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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 200 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
108 of 110 found the following review helpful:
 Love this Snow Cone machine! Jun 04, 2007
By Mom to Four
We have purchased several snow cone machines over the years and this is my favorite!!! Each Spring, I make snow cones for 4 classrooms full of children (over 100 children). Using the Hamilton Beach Icy Treats Maker, this has been our best year! Also, we often will do snowcones out in the driveway after school and we'll have a dozen or so kids stop by.
I purchased two of these machines and had them running side by side in the classroom. I was able to make snow cones for 25-30 kids in 20 minutes. I love the cup/bowl that catches the ice. If you have leftover ice or want to make ahead, you can throw this bowl in the freezer to use the shaved ice later. Also the easy on/off on this machine is nice. If you put in ice that is the right size (some store bought ice is too big), then there shouldn't be too much trouble with jamming. Once or twice I had to arrange the ice because a larger piece was stuck. I LOVE that most of this machine goes straight into the dishwasher! Also, seems very safe to me. The kindergarten class was running both machines and had no trouble!
88 of 89 found the following review helpful:
 Makes Finely crushed ice, not exactly a snow cone! Jun 06, 2011
By edrfed
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R25P7DRO4N9S6D Its easy to use and clean up. doesnt make much noise. and works fine using regular ice cubes. but its not super fine shaved ice like you can get with a commercial machine. watch the video.
93 of 95 found the following review helpful:
Great design and fairly quick results! Jun 27, 2008
By J. McDonald
I'm not sure why a few other reviewers had problems with this item. It works perfectly for me.
Great design;
- Large container for collecting the shaved ice (with auto-stir).
- Very few parts to clean, and they all go right into the dish-washer.
- Uses regular ice cubes right from the freezer.
- Two settings (slushies and snow cones).
Like most ice shavers, you're going to have the occasional "jam", but it's quickly and easily taken care of. Not a big problem AT ALL! You can make enough shaved ice for two to three snow-cones in just a couple minutes.
If there was anything at all that I could see someone complaining about, it would be the noise. It does make a loud grinding noise as it shaves the ice. But hey, you're GRINDING ICE... what do you expect?
The Hamilton Beach Icy Treats Maker has the appearance of a real kitchen appliance, while other ice shavers in the same price range seem more like "toys". Keep in mind, this is an inexpensive device and isn't perfect. However, I believe the overall operation, design and end result (great snow cones and slushies) make it MORE than worth the asking price!
A note about the type of ice cubes I have used. I simply make ice cubes in a standard tray in the freezer (regular old semi-square cubes). These work great! If your cubes don't seem to work, you can pick up ice cube trays at most 99 cent stores, which might give better results. If you have really bad luck, and your cubes don't seem to want to grind, try letting the cubes set in the machine for a few minutes before turning it on. Also, if it jams, try moving the "slushies" and "snow cones" knob back and forth while the machine is running. Sometimes that will free up any ice that has accumulated near the blade.
I'm thinking about creating a few cubes from soda, fruit drinks, etc. The shaved cubes will already be flavored (and I can mix different types together)!
Lots of fun to be had with this excellent product! Also, I'm sure it has to be a lot healthier to be eating snow-cones than ice cream!
JM
67 of 68 found the following review helpful:
Works great if you read the manual Sep 02, 2009
By A. Kelton
I know it seems like a simple product, but the people who complain that it takes 10+ minutes to make a bowl just aren't using it right. Make sure the you twist the knob in the middle of the hopper to lock the chutes in place -- otherwise, there isn't enough downward pressure, and the cubes will just skim over the blade.
I've had at least 4 ice shavers before this one, and this is the best. Requiring a special cylinder of ice is a pain because you have to have the molds prepared ahead of time, and the molds eventually crack. I've used Rival ice cube versions, but the normal one spits ice pieces everywhere, and the deluxe one does a little better, but it still overflows because the shavings collect in the middle and don't spread out. Also, the lid warped in the dishwasher, so it was tough to turn on/off.
The Icy Treats Maker has none of those problems. I can make lots of shavings, and it's really quiet. I haven't decided which size shavings I like better (slushy v. snow cone). The only problem I have is jamming of ice in the chutes. My ice maker makes long, curved "cubes" that don't flow down the chutes all the time. Regular rectangular cubes work much better, but I can either break my cubes in half or shake the machine when I hear it stop making noise.
32 of 32 found the following review helpful:
Change of Heart about this machine - Read to the End!! Dec 07, 2009
By Patty
REVISED REVIEW - PLEASE READ TO THE END!!!
I was very excited when I first received this machine! After all it is a Hamilton Beach, which is supposed to represent high quality and it did for the first month. Then it broke. I used this machine every day a couple of times a day for a month before the middle section of the stem broke. Hamilton Beach apparently uses a little plastic pin to hold together the entire rotating device, so if you get ice cubes that catch up on the blades, after a time it will break and render the machine useless. I gave this machine the benefit of the doubt the first time it broke and since it broke after the warranty was up with Amazon, I decided to buy another. It does shave the ice like fine grain snow, which is what I wanted for slushies. I purchased another one, and Amazon was nice enough when I called to complain about the first machine breaking, gave me an additional 15 day warranty. But, to no avail, the second machine broke 2 months after I had it.... again, after the warranty expired. I am contacting Hamilton Beach to complain about this design flaw with the tiny plastic pins...I am now on the hunt to find a heavy duty slushie machine that won't break 2 months after purchase. Please beware of these plastic machines. They are not meant to hold up to regular every day use.... 12/12/09 - Ok, I am revising this review because I contacted Hamilton Beach and I have to tell you they were great. I explained the problem and told them that I was very disappointed that these machines didn't work. I didn't expect them to do anything, because 1)I didn't purchase the machines from them and 2)my warranty had expired. But I was very pleasantly surprised when the very nice customer service rep asked me to give her the serial number on both of the machines. She said as a curtesy she would send out 2 replacement parts. She was very surprised that I had this problem and would make a note of the issues I had been having and she would pass them along to the tech dept. approx. 3 days later I had both of the replacement parts and my machines are working better than they did when I received them new. I am thinking that there was a bad batch of these machines that were sold. I am happy to say that I can now give this machine a 4 out of 5 rating and a rating of 10 to the Hamilton Beach company for doing the right thing by their customers.
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