Not bad for the price - very happy with it

After years of using the Cuisinart ice cream maker with the freezer bowls I was ready for a self-contained freezing unit ice cream maker. I drooled over the crazy expensive Italian models, but lacking a trust fund, I had to consider some less expensive alternatives. I read several reviews of this machine and decided that I could live with the Cons people reported. For me it was "live with the draw backs" of units in this price range or not upgrade to a self freezing unit. Spending $600 for an ice cream maker just wasn't an option. So I splurged on this - happy birthday to me.

I've been quite happy with it. The price lets me sleep at night. The performance makes me happy the rest of the time.

The downside is that it's VERY heavy (hard to move, for me, but then I don't move it often) and the arm that drives the paddle in the bowl can come out of place and not drive the paddle. My experience with both kinds of ice cream makers is that these are not "set and forget" appliances like a crock pot. You need to keep an eye on it when it's running, so if the arm comes off of the hub you can easily push it back into place or put something heavy on it (seriously, it works) to keep the paddle turning. Usually, the sounds changes when the arm disengages, so you know when you need to intervene. To me, it's a small price to pay for not having to clutter my freezer with bowls and to have ice cream available when I want it and in the flavors I want (I live in the boondocks, not easy to get ice cream home from the store still frozen and the price...yikes).

The good things about this unit are the price - a bit spendy, but better than many - and the performance. It makes great ice cream, it does it neatly, easily and the consistency of the final product is always uniform. No icy bits or pockets of liquid like I used to get with the freezer bowls models. It makes small, uniform crystals so your ice cream sets up nicely in your freezer and add ins mix in easily and stay suspended well in the mixture. You do need to freeze the finished product to get a good final texture, but I have never gotten a batch that wasn't great.

I use the Ben and Jerry's ice cream cookbook recipes for the base and for some flavorings and have had good luck with their recipes in both kinds of machines. However, other recipes didn't always come out well in the freezer bowl model but came out fine in this machine.

It's a bit loud, reasonably compact and it earns the space it takes up on the counter (it's heavy enough that you don't want to be hauling it in and out of the cupboards) by doing a great job. I haven't bought any ice cream from the store since I got it almost 2 years ago (and don't miss the store bought stuff) and buy the big cartons of heavy cream at Costco regularly because it's so easy to use this machine.