Snow Cones / Slushies Just In Time for the Summer!
Written: Apr 23 '02 (Updated Mar 08 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use, Quick, No mess, Fun
Cons: Will need to buy accessories/flavorings
The Bottom Line: Works great, tastes great, and is quick and easy to make with no mess.
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| xyzwyatt's Full Review: Rival Snow Cone Maker |
You could have your kids marvel over your ability, neighbor kids amazed with your creativity, birthday parties full of excitement, the possibilities are endless.
The Rival Electric Snow Cone Maker is is a great appliance to bring home for the summer months ahead. You can entice you or your children to drink healthier and cut back on the ice cream. Or you can pour the syrup over the ice and enjoy yourself like they do at the theme parks!
How This Ended Up In Our Shopping Cart
While shopping one fine evening we went to the kitchen appliance section for a toaster oven and came home with a snow cone maker. My husband found a display of snow cone makers in several different sizes and priced between $25 - $40. My husband of course wanted the $40 one and tried to reason that we need one. I wasn't too impressed with his $40 ice crusher so I say, "They have $10 snoopy ones in the toy isle!" (I know this because the kids got one for Christmas a couple years ago and they never once used it).
Suddenly there was a glow out the corner of my eye. A very cute snow Cone Maker for only $19.99 and best of all it was a real brand!
What It Does
This is a sophisticated automatic plastic ice crusher. That is all it does, is grinds ice.
What you can do for the ice:
Snow Cones
Icy Slushes
Smoothies
Milk Shakes
Fruity Drinks
Ease Of Use
This is easy enough to use that you don't have to even read the directions. Simply drop in ice cubes (I use 10 ice cubes from the ice maker) and gently push the lid with the palm of your hand.
There is a small dial on the front for the thickness of the ice. It can go as finely as snow cone quality or as thick as slushies. It shoots out very quickly, only a few seconds to fill up a glass so you could even use it in a large group.
The instructions have recipes for a few drinks. There is a large range of possibilities that could not be created without this type of machine.
This is easy enough for children to use, but not designed for children nor is it safe enough for them to use.
More to Buy $
You will need to buy ice flavoring at stores. Some are packets, some are liquid syrup bottles. Our favorite is Hawaiice Blue Ice Rasberry syrup in the bottle.
You also may need straws, straws with spoons on the end, paper snow cones, fancy little bowls, or fruits for drinks.
Comparison to Other Techniques
I have a blender, crushing ice destroys the blades. You also have no control over the fineness of the ice.
I have an ice crusher and I haven't used it in about 6 years. It's been under the cabinet and inconvenient and bulky. It also doesn't chop it as finely as the Rival does.
I had a snoopy snow cone maker when I was a kid, used it once, took forever to grind up one piece of ice, not into manual labor. My kids had one, never ever used it.
The above 3 methods always got the ice stuck occasionally. The Rival never gets the ice stuck. It never skips a beat.
My brother's kids had the Little Tikes snow cone cart (quite large) that made a huge mess that they're still talking about a year later!
Storage
This is fairly small, round, and stands 10" tall. It is plastic with a blue lid and off-white base. It's not great to look at, but it's not ugly either. It could be easily tucked away or left on the kitchen sink. I'm going to try to leave mine on the sink through the summer because from experience, out of site, out of mind. Since you're putting ice in there, you may want to wait until it dries out before putting it away.
Bottom Line
This is a novel item that isn't necessary but is fun to have especially if you like cold drinks. I like how this is easy to make per serving so you don't have to have an all-family vote to have one. You can also have a snow cone or slushy in about 1 minute with NO MESS!
Other appliances to consider:
Disney Smoothie Maker
VillaWare Ice Cream Maker
Oster Blender
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
xyzwyatt
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Location: Nashville, TN
Reviews written: 542
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Be a coffee-drinking individual - espresso yourself!
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