This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This is my first countertop ice maker so I don't have any basis for comparison, but this thing is amazing. It can crank out 9 ice "cubes" every 6-8 minutes depending on the size. That's roughly 90 icecubes per hour! Granted, you do have to keep an eye on it because the internal bin only holds about 4 loads before it needs to be emptied. But if you stay on top of emptying the bin it will happily crank out ice for a few hours before the water tank runs dry.
The only complaint I have, and I suspect this is going to be an issue with most countertop ice machines, is that due to the way that the ice is made the cubes are always wet. So if you're making them to store in the freezer they're going to freeze together and you'll need to chip some off when you want ice. I've found that the bags they provide with the machine are great for storage. Throw the fresh ice in, pop the bag in the freezer, and when you need some ice you just smack it on the floor to break it all up. The bags themselves are thicker than what you'd normally get from a bag of ice at the corner store and have a drawstring at the top for easy openening and closing
