Whynter UIM-502SS Built-in/Freestanding Maker-80lb Capacity Clear Cube Ice Ma...

I purchased this ice maker in 2017, so it's 8 years old now and still going strong! Every now and then it makes a loud noise; this started about 6 months ago. We will go weeks without hearing it, then it screams for a few hours. We know the problem is it needs a new water pump, which we have on hand, it just hasn't stopped working yet. We would buy it again as it's been a great purchase for us!

Start off by saying I shopped around for icemakers for 2-3 months reading reviews, visiting stores. Nothing out there has a rating higher than 3 stars in the $1,000-$1,500 range. I came across this and it had 4. Added bonus, the air vent on the front matched my double Avalon bev fridges and my kegorator. First off, don't EVER order an appliance from Amazon. Second, this doesn't actually produce clear ice and they all come out in huge blocks. Instead of coming with a plastic scoop, it should have come with an ice pick. They come out in sheets and are supposed to break up as they fall. No such luck. Definitely doesn't hold the advertised capacity either. The ice gets held up where it falls and triggers it as full. If you want the bin to actually fill up, you have to constantly move the ice to the front of the bin.Back to the part about never ordering an appliance fr Amazon. Our first unit came damaged and didn't realize it until a month after having it. Long story short (my fault) I took it out of the packaging all except the base it came in. Come to find out after a month of sitting (contractor for finishing our basement was running behind) the unit had been dropped from significant height and had the entire back corner bent in. Fast forward to the replacement - they sent me a new one and came with a damaged air grate on the front. All in all, I ended up getting charged for both units even after speaking to Amazon multiple times after sending the first unit back. Going on 3 months from the date of purchase, we had to dispute the charge with our credit card company.

It works well. Creates ice very quickly

I have had ice machines for many years now and when the compressor on my last one broke I decided to mix things up and get this one. A couple of things about ice machines: there are at least two types of home ice machines, what I'd call the drop/cut ones where the ice is made on a cold sheet and dropped onto a heated cutter, and whole sheet ice makers (like this one) where water is pumped over a cold mold and the ice comes out as a single sheet. My experience has been exclusively with drop/cut ice makers till this one and I have found them to be more of a hobby than an appliance. The pump breaks all the time in drop/cut machines, but I have also had to replace controllers and cutters (I gave up on repairs and warranties as most repair people I've dealt with have no idea what these ice machine things are, I fix them myself). It really doesn't matter which brand you buy for drop/cut makers, the innards are all pretty much the same. A lot of the drop/cut machines problems come from the unit's complexity. Which brings me to this ice maker and the whole sheet approach. Here there seems to be far fewer moving/heating/dropping parts to break. The sheet forms, then drops into the bin. This eliminates the cutting step, but it also eliminates the thermocouple most drop/cut ones use to tell if the bin is full: another thing that breaks on those machines. Here you have a mechanical lever that is depressed by the last sheet to fill the bin. This seems a lot more straightforward and easier to maintain.So, in my 2 months of experience, this unit should be somewhat more reliable than the drop/cut machines. This company also seems to exist and have customer service, something I can't say about some of my previous ice makers. So that's good. The other good thing about the unit is the noise. Drop/cut makers tend to run a lot because they make ice rather slowly. This unit makes ice quickly, and very nosily, but once its done it shuts off and is dead quiet. On average this unit is far quieter than my drop/cuts (which also tinkle the ice into the bin as they cut). Its louder when its making ice, but louder much less often (it could go almost all night without coming on, for example). The other feature about noise is that the unit tends to come on when you take ice out (duh), which means when you are asleep, and not taking ice out, the machine is off and quiet. I also like the bin/drain design much better because it does not require an internal pump to move the water to the drain pipe. One less cycle and one less thing to break. For two months now it has made ice quickly, consistently, and of good quality.My assessment is that this ice machine is quieter, on average, than the drop/cut machines, and likely a lot more reliable. And reliability is a huge issue with ice machines, so that would be outstanding if it holds up.Those are all good things. At the same time it has some awkward features. First, as noted in other reviews, there is no place to put the scoop. Which is awkward but whatever. Second, the ice does come out in sheets. The sheets are too big to be usable, even if they break into two or four pieces as they drop. So you have to break up the ice sheets. I have an ice breaker (for cocktail ice) that has now been put to good and continuous use. I don't fancy hammering around inside my ice maker but as far as I can tell as long as you avoid hitting the little shut off paddle you should be OK. And I like moving the ice around and determining how much ice I make. You may not like messing with your ice, so take that into account. Third, and this I find to be really unnecessary, annoying, and a rather poor design choice, some of the controls for cleaning and ice making speed are on the back of the unit. Now I don't know where the designers install their ice machines but I put mine under a counter. With water and drain hoses attached. Its a huge PITA to move the ice maker out. There is a shut off switch on the front, but for servicing and diagnosing and other activities I'd prefer as much on the front of the unit as possible. As long as the unit does not break I'm fine with it, its not a deal breaker, but I docked one star for this.Overall I am quite pleased with this unit and would buy it again. I believe the design is better than the drop/cut machines. It has not failed in two months of working, which is good for an ice maker, but I'm hoping it goes a couple of years at least. It has some disadvantages but I'm hoping the machine's apparent increased reliability will make up for those.---UPDATE---Its been 2 years now with the little guy and I can still say I'm quite pleased. If it were not for the inane location of the switches I'd give it five stars. It has gone for 2 years (knock on wood) without flooding the house or catching on fire or otherwise failing, which is beginning to get pretty far out on the distribution curve compared to drop/cut ice makers. I have changed my heading to "great" ice machine because of this. Everything I say above is still true, but I can add reliability to the list. (Now watch it die tomorrow).

Do NOT buy this product! Within a year our ice maker started making unbearable noise. When it wasn't gurgling and hissing it was making a repetitive grinding noise. And the ice was not forming as it had been in the past, quieter, months. Then we discovered that no appliance repair group in the Phoenix area would service it. They wouldn't even come to look at it. When I called Whynter they said they only service the machines "in-house" in California. They offered diagnosis over the internet. They would determine what the problem was and tell us what WE needed to do to fix it--ourselves. Not being terribly handy with repairing appliances, I opted to scrap the ice maker and buy a new one from a reliable appliance company who would service it without it taking a trip to California.

The machine works well, but it is very noisy. I guess it's the compressor. I read many reviews about the sheets of ice - yes, that is frustrating we well. Besides the machine noise, now I have to chop up all the ice to make it usable in a cup. Also, the handle fell off after about 6 months; I was able to put it back on, but a couple weeks later it fell off again. I couldn't get it to screw back on so now I have little nubs of the screws sticking out the front of the door. I'm now looking for a replacement so I can put this noisy machine in the basement away.I would not recommend this machine for a personal kitchen simply because of how loudly it runs. I prefer some peace and quiet now and then.