts more than a few months.

This product is absolute garbage. I would give it 0 stars if I could. I have had it less than 2 years and it makes a horrible grinding noise that sounds like it's about to blow up. I have to unplug it . Once I plug it back in the machine works fine for a few hours and then the grinding noise comes back. I love the ice but hate the machine.

We really wanted a small nugget ice maker and from looking at the size, look and specs, this one seemed exactly what we were looking for. The experience with it has been poor. On day 4, it pretty much stopped making ice and was continually going into "Defrosting" mode. After a full reset, it started to make nuggets again, but the ice making mechanism not occasionally makes just the loudest noise like someone is scratching done a pole, more often than not in the middle of the night (5 am). The remedy is to unplug it for a short while and then put the power back on, and it continues as it should.

My wife has a crush on sonic ice. This is the closest we have come to that product, and it's the bomb. The only word of caution I would offer, is this. Follow the directions for cleaning religiously. Water is full of minerals that WILL eventually cause you issues. We ran ours for about 18 months before sediment built up. It took a couple of days of cleaning cycle with vinegar to remedy. We then invested in a side tank and added the water filter and regularly clean it (although still not as often as we should), and it's had no further issues. I can't imagine a future where we don't have this machine.

I am an ice snob. I love ice, in all drinks and a lot of it. When I read of the opal on Kickstarter I passed due to its cons. On this Gen 2 I did not hesitate. Makes perfect nugget ice, fast, clean and yummy. Ice water, with bourbon, coke, you name it. Family is digging into that bid at all hours. Great purchase, well made, seems to be of excellent quality.

Just because the machine isn't perfect, doesn't mean it doesn't make perfect ice. It is 5 stars in my book, and it is the best on the market. Although I may be nitpicking, there are a few improvements that keep it from achieving perfection. CONS: 1. It is a high maintenance machine. The manual suggests that you clean it once per week. Nobody really has time for that. It is more of a tedious process than strenuous one, since the machine has a (somewhat) automatic clean cycle. However, this requires a great deal of clean water to rinse and seems wasteful. 2. The machine is a bit bulky, and for the most part, lacks feet on the bottom. The feet exist, it just would have made cord management easier if they were a bit taller. 3. It can be a bit noisy when making ice, but quiets down once it gets going. It doesn't bother me, all refrigeration products are going to make noise. 4. I personally don't care about this one but...don't buy this if you are concerned about wifi/app capabilities. I have yet to get the machine to pair with my phone using the app and wifi, so I'm not sure it even works. I'm not too sure why it is even necessary, but I don't have any use for it. But it is still a con if it is supposed to work, and yet, it doesn't. PROS: 1. Perfect nugget ice. I was hesitant about buying this (expensive) machine due to the fact I wasn't too sure it could make as good of nugget ice as restaurants/hospitals. It 100% does. The promo videos make it look soft and barely frozen. This machine makes hard and crunchy goodness that keeps frozen in the bin all day long. 2. Makes ice consistently and fast. You will have ice constantly as long as you keep the water tank replenished. 3. The front-viewing bin lets you see how much ice is accumulated and simply makes it look nice on the counter top. It pulls out nicely for easy access. Even though it is pricier than most ice makers this size, this machine is worth it if you want perfect nugget ice from a well crafted machine. It does what it is supposed to and has lived up to the hype thus far. Nugget ice makes everything better; water, cocktails, or even plain old ice munching.

My wife & I absolutely love this product. We have nothing negative to say about it . We have a fairly new LG frig thats amazing , but the ice maker sucks...especially in the summer time or if guests are over . So we did some research and made the investment to get this amazing ice maker . It looks great on the counter & is always full of ice as long as your adding water to the tank every other day.

This little ice maker is great, and I know that it will last for many years to come. I bought it to compliment my new espresso machine, to mimic my favorite coffee shop in town. This ice does that job extremely well, the purified ice from my Aquafina water makes awesome ice. This purified crunch ice is similar to the Cofee bean ice, amazing!