Whynter IMC-491DC Portable 49lb Capacity Stainless Steel with Water Connection Ice Makers, One Size

I am updating the review below which detailed how my ice maker failed and was immediately replaced by Whynter customer service. Then after 13 months the new one I received stopped making ice. The ice tray was not functioning properly. I texted Whynter customer service and quickly received a response from Jof with Whynter. He said the tray motor was probably not working and sent me a new one along with detailed instructions on how to replace the motor. After disassembling the ice maker I discovered that the motor was working but the plastic part of the tray where the motor shaft inserts was cracked. I emailed Jof and he sent out a new tray the next day. I received the new tray and installed it. Working like new now thanks to Jof and the great customer service at Whynter.I purchased this Ice Maker in April 2021. About 9 months later it started only making about 4 full size cubes and the rest were small or no cubes at all. I emailed Whynter customer service and got an immediate response from Jackie. She gave me to a few things to check. I did as instructed but no change so I replied back to Jackie. Her next email said she suspected the compressor was the problem and they would send me a new unit. Within a few days the new ice maker arrived. I unboxed, connected to my water supply and plugged it in. It did not take long for me to realized this new ice maker was making bigger cubes faster than old one ever did. I believe now that the first one was not operating at 100% out of the box but I had no way of knowing that until it really started to degrade. Bottom line: I could not be happier with Whynter and the customer service I received from Jackie.

The ice maker works great and is very quiet. We ran into an issue with the ice maker after a few months, but Mariella was able to help us resolve the issue quickly. Since then, we have been very happy with the appliance again.

The unit is much larger than I anticipated it being. It really is not a counter top item like described. We purchase this to help subsidize our refrigerator ice maker. We have a large family that goes through a lot of ice. Between meals, school lunches, sorts etc our ice bin always seems to be empty. We purchased this in hopes of having another alternative for making ice. It is a nice unit when unboxed. Looks well built and functional but once we started using it we returned it pretty quick. The unit is very loud all the time. It has a fan on the side that constantly runs and when it does make ice the eject system is so loud you can hear it anywhere in the home. The biggest disappointment of all is that once the ice is made, it just melts away. There is nothing to keep the unit cool inside. So it is in a continuous cycle of making ice, then melting back into water only to be made into ice again. The ice when first made is really nice and seems awesome. But only a few minutes after the unit dumps the ice into the bin, the ice cubes start to melt and the bin becomes one big glob of ice as the unit makes fresh ice on top of the melting pieces. The only way this thing is going to work for anyone is if the plan is to use the ice straight away when the unit makes it and dumps it. Other than that, it isn’t a countertop piece that you can put out to have ice ready when needed. Just didn’t work for our needs.

We have been using the Whynter IMC-491DC Portable Ice Maker for almost a year and a half. The icemaker cranks out ice very fast. I have called the Whynter customer service several times regarding operation of the machine and the response has been nothing short of incredible. Last week the ice tray stopped cycling, and I called to report the issue. Angelica and Angie were extremely quick to respond with questions as to what exactly the issue was. The team diagnosed the issue, ordered the parts, sent me detail instructions on how to replace the parts and I received the parts two days later in Texas. I was amazed at how rapidly they solved the issue. I am SOLD on this company. Not only because of the quality of their product, but even more so because of their customer service. You can not go wrong doing business with Whynter.

I bought this recently because my husband and I have a lot of parties at our house. One main reason I bought it instead of other models is that it makes much more ice in less time than the others in this price range. There are also 3 sizes of ice to choose from plus a timer where you can either choose for a delayed start or amount of run time. Delayed start is nice option so that I timed it to begin making ice in the morning automatically.My only major complaint is that it turns out quite a bit of external heat when cooling down the water for ice. (At our summer party here in Florida, my A/C was struggling to keep the house cool, and this heat didn't help that situation, but nonetheless it's necessary evil for a refrigerator, freezer, or ice maker to cool inside.) Also, the included ice scoop is very small, so I recommend buying a larger one.On another note, this ice maker is larger than I anticipated, but I imagine the larger size is needed for the higher capacity and faster ice production. I have a picture of it near a roll of paper towels to give you an idea of the scale. We hope to buy an RV one day, but I am not sure how well it would fit on a smaller RV kitchen counter.As with most other portable ice makers, the ice storage compartment is not refrigerated, so we continually grabbed any ice when its bin became full, put the ice in a plastic bag, and threw it in our chest freezer to have enough ice ready for the coolers and drinks. Any unused ice will melt into the compartment below which is the reservoir for the water - any melted ice is recycled into water and turned back into ice again, which I think is a nice feature in the absence of a cooled storage compartment.