Portable Ice Maker

[kuriouskats]

Does anyone have experience using one of the portable ice makers aboard, especially down Island?
I came across this compact unit (Hammacher's Best Portable Ice Maker) and it says it will make 12 cubes in 8 minutes / 3 pounds in 24 hours. Probably the smallest of the 3 cube sizes it offers in the 8 minutes but ice is ice if you want a cold drink in the Islands?
I'm not sure what it will pull yet, still researching. Would love to hear what other thoughts are... We have a Norcold - forget about making ice, and an Adler Barber - haven't tried to make ice but doubtful it would do so very efficiently or in a timely manner, and would mean pulling other items out.

This is the product I'm leaning towards / referring to:

The Best Countertop Ice Maker - Hammacher Schlemmer

Thanks!!

[Unicorn Dreams]

We have one from Home Depot, love it, makes ice quick, daily output is 20 lbs. Ice for a lot of Sundowners.

Giving it to the kids and buying a bigger unit in output. Try going to www.walmart.com they will ship it to your local store. This one will make up to 30 lbs per day, for $129.00. Haven't used it yet.

[S/V Illusion]

We've had one for a few years now which we bought at HD. Not sure the precise current draw but it is substantial at 120VAC, it draws approx. 7 - 8 amps which can put a big load on a small battery bank/inverter at 12 VDC.

[stevensc]

I had one for a while it turned out to be much larger than I had imagined taking up lots of space, it did work well. fast and simple
Steve

[sparklegirl50]

We have one too; bought it at Target for about $130 or so. It does not work with the inverter; have to run the engine/generator to make ice.

It is nice though!

[mbianka]

If you spend a lot of time away from a dock I would say save your money and DON'T buy it. I bought one last year and took it off the boat this year:
THE BIANKA LOG BLOG: LESSON LEARNED: WHAT DOES NOT WORK: ICE MAKER
Even though I have a Honda 2000i generator on board and could run the ice maker while charging the two battery banks batteries (I have electric propulsion) the amount of ice produced was not worth the room the unit took up on my 30 foot Nonsuch. Usually I'm on a mooring or at anchor. It sounded like a good idea but, it really did not work out like I thought it would. I do much better using my ENGEL in freezer mode to make ice than using one of these counter top units.

[chadlaroche]

oh bother ....i bought one for the boat. It does take up a bunch of space but I got rid of my old alcohol stove /oven. put the icemaker ,microwave,crockpot coffepot in its space.Never used an oven on land in 30 years so its the grill for me but now Im bummed with the mixed reviews