Spinmaster ICEE Maker

Pros: No batteries required, works with regular juices and soft drinks
Cons: a lot of pieces to assemble

About three weeks ago we hit that dreaded part of summer – the part where it's too hot to do anything and the kids are tired of not doing anything. Luckily I remembered the Icee Maker that had been sitting at the back of my closet for almost ...

Pros: tastes like an Icee
Cons: a lot to assemble, takes a long to make

All my son wanted this year for Christmas was a Spinmaster Icee Maker. I seen a few commercials for the Icee Maker. Each commercial my son saw, the more he really wanted the Icee Maker. Mommy wasn’t too thrilled about having an ...

Pros: can't think of any
Cons: hard to turn, makes tiny bit of product after a lot of work

My daughter was given this as a gift for her birthday when she was 7. I was excited at first, remembering back to my childhood slushy days.

We opened the box and found that it has a LOT of parts. So after assembly, I let her use it with a friend. It requires a lot of tedious following of directions and makes only a very small amount of product. It is extremely hard to turn the handle without holding the entire unit in your arms. Not the kind of thing that you can just sit on the counter top and turn with one hand. The cleanup is again tedious. I could never use the machine without having the directions with me, and my daughter could not operate it alone. You have to crush the ice to put it into the chamber, which is a mess in and of itself. I convinced my daughter after about the 3rd use that we'd be better off to go purchase icee's at a local vendor than trying to make them at home. She agreed and we threw the machine away.

Pros: My kids (4, 5, and 6) are THRILLED with it anyway.
Cons: Doesn't work. Lots of hand-wash parts.

My daughter (age 5) received this as a birthday gift. I groaned silently when she opened it.

We have used this thing probably six times and have yet to produce a frozen drink. Each time, I tinker with it, thinking, "This time, It'll work." (Reminds me of the old Sylvester cartoon--"First the wadding, then the powder, THEN you tamp it down!" Never worked for him, either.) To be fair, we have not tried crushed ice. Even if it DID work, it would still be a lot of parts to wash (not dishwasher safe). The result is that we dispense plain old pop (or juice) into the cups. This last time, the drink appeared to spew out sideways and possibly miss the cup, so I held it right up to the spigot. Nevertheless, my kids think it is lots of fun! In large part because they don't get a lot of sweetened drinks.

If your child is old enough to clean it up themselves, and this is fun for them, let them have at it. At least it is much quieter than a Snoopy Snowcone (I had one of those as a kid).

Pros: Easy to dissasemble and hand wash.
Cons: Small, overly dependent on cheap plastic parts.

Like others have said, a lot of work for a tiny sip of Icee.  I have yet to get the thing to actually make an Icee myself.  My kids say that they and Mom made some.  I just get the auger sitcking to the ice canister which produces a layer of frozen drink and leaves the rest liquid.  I'll have to get 'training" from Mom I suppose.

Something better built (even at a higher price) would provide more satisfaction.