Whynter IMC-491DC Portable 49lb Capacity Stainless Steel with Water Connectio...

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.

I love this icemaker! I bought it for our beach house where we have lots of guests in the summer. It makes ice quickly and keeps it frozen until we are ready to use it. The quality of ice is great. The capacity is perfect - it rarely runs out as it keeps making ice continuously. It does not make too much noise. I would recommend it to anyone,

I wish somewhere in the description that it had said that if you weren't going to connect it to a water line right away, you shouldn't buy it. The sensors are so close to the top of the waterline that the basket can only fill and freeze ice a couple of cycles before it turns itself off. In the pictures, you can see the two metal sensors are just below the drain hole where the excess water from the basket drains back into the reservoir. All of the water below those sensors might as well not even be there. The only way this could make close to 50lbs of ice in a day, unless it is attached to a water line, is if someone stood there close by, all day and night. One of the other reviews said you don't need to use the water line. You most certainly do. If you don't, you will have to constantly be topping off the tank yourself, by hand, which makes the huge reservoir a complete waste of space. Also, the spout for the water line points over the top of the sweep and down so that when you try to run a cleaning cycle, it stops the sweep on the upswing and the whole system shuts down after one cleaning cycle. The NewAir that we had that is basically the identical unit, but without the water line, has the same system and I knew that wasn't how it was supposed to operate. I was able to turn the silicone spout so that it points to the side and stopped interfering with that function. Now the clean cycle operates fine. You can see in the picture that I turned it to the side, which fixed the problem but if you were going to use the water line, you probably wouldn't want it point the way that I have it. The key pad is also defective (again, I know how it is supposed to operate because I have had more than one unit with the identical keypad). To get the cleaning cycle to start, you have to push rather hard, much more than you should. If anything my previous ice maker of this design was too sensitive, when I leaned across it to get a glass from the cabinet, my chest would brush the controls and turn it off. There shouldn't be a need to have to press that hard to get it to function. Just holding my finger on it does nothing. Also there are bubbles under the top layer of the key pad, which you can sort of see in the picture, near the top, above the timer button and to the right of the cleaning button. In the picture they appear to be darker areas, but it looks like trapped are where the layers were not smoothed together properly. That is probably the defect that is making it not function correctly. We have been without an ice maker for a week, so I am loathe to return this. There is no easy way for me to run the water line, although I had visions of putting in a whole house filter and thought that I would run the water line eventually. The inconvenience of having to keep the reservoir full all the time, makes using it like this until we can get that done, too inconvenient. I might be keeping it, in spite of the inconvenience, if it weren't for the keypad defect. Something that seems to be a problem with this particular design since one of our previous versions of this had the key pad popping out not long after we bought it. All of that said, I have had three or four of this design from two different brands, and one of the 26 lb from another brand. This design is far superior than the 26 lb. The spigot on the side means that you can drain it directly into a sink, if you set it up next to one, rather than holding it over a bucket like the ones with the drain on the bottom. It has 12 ice tines, not 9, like the smaller version and it has the cleaning cycle which means you are not freezing cleaning solution in an attempt to clean the unit. I would never buy another one without a cleaning cycle function. All of these units are mold magnets (anything with water will, no matter what you do) and need to be cleaned at least every other month or they will grow mold, no matter what kind of water you use. Also, there are no annoying "beep" notifications to drive you crazy. Also, it is worth the money to buy the extended warranty. This is my fourth ice maker and not one lasted more than 2 years. The first 50 pound one lasted just under two years but came with a five year warranty. After the manufacturer refused to honor the warranty, Amazon replaced it for us, twice, because the replacement had a defective key pad.

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've had this for about a week. I was looking for one with a water hookup and this was the only one I could find with pretty good ratings. Thus far I'm very pleased. It's just like a commercial ice maker - continues to melt and recycle if you don't empty the basket. However, it makes ice quickly, but if you then put it in your ice bin just realize you may need to break it up to use since technically it's already melting when you remove it. Follow up. Right after I wrote this review, the front button sticker started coming off - had the unit about a week. Glue apparently is not strong enough. I saw that in another review, but thought I'd take a chance knowing I could re-glue if necessary. I put some contact cement on button sticker and face of machine and made sure the sponge buttons went back in appropriate hole. Works fine after doing that, so I reduced overall stars to 4. Manufacturer needs to make sure whoever makes the stickers for them uses stronger glue.

Wow ! we are so enjoying having this ice maker ! Set it up and it went right to work. We wanted the water hookup because the ice maker in our fridge went out and I didn't want to buy a new refrigerator. No regrets, we love it !

Absolutely love this machine! This is a BEAST at making ice! This is my 4th portable unit, and It is so much better than the others (others were Emerson brand, and really worked well for their intended purpose - I just wore them out!) I really, really love the ability to hook up to a direct water supply. This keeps me from having to continuously fill the reservoir with water. This thing makes about 45 lbs of ice per day, and I use almost all of it. I bought this (and the Emerson units) because my LG refrigerator has a built in ice maker in the door that has not worked right since I bought the frig new. When it does work, it makes about a glass of ice a day - not near enough for my household. Like any new product, it takes a few days to get used to it. Once you are used to the way it works, the noises it makes, and the look of the thing sitting on your counter, it feels like it belongs there as one of your most valued appliances! I have not had one single problem with this machine, and it runs continuously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I guess you can tell I really love my ice! UPDATE - Feb 4, 2017 I have now had this unit for about 17 months, and it died today. Unit comes on, but does nothing. After about 5 minutes of doing nothing, the "problem in unit" icon lights up. Machine is dead - been through enough of these countertop portable units to know that there is no fixing it at this point. For the cost, this machine should have lasted longer than it did. I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter what brand, or style you buy, they are all made of cheap parts, and have a limited life span. Save yourself some heartache and aggravation, and just buy a much cheaper version that fits your specific needs.

This is our 4th countertop ice maker, and by far the best. The others were much smaller and not as insulated leading to constant re-filling of the water reservoir and my spouse and I fighting over the remaining half-melted ice in the mornings. This unit is well insulated keeping the ice solid for very long periods of time and has a large enough capacity to provide enough ice whenever needed. The autofill feature is amazing, we will never go back to manually filling an ice maker. Great unit and a great value for the price. This unit is also the quietest of the 4 that we have owned.

The machine is yet to give me a single bullet of ice. Its tripping again and again within 30-40 secs.

Product arrived when promised, in great condition and was used for a party of about 50 guests and performed as described beautifully. Would recommend it for home or outdoor use to handle any demand.

Excellent product nice and quiet like the optional water feed makes tons of ice

This machine works fine but I just noticed that a screw inside where all the water is, has rusted.

Product works great fortunately I I found the same make model number 491 $30 cheaper and it has a water feed in it shop around folks