Portable ice makers

[apachepup24fbs]

What are the pros and cons of a portable ice maker. Do they work well are they worth the hassle or just buy your ice at the store for your cooler?

[chipper]

I was thinking of buying one, until I read the reviews. There were more Cons than Pros. Think I'll keep using store bought.

[82corvette]

The ice is not that great, it is on the soft side. It melts very fast in your drink.

[DieselX]

Man, I love ours. Always ice on tap, always cooler full. Pour a little bourbon on some ice it'll melt fast anyway. Some campgrounds don't have good ice anyway, we always have it now.

[slabat]

I love ours as well, I take it and put it in the freezer before putting it in a cooler or drink. I use reverse osmosis water from the grocery store and it is good ice. I wouldnt be with out mine. We very seldom have to buy ice, it paid for itself in a matter of no time. But the best part is its convenient and you dont have to go to town if the campgrounds doesnt have ice.

[bed685]

Originally Posted by slabat

I love ours as well, I take it and put it in the freezer before putting it in a cooler or drink. I use reverse osmosis water from the grocery store and it is good ice. I wouldnt be with out mine. We very seldom have to buy ice, it paid for itself in a matter of no time. But the best part is its convenient and you dont have to go to town if the campgrounds doesnt have ice.

I couldn't agree more! We bought one last year and love it. I have not had any problems with th unit. I would, also, put the ice in the freezer before using it to make it more solid, but for the cooler, I make the ice and dump it straight in. Well worth the $$$.

[Forgvn77]

We love ours! Picked an Emerson up last year and it's been a blessing. The kids especially love having fresh ice around. One interesting thing we found out is that it'll reset whenever the air kicks in while running on the genny. The 110V drops just low enough that the ice maker shuts off and resets and has to be turned on again. What's the solution? An APC UPS of course! I picked up a APC 550VA uninterruptible power supply and plug the ice maker into it whenever we're running our Yamaha 3000iSEB. Problem solved.

[CruizinKim]

I'm old school. We seem to have more freezer space than we need and just buy the store bought. A bag goes a long way since our beverages are cooled from the outdoor fridge.

[paflyfisher]

We have a full size refrigerator with an ice maker, so we always have ice. It's probably much cheaper to buy an ice maker than a new 36BHDS.

[hammer]

I haven't had to buy ice in 3 years and that has more than paid for the ice maker

[CruizinKim]

Originally Posted by paflyfisher

It's probably much cheaper to buy an ice maker than a new 36BHDS.

But, is it as much fun?! Lol!

[vwprostock]

I bought the one listed below after some minor research.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-Port...Maker/15162477

I honestly love the thing. Works like a champ. The only negative in my opinion is here in TX on a super hot day, when your AC is running full tilt, the ice maker pumps hot air out of the side vent (as its designed). But thats adding heat load to the inside of my trailer. Not a deal breaker. It makes is so fast though you can let it run all night and be full, put some in zip loc bags in the freezer, then never run it during the peak heat times of the day. I do use bottled water for it.

Also at our NASCAR track, I put it on a table outside and keep it full. Its a conversation piece alone...people think I brought a breadmaker.

Well worth the $119 so far.

Greg

[jmilner]

Got one from Camping World six years ago and still works fine.Has paid for itself many
times by not having to buy bags of ice.

[lx22f/c]

Originally Posted by vwprostock

I bought the one listed below after some minor research.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-Port...Maker/15162477

I honestly love the thing. Works like a champ. The only negative in my opinion is here in TX on a super hot day, when your AC is running full tilt, the ice maker pumps hot air out of the side vent (as its designed). But thats adding heat load to the inside of my trailer. Not a deal breaker. It makes is so fast though you can let it run all night and be full, put some in zip loc bags in the freezer, then never run it during the peak heat times of the day. I do use bottled water for it.

Also at our NASCAR track, I put it on a table outside and keep it full. Its a conversation piece alone...people think I brought a breadmaker.

Well worth the $119 so far.

Greg

Greg, being a fellow texan also, how much ice can it make a day in the heat of summer? We go through about 20 to 30 pounds a day while camping and fishing. 20 pounds is for the fish box the other 10 for the drinks!
Thanks rob

[vwprostock]

Rob,

It will keep up with all the drinks needed, but I don't think its ready to assist in keeping the coolers full. It has a rather small basket that shuts off production when its full. That basket holds about one sandwich ziploc bag of ice. I would say it fills that basket about every hour and a half or so.

So my opinion...in probably better measurements for this group, it would keep up with four mixed drink drinkers all day, and thats about it. :-)

Greg

[wmoses]

We don't use that much ice, so when our needs outgrow the tray in the freezer I expect we will get an ice maker as I refuse to buy ice (or bottled water).

[usmc616]

3 years ago I received my portable ice maker as a Father's Day present. I have not regretted it once. Before heading out to camp we always stock our coolers with ice. As soon as we set up we start up the ice maker. Now anytime we want ice for a drink we do not need to use the ice in the coolers. With 4 kids you realize they are always going into the cooler and digging around for what they want to drink and their hands are not always clean. With the ice maker we use bottled water because some campgrounds have a high mineral content. On a 11 day trip in Fort Wilderness in July our ice maker fought to keep up due to the heat so we also bough a bag of ice each day to replenish the coolers.

[lx22f/c]

Originally Posted by vwprostock

Rob,

It will keep up with all the drinks needed, but I don't think its ready to assist in keeping the coolers full. It has a rather small basket that shuts off production when its full. That basket holds about one sandwich ziploc bag of ice. I would say it fills that basket about every hour and a half or so.

So my opinion...in probably better measurements for this group, it would keep up with four mixed drink drinkers all day, and thats about it. :-)

Greg

Thanks Greg good info to have.

[RoyBraddy]

I have always thought having one would be a good idea. I just stock up the 5-day ice chest with a smaller closed tray in the top for fresh kept meats etc and usually go get groceries and ice every two to three days.

Roy Ken

[Derek700]

We love ours it was $100. It makes ice very fast and gets better as the inside of the ice maker cools down. We have an ice bucket that we put the excess ice into. The basket is just the right size to fill our friends margarita makerno regrets having one at all.