The first thing I want to say is this freezer is fairly large for the average home user. I cannot imagine a family of four every needing anything larger than 10 cuft. I actually bought this unit in the blind. In hindsight, the 7 cuft unit would have been plenty.
This is not a knock on the product, but simply a reality check for those shopping. Being that the power consumption is about the same for the 5, 7 and 10 cuft models, you really cant go wrong with any.
The unit is very decent quality. You will not confuse this product with a much more expensive model, but the initial quality leads me to believe this product will serve for many years trouble free.
The controls are very simple, but adequate. There is no temperature gauge, but any separately purchased one will work at a minimal cost. The red light tells you it is plugged in, the green tells you the compressor is running.
On initial start up, it will take about 90-120 minutes to get to freezing temps with nothing in the freezer. If you add some frozen items, it will likely be faster. After that, it runs about 5-10 minutes every hour. I have not sat there and watched it, but that's about what it will run.
The storage layout is ok. You do have a raised area where the compressor is located, and plenty of items fit above it. You get one basket included that can be placed anywhere, even above the raised area. You really need two or even three of these. Not sure how to get more. Four might not fit, so I would measure first. There are no dividers included, but they are available to be purchased separately from other sources.
So far, the unit seems to have the icing under control. I have the unit in a space that is not air conditioned. There is minimal icing after two weeks or so. There is a drain hole conveniently placed to allow for easy defrosting down the line.
There is very minimal leaking in one specific location on the lid deal. It is center on the rear. A little bit of ice forms there. Wipes right off with your finger. The seal appears to be in good condition and is making good contact. Not sure about the cause, but not really worried about it.
Overall, this is a solid purchase. If I had to do it again, I would get the 7 cuft unit, but that is a personal choice. 10 cuft is just to big for us. Even if we placed five 10lb bags of ice in the freezer under the rest or the items we would normally store in it, we would still have too much room. The 7 cuft seems right-sized, but even the 5 cuft could have worked for us. Overkill, in this case, may not be a bad thing. It does give us the room to stock up on the super deals.