VIVOHOMEElectric Ice Crusher Shaver Dual Blades Snow Cone Maker Machine Silver 173lbs/hr with Ice Pick for Home and Commercial Use

I’m someone who eats a lot of shaved ice: I’m not sure exactly how it started but one day I started and haven’t gone a day without at least 3 massive cups of it. In about 4 months I broke a blender and two snow cone makers with my constant use and I was fed up. I’m so glad I decided to spend a little extra money on this, especially knowing I would’ve saved a lot more had I went straight for this guy. There are some cons, but shaved ice is not a tidy snack to make, so you have to expect some mess. I would have liked to be able to put a cup beneath the ice chute, as the shallow metal bowl it comes with is fine but not really the most functional when it comes to catching stray ice powder that flies everywhere, and there is meltwater that accumulates in the bowl and on the surface it’s sitting on as a result. Again, true shaved ice eaters will already know but in case you didn’t there you go. Anyway, pros! First of all, it came with replacement blades and a nifty tool to use to replace the blades or adjust them to make finer or chunkier Ice. I’ve had this for months though, and haven’t needed to change the blades and leaving them at the default setting makes the ice perfectly for me, not too powdery but not chippy either. It is loud, but the noise is far from the terrible sounds that happen when using a cheap snowcone maker or a blender (which is a terrible noise, trust me.) it instead kinda sounds like a saw or something, but it’s so powerful that it takes no time at all and you are done with the loud noise and can either enjoy your shaved ice or move on to your next batch. Using ice cubes, it makes about a cereal bowl amount of ice so it’s reasonable to expect that you can get all the ice you want in one go, however I did mention above that I use giant cups, which I fill (past the brim) using two rounds. It takes less than a minute from start to finish: getting the ice cubes (i have ‘soft ice’ bc i have a countertop ice maker that sits directly next to this shaver for this purpose. Using ice from the freezer might make the process take longer, or allowing the ice to soften would of course take a bit of time), tossing them into the thingie, hitting the power button and pressing down on the lever before hitting the power button again, so ice doesn’t fly everywhere. Then snow cone do it again and I have ice enough to last me a good hour or so, with some meltage that I drink or just pour back into my ice maker once I’m ready for a refill. I’m nearing the time to change the blades or maybe adjust them, not sure yet, I’ll update on if it’s tricky or easy peasy.

Works well. It doesn't leak like people say. Yes a tiny bit of water run down but that's because soon as the ice hits the metal a tiny bit leaks. It's no big deal at all. Makes great snowball ice.

Wow! Love it!

The item was look a little different between the photos of pages and the item of my recieving. I really wanted an original item as I paid in almost full prices .

This machine is great for at home shaved ice! It’s easy to use, there is no assembly and it does what it’s intended to do.It doesn’t make the powdery soft ice. But if I had to rate it 1-10 on ice fluffiness, I’d give it a 6.5

Works great.

This device is so much fun . Tasty treats !!!

After buying two manual ice crushers that fell apart in a month, I decided to spend the money and get something with more durability, and a motor. I would not call this an "Ice Crusher" it definitely "shaves" the ice into a snow-like powder. You can open the device and adjust the shaving blade to make the ice more "chip-like". I'm not certain if this voids the warranty or not.DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK:This requires removing the two small phillips screws that hold in the safety switch, and, underneath that, a phillips screw that holds the ice chute to the front of the device. On the underside of the chute, there is a allen screw (4mm) that you remove, and then the chute pulls off.Next, there are two allen head screws that secure the blade, loosen these screws and push the blade forward so it protrudes more. This will allow the machine to create larger chunks of ice. Tighten up the screws and re-assemble the machine (be sure you position the safety switch correctly so it will allow the machine to turn on when the handle is lowered).In addition to creating the more chip-like ice, this also had the effect of making a much larger mess as the ice is exiting from the machine, so be ready.I have only used it one time since performing this modification, but I'm happy with the results. However, I have yet to see if this creates problems with the motor, blade, or general safety of the equipment.Edit/Update: After about a year's worth of use, the machine is still working great, and I'm very happy with it. However, I did have a problem where I got "greedy" and tried to adjust the ice cutting blade further out than I did the first time. This worked OK a few times, and then the blade "slipped". It was not a catastrophic failure, but the blade moved outward (due to centrifugal force) and started to score the inside of the aluminum cover. Upon reflection the operation was slightly louder when this was happening.I ended up with a mouthful of aluminum shavings mixed with my ice, not good. I moved the blade back into the lightly extended position and also used some blue loctite on the retaining screws' threads. This was about 6 months ago, and I have not had a problem since.One note, I wipe down the machine with a cloth after each use, but there still has been a slight buildup of "muck" in the hinged area of the handle. I occasionally use a chopstick and the cleaning cloth to swab it out. Also, the unit will slowly leak water even with a wipe down, so keep a rag under it or store it in a place that is not effected by water.And finally, I used a Dremel to cut off the front end of the machine, added two clamps on opposite sides of the ejection port and have it dispense ice into a ziplock bag. This seems to work much better than the "tray" that comes with the unit.