Rival GC9151-WT Electric 1.5 Quart Ice Cream Maker Review

Turned it on for the first time, poured in the base, and the dasher stopped spinning.The small gear on the motor snapped into pieces.

This wasn't a case of of the dasher freezing, it spun fine by hand.

P.O.S.

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Product Description:
Fun for the whole family, the Rival Electric Ice Cream Maker is a great way to make creamy and delicious ice cream at home. No ice or rock salt needed! The unique and convenient Gel Freezing Disc is smaller than the conventional gel canisters, as shown in side by side comparison at right, leaving enough room in your freezer to make frozen treats any time.

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Lello 4070 Gelato Junior Review

I have gone through my share of ice cream makers.I have had the hand crank and electric version of the ice/salt mix and I had the Villaware ice cream maker available here on Amazon, sold it and my old icewater/salt type at a garage sale.None of them compares to the Lello Gelato Junior when it comes to convenience and ease of use.You just dump the ingredients in the little bucket, put the mixer/lid on and go.With other models you have to keep the bucket in the freezer or mess with an icewater/salt combination.Sure it might take some of the fun out of making your ice cream by eliminating the turning of the hand crank, but so does buying store bought ice cream or for that matter store bought butter.
The big plus with this model is that you can even dump in the ice cream mix while it is still warm off the stove (you have to cook a custard ice cream base).Just turn on the compressor a few minutes before you begin and it will start chilling the bucket.
You might be concerned about the noise this machine makes when running, don't be.It is quieter than a microwave running and by far quieter than almost every diswasher on the market.I would say it is louder than my Bosch dishwasher, but my Bosch is the quietest dishwasher you can get.You're not going to notice the noise from the Lello.

A note about their recipie for vanilla ice cream.When it recommends using a vanilla bean, do it.They are very expensive, like $8 a bean, and for good reason.It is the greatest vanilla ice cream you have ever had. The smell of fresh vanilla will forever blow your budget because you won't ever want to use vanilla extract for anything again. Save the rinds of the bean in a small tupperware bowl full of sugar, you can use it for baking or flavored coffee or something.

A few little things to note about this machine:
1. The opening for adding ingredients is small, m&m's are about the largest thing you can reasonably expect to put down the "chute"
2. The timer won't shut off the maker when it expires, just lets you know your ice cream is ready to eat.
3. It weights about 30 pounds or so.If you can't lift that amount easily without straining youself, leave it out on a counter somewhere.\
4. Unless you are the type of person who likes the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard, don't even think of using a metal utensil in the aluminum bowl, you will cringe like never before.Can you say chewing on tin foil with fillings in your teeth?
5. Keep excercising regularly, with this thing you are going to have lots of extra calories to burn.

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Product Description:
With a minimum freezing temperature of ?4 degrees F, the Simac Gelato Junior takes only about 30 minutes to satisfy your craving for a frozen confection. Plus, the built-in compressor freezer operates continuously, so you can turn out multiple flavors of ice cream while your guests finish their dinner. A 60-minute electronic timer frees you up for other activities, and an automatic safety mechanism sounds a warning beep if the integrated spatula blade gets stuck. A removable 1-quart bowl, transparent lid, and slim ingredient window all simplify operation, and the unit is also useful for crafting frozen drinks and chilled soups. Though not lightweight at 31 pounds, the Gelato Junior is fairly sleek for its class, measuring 11 by 14 by 12-1/4 inches. Simac includes a booklet of tasty ice cream, sorbet, and dessert sauce recipes, as well as an ice cream scoop.

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Hamilton Beach 68220 1.5-Quart Capacity Ice Cream Maker, White Review

OK, first off, all the 1.5qt ice cream makers on the market -- this one, Cuisinart's, and Krups' -- are fundamentally the same. It's a metal bucket full of some fluid that you put in the freezer; it gets very cold, cold enough to freeze 1.5qts of ice cream mix. That, and it's a motor with a mixing arm. That's really it.

So I figured, when I bought this one, that I was getting a deal; it's the cheapest of the three. Now that I've used it a few times, I'm wishing I'd just splurged, spent the extra twenty bucks, and gotten either of the others.

The mixing blade on this model doesn't seem to actually mix very well. I made a cantaloupe sherbet last night and I looked into the bowl as the arm turned, and it was just shoving the sherbet around in a circle. It wasn't churning. The sherbet wasn't frozen solid or anything, it was still pretty slushy. The arm just seems poorly designed.

I think the motor's pretty weak, too. It turns so slowly that it doesn't need to be very strong, they just gear it way down and even a weak motor can push pretty hard. But this routinely gets stuck on bits of ice cream that freeze in a layer on the bottom of the bucket. I made a frozen yogurt, which you have to put in the bucket to start (vs. pouring it through the opening while it's running) because of the thickness of the yogurt, and it had real problems churning after that. I ended up having to churn it by hand with a spatula for a while at the end.

Finally, there are just design details that aren't very good about this. The top of the motor / lid assembly is sloped, and the on/off switch is on that surface and protrudes a bit.

When you take that motor / lid off and set it down, the obvious way to do it is to rest it on its top (with the mixing arm sticking up.) This invariably hits that switch and turns it on. Whenever I'm taking it off, I'm trying to move quickly, stir the ice cream or scoop it off into a container to put in the freezer, so it's always irritating to take that lid off, quickly set it down, and have it turn on, the mixing arm starts turning, ice cream splatters, etc. This happens every time. There's not really a better way to set it down. So I have to unplug it whenever I want to put it down on the counter. It's just not very well thought-through.

Similarly, the locking mechanism involves pivoting that big blue arm up and over from one side to the other, which is cumbersome; the electric cord gets in the way, and even when you get it right, it's not a terribly snug fit; the motor can rock back and forth a bit.

Overall, you get what you pay for, and the other brands really aren't that much more expensive. Don't be a tightwad like me; splurge for one of them instead of this.

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Product Description:
Make homemade ice cream, frozen yogurt, gelato, sorbet and more using this machine from Hamilton Beach. It's fully automatic - no stirring and no need for ice or salt like the old-fashioned machines. An extra-large ingredient opening lets you add candies, brownie bits or fruit during the mixing process. Other features include a carrying handle that locks into place and a transparent lid. Recipes included.

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