Portable Ice maker? Any Thoughts?

[Hastey]

We are looking at getting a portable or counter top ice maker. What are some of the pros and cons?

Thanks

 

[cookie]

The only con I can think of is that it is one more thing to drag around.
On the pro side, they make a lot of ice, fast.
When we had one we liked it a lot.

Peace
Dave

 

[Speedy]

Pro: Does not have to be winterized. Makes way more ice than the one in the frig. Portable Keep it in your basement and fetch the ice as you need it.

Con: $150 to $200 out of pocket expense.

 

[traveler44]

We tried the one that Target had on sale about a year ago. It made wet Ice and when you bagged the ice and stuck it in the freezer it would freeze together. Others have said they didn't have this problem with the other brands so I just thought I would let you know. Some might not freeze as cold as others. Tom

 

[PeternLiane]

Pro: Does not have to be winterized. Makes way more ice than the one in the frig. Portable Keep it in your basement and fetch the ice as you need it.

Con: $150 to $200 out of pocket expense.

I have to agree, there are not many cons to a portable ice maker except the storage and the up front cost. The pros are many, You can make ice when you need it and with certain ice makers you can even make different sizes of ice cubes. We will be buying one when we finish a couple of things with the NT.

 

[Hastey]

Great, that is what I was wanting to know. We will buy one before we start going again. I have silicone ice trays but it takes too long to get them to freeze.

Thanks for the info.

 

[GOTTOYS]

We tried the one that Target had on sale about a year ago. It made wet Ice and when you bagged the ice and stuck it in the freezer it would freeze together. Others have said they didn't have this problem with the other brands so I just thought I would let you know. Some might not freeze as cold as others. Tom

If you look at them the one they sell at Target, Emerson brand I think, is exactly the same as the Dometic they sell at Camping World for twice the price. From what I've seen they are all the same no matter what brand is on them. Look at the outside shell and compare them. Everyone has the small round nameplate on the front in the same size and location. We got ours at Target, it works great. They are not meant to store ice, just make it. If you want the ice to freeze solid you have to put them in your freezer for a bit. I'd get one again. Sometimes they have them on sale for as little as $99.00...Don

 

[TravelTiger]

We got one "thrown-in" when we bought our North Trail, and haven't used it much. DH just tried to use it on our last trip. We noticed making ice was kinda noisy. It's also awfully heavy to move around if you don't have much counter space inside. We may just keep buying bagged ice.

Erika

 

[Rickhansen]

Can't tell you anything about them, except that there has been quite a few posts in the past. Try a search and read the results.

 

[jmgratz]

We love ours. We have disconnected the ice maker in the freezer. Don't want to run the risk of a water leak.

 

[TGLBWH]

Have one we bought at Kohl's for about 130 and it is a little larger than the Target one. It does make wet ice that sticks together when frozen solid. I solved that problem by putting the wet ice in a plastic bag before going in the freezer. drop it on a solid surface afterwards and it breads up easily. I deep mine in the basement where the noise doesn't bother and usually use it all the time. Don't really see any negatives to having one unlees you have no water to fill it.

 

[jayc]

We had one until recently when it finally stopped working. One of our daughters gave it to us just after we retired and went on the road, so it lasted over 3 years. It was a Magic Chef IIRC. We also kept it in the basement and worked fine up until a month ago.

 

[Nabo]

We have one that we bought from Target. As mentioned about, it is a little noisy but after a season of using it, we don't notice it anymore. This winter, we put it in the office to keep it from freezing. It does make wet ice but we just keep it in the machine and let it remake as the wet ice melts. It only takes about 7 minutes to make new ice.

 

[2psnapod2]

We were visiting a RV a while back that had on on the counter. It made me look over where it was at every 10 minutes or so. You probably would get use to it making the noise though.

 

[KENNY COCHRAN]

MY ADVISE IS IF YOU GET ONE BE SURE IT ALSO STORES THE ICE. SEVERAL ON THE MARKET MAKE ICE, BUT DOES NOT HAVE ANY ROOM IN IT TO STORE IT. WE HAD ONE A WHILE BACK AND IT WAS ABOUT 24" x 24". WE HAD IT IN THE CLOSET IN THE BEDROOM. KEPT THE DOOR CLOSED AND REALLY NEVER COULD HERE IT WHEN IT DUMPED EVEN WHEN WE WERE IN BEDROOM CLOSE TO IT. DON'T REMEMBER WHAT BRAND IT WAS.

 

[tcfake613]

I'll give a thumbs up to the Emerson brands at Target. You can get 'em on sale for as little as $109, So I've seen. Out of our group, three of us have the Emerson and two others have the expensive Dometic brands. Absolutley no difference in capacity, quantity and quality of ice. Some of us have had the Emersons for about three years with no problems. I wouldn't go without it. Even in the summer I almost never have to buy ice it makes that much... and I'm in the cooler a lot.... for beer.

 

[katkens-DW]

We got ours from camping world in 06 and it is still going strong!!

 

[TXBobcat]

We have had two of them. Both failed after a year or two. The last one we got at Campworld and took out a 2 year warranty. It stopped working a few months ago which was over the 2yrs.

Ours did not store ice but made it fairly quickly. I found that the bolts where you pour in the water keep rusting. It also has a problem if you don't empty the water out of it when you finish using it each time.

We will probably get another one but would like to find one that will last longer.

BC

 

[Big Al and Donna]

I'm with Jim on this one. We disconnected the one in the freezer and use the portable one. We love it and would do it again.

 

[bobber]

Have tried every website I could to find one that will keep the ice frozen so you don't have to put it in the freezer. I guess it does not exist. If anyone knows of one please post information. I have had one for 2 years and love it but just need more freezer space.