5 star:		(159)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

The Waring IC70 is a MACHINE! This baby can crush my ice cubes any day. I've found the resulting ice chunks to be perfect for crunching and munching on(I have a compusive ice chewing habit). It is very easy to use, just plug it in, turn on the switch and dump in the ice cubes. It was crushing away on my countertop mere moments after our hottie UPS guy rang the doorbell. Essentially, feed ice cubes into the chute on top and a nice, big plastic bin below receives the lovely crushed output. The stainless steel housing is attractive and understated, but this guy is a little on the large size. Still, I'm willing to give up the counterspace in order to appease my crushed ice needs. I crush roughly 14 ice cube trays worth of ice a day and there is never a hitch. I have had ice cubes get wedged in the chute when I dump a whole tray of ice in at once but this is easily fixed by rocking it gently back and forth.

I found this product far superior to the Deni which makes sno-cone style ice and seemed quite rickety compared to the Waring. Also, much less work than the hand-cranked Metrokane Ice Crusher. This Waring IC70 makes great crushed ice for bar drinks: perfect for my amaretto sours and mojitos- even margaritas on the rocks, also great for soft drinks. This does not produce the consistency of ice needed for sno-cones or blended-style drinks.

I was tempted to buy a less expensive hand ice crusher, but then read some of the disasterous reviews of those, and opted instead for this ice crusher based on most of the positive feedback. Knowing that it would not make "shaved ice" before I acquired it has kept my expectations realistic, and it performs exactly as I thought it would, actually better. A friend thought I paid hundreds of dollars for this since it looks very no-nonsense and professional. It crushes the ice into random chunks ranging from pea-sized to marble sized, even though I feed it pretty large cubes from a tray.

I have even frozen diet soda in a tray and fed it through to make flavorful "chewing ice" since I love to chew on ice. You can eat this "soda pop ice" in a cup with a spoon, and it is a lot less caloric than ice cream and satisfies the desire in the summer to eat something ice cold when it is hot outside. However, it is not to be confused with the products you can buy at the convenience store since the chunks of this unit's ice are much larger than those that come out of the "soft serve" units commercially found at convenience stores.

So if you are looking for shaved ice or "soft serve" ice, this is not the one to look at. But if you are just looking to crunch up ice cubes or like to munch on ice, I think this may be the way to go. After seeing what it takes to crunch up the large ice cubes that I feed it, I'm really glad I did not go with a cheaper flimsier manual unit. I'm very happy with the results I have seen from this crusher.

This product is exactly what I had been wanting - a simple ice crusher that is easy to use. I had been using a blender before, and this is much simpler and also not as loud. It makes somewhat coursely crushed ice (not shaved) that is great for putting in cold drinks. The manual also talks about using it to create ice beds for serving food on (such as shellfish). I guess that would be possible, although I think it would take a long time to make that much crushed ice. It takes around 1 minute to make enough crushed ice to fill an 8-10 oz glass. Also, the machine will occasionally freeze up (no pun intended) if you put in too much ice at once, especially large cubes. If that happens, you have to pour hot water into the top to melt the ice that is stuck.

The product works, although if you feed it regular size ice cubes from a tray it tends to jam, we learned not to fill up the ice trays to the top.

Our unit failed at 13 months, one of the blades started slipping and would get jammed with the ice. I tried to find replacement parts on the Internet, but could not find a source and I suspect that even if I was able to find the replacement blade assembly it would be cost prohibitive.

Overall I could not recommend this product as I believe that one year's use for $80.00 is not worth it.

Follow up:

We purchased a second unit on January 8th of 2009, this one lasted until the second week in March, 2010, roughly 14 months. The unit failed in the same maner as the first one, the middle blade would jam against a piece of ice and it would not turn, it would just slip on the shaft making the machine useless. This is the same type of failure that others here describe; while the unit is operating properly it is great, but it almost seems as if the company was building them to fail shortly after the warranty expires.

I plan on contacting Waring to complain, but I am not holding my breath for any positive results.

Follow up 01-21-2013 ... another one bites the dust

Our latest unit fared better, it lasted 2 years and 10 months; yesterday it failed in the same fashion, the middle blade started slipping rendering the unit useless. I credit this extended longevity to the fact that we have an ice maker that makes smaller ice "cubes" and that we are not using it as much as we used to; our schedules have gotten busier and by the time we get home there is not much time or energy left to make smoothies.

I just ordered another one, the problem is that there is nothing that comes close to this in the market, the unit works great when it works.

Like they say in the movies .... I'll be back!

This is my 4th ice crusher and is by far the best for accompanying soft drinks. This ice crusher looks awesome, automatically feeds ice (you dont have to force the ice into the chute), and the dispensing tray is even large enough to put a small cup inside so you don't have to dig out the ice with your hand or a spoon. This ice crusher cannot jam like most others and is WELL WORTH the price as I love this ice crusher. Note: This is not for snowcones, etc. as it is a ice crusher not a ice shaver.

I have owned this ice crusher for over a year. I crush ice from my ice maker which makes those half moon shapes. I do this about once a week, crushing up one of those ice maker bins full. This ice maker gets plugged up all the time. It doesn't matter how you load it, it will just stop crushing and you can hear the ice working up and down. You can poke the cubes down with a long plastic spoon and get it crushing again, but sometimes this doesn't even work and you have to pour water through it. When I bought this machine I thought I could pour in the cubes and let the machine do the work. Think again. You have to baby this poorly designed machine along constantly. It's better than putting your cubes in a towel and beating them with a hammer, but not much.

I totally agree with Amy Y. Seeing as I am also an Ice eater addict,I have been in search for the perfect ice machine. This baby is "THE ONE". Perfect sized for munchin on or mixed drinks ect...I have yet to get a large chunk that i have to bite in half to munch on..each one is perfectly sized. Keep in mind they are chunks..not shaved...If u want snowcone like ice go with the hawaiian shaved ice ice shavers..i have those as well..perfect snowcones lol. This is the one for ice eating addicts everywhere!!!!!

After three and a half months the product quit working. The motor still runs but it does not crush ice. This product was not designed rugged enough.

My title pretty much says it all. Counter space is the only issue with this machine, cuz it is big. But it sure works like a charm.

I LOVE this ice crusher! It makes the perfect size ice for me. I use it every day several times a day as I'm an ice fanatic. Sturdy and durable.