Ecozy Nugget Ice Maker

*update 6/19/23- customer service reached out and sent us a new machine. The new machine is working great and not loud at all. Tina from customer service reached out to us multiple times to make sure everything was working properly. Very happy with the machine and customer service, updated review to 5 stars.

The machine does it’s job and produces a nice amount of pellet ice.
However every night at the same time it emits a loud screeching noise.

Fonctionne très bien, prend peu de place et silencieuse

My husband loved this for Christmas
Is quiet and perfect for our little household

perfect l like very good

It makes ice quickly. It’s just me so I can make ice as I need it. I love the small cubes. They fit in my sports bottle well.

This is a fairly decent icemaker that appears to be well made and seems well designed with respect to its physical construction. It’s fairly fast at making ice and it’s moderately loud. In comparison to most other similarly sized icemakers, this particular ice maker does not have an ice basket is I actually prefer simply because it makes more sense for me and it’s a lot more convenient to access the precious ice. The use of a basket also makes it slightly easier to clean in my opinion but that’s a personal preference I suppose.

≡ Physical build
The physical build quality is decent and similar to most others that I’ve come across including those from other brand name ones. It has the typical top-loading design (btw, I prefer the side-loading design though) with transparent lid that the vast majority of these ice makers do so there isn’t any fancy here. It is slightly but noticeably smaller/shorter and more compact than most others that I’ve come across so that’s nice; however, the real and practical amount of space saved is, well, negligible because the difference is simply NOT significant enough for it to matter unless there is a perfectly narrow place on the countertop where nothing else would fit except this one. In either case, smaller is better given the limited countertop space we have.

≡ Features
It has the typical features as the vast majority of other similarly styled (and somewhat portable) icemakers have and there really isn’t anything spectacular about this particular unit (or most others even). The most important one is probably the type or style of ice it makes and instead of the more common and typical bullet ice, this one makes little nugget or rectangular chunks that are easily crushed and somewhat chewable as claimed.

While I do appreciate chewable ice nuggets and admitted I love to chew on ’em ices, these are a little too small and therefore melt a bit too fast in some cases. I wish there are 2 settings for this ice maker where I can choose the size of these ice nuggets because I don’t always need or want these little nuggets and sometimes I do want slightly larger chunks that would stay icy just a bit longer.

It also has a self-cleaning function (press/hold POWER button for 3 sec) which I’m not entirely sure how it works because it’s not clearly documented but it’s there should you have the need for it. In addition, it has light indicators to remind you when the ice is full and when more water is needed. Again, these are just typical features that most, if not all, of these icemakers have and that’s that.

≡ Performance
It does make about 12 pieces or so (some were broken) of ice nuggets in around 12-13min (10 min claimed) which is about 55-60 pieces in an hour which isn’t bad. With that being said, this is (again) more or less the typical performance of most other icemakers (e.g. some models of Frigidaire and Danby that I’ve come across) although it IS slightly slower than some other ice makers that come out in the last year or so.

Interestingly, it actually took about 20min less to make the 2nd batch of ice (until it’s full with the LED comes on) and 45min LONGER for the 3rd batch. I have no idea what’s going on since I wasn’t there monitoring the process and counting how many were made each time but suffice to say that this is NOT something I wanna see; inconsistent results is never (or at least seldom) a good thing when we’re talking about electronics. Your guess is as good as mine as to why this happens.

✘ I should also point out there this is NOT a freezer and will NOT keep the ice bullets frozen once they are made. They will BEGIN to MELT immediately after they made which is why I believe the non-transparent cover/lid of this particular style is better (however little). The melted ice (i.e. water) will be recycled and fed back to the icemaker to make more ice and so on.

≡ Note
Although how the ice can be removed from the icemaker is not strictly a performance related feature, I feel it is part of the overall experience which I do appreciate and very much prefer a side-loading basket rather than a top-loading one.

Most of these icemakers (including this one) aren’t necessarily small and they often have certain height (i.e. not short/flat) and I find it cumbersome having to open the lid at the TOP of the icemaker and use the scoop to get the ice out. The scoop works in a horizontal motion whereas the ice is stored stacked vertically and those 2 don’t necessarily work well with each other if you know what I mean. Anyway, I just wanna mention it again that this would be a much more attractive ice maker for me if the basket can be removed horizontally from the side rather than vertically from the top.

It would also help (however insignificantly) that the lid is somewhat opaque because I don’t necessarily need to see the ice and that could’ve helped so they will last longer before complexly melted. LEDs exist to indicate whether it’s full and/or water is needed and there is really no need for me to visually see the ice, is there?
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Btw, it’s moderately loud as most others are especially when it’s making ice (i.e. when the compressor is actively working) so don’t expect this to be a quiet machine because none of icemakers is.

≡ Value
All things considered, this is a fairly decent [portable] icemaker that’s reasonably well made and for the most part works as expected without issues. It’s reasonably priced at $280 for what it provides, its physical build quality, and overall performance.