Improvements Needed:
1) It mixes the ice cream a little slowly
2) It would be easier if the on/off switch didn't have to be held down constantly

51 of 51 found the following review helpful:

great idea, horrible execution  Jan 07, 2003
By Chel Micheline "Chel Micheline"
I got this for Christmas and while I use it every night, and *really* like the ice cream/topping combos that come out, the design of the product is really terrible.

The pros: Does a great job of mixing the ice cream and the toppings together, and makes even the most low-fat, sugar-free ice creams taste amazing. Unlike other reviewers- I found it incredibly easy to clean- I just pull out the pump and and the "grinder" from the base and put it in the top shelf of the dishwasher. No ice cream gets on the base or motor. I've been able to make a serving without assistance- pushing on a lever and pressing a button doesn't require another person.

The cons: the design of this machine is terrible. Half of your ice cream disappears- I'm not sure if the ice cream is super compressed in the machine or what, but if you put in a normal serving of ice cream, you will only get 25% of it out, even after scraping down the parts. The way the machine works is that a pump pushes the ice cream down to a spinning grinder, which blends the ice cream with the toppings. Most of the ice cream winds up stuck to the grinder part, as there is no machanism that scrapes it and pushes it out. After you are done extracting the ice cream from the machine, you have to pull the grinder off and scrape it down to get most of your dessert. By that time it's more the texture of a "Blizzard" than soft serve. Because the grinder piece is so weirdly designed, there's no way to get all the ice cream off it it, even with a tiny spatula. It's a waste of food.

If you are okay with wasting a lot of ice cream, and don't mind manually scraping the grinder once you are done, then go ahead and buy this.The results *are* delicious, despite the work involved with actually getting them in a dish! I just don't understand why an engineer at Black and Decker couldn't come up with a machine that blends ice cream and then uses a pump to extract it all from the machine.

27 of 27 found the following review helpful:

Poor Descriptoin  Jan 12, 2003

Although this machine does indeed make hard ice cream soft, you need to use a pint of ice cream to get two cones. The rest of the ice cream remains on the blade and you practically have to eat if off there.
The ice cream also has to be extremely hard or it will be liquified.
The on/off switch has to be depressed constantly, because as soon as you release the switch the machine goes off. The machine also has to be operated by two persons, because of the hardness of the on/off switch.
For me this was a very bad buy. I used it just once and never will again. For me it was a waste of money.

29 of 31 found the following review helpful:

Excellent  Nov 06, 2002
By Timothy's
I bought one locally for my Mom as she likes soft serve, well, I HAD to buy one for myself, and that's when I saw Amazon has it and I'm buying it. It makes ice cream like you get from soft serve machines at DQ and places like that. You do need to make sure the ice cream you put in the machine is VERY hard, other wise it wont make a good soft serve cone, it'll be way to soft. This machine is great if you are making more than one cone, and you will need atleast two people if you are making cones. It's a nice little kitchen tool, and I highly recommend this. Play around and come up with neat mixes, add candy and nut pieces, have fun with it.

21 of 23 found the following review helpful:

This Thing is Great--Makes Amazing Blizzards!! (Debunking the Myths of Other Reviews)  Apr 08, 2006
By It's Just Me
Don't pay any attention to the truly uncoordinated people who tell you it takes two or more people to run this machine--I honestly can't figure out why it would! It couldn't be easier & the resulting treats couldn't be better!!

Reading some of the reviews of this product just leaves me scratching my head...as such, I apologize for any cynicism you may detect in my review, but I feel the need to counter some of the misinformation out there (and I empathize with the Black & Decker reps who had to deal with some of these cranky people who are too inept to operate a rather simple tool).

1. The "ON" switch does NOT need to be held down like a pulse-button--just turn it on & let go, people...this leaves your hands free to pick up the cone & fill it with the deliciously yummy treat coming out of the Arctic Twister. When you're done, just turn it off again (see, now wasn't that easy?).

2. The idea that it takes too long is hilarious, too. Unless, of course, the 90-seconds it takes to assemble it & scoop in the ingredients is considered a lot of time (certainly not in my book, especially considering the fact that the results are WAY better than a DQ Blizzard). I literally took this product out of the box the first time and was eating an awesome dessert in less than 2 minutes--without reading any directions for assembly or use--it is that simple of a product to figure out. Clean up is a breeze, too. It dismantles with the push of a button & it rinses in the sink, again, in just a few seconds (there are only three pieces to wash). It is easy enough to use that it's not a big deal to reassemble it if someone wants seconds or more people pop in after you've taken it apart--it literally is one of the easiest & most fun food preparation products we own. So the idea that jumping into a car & going to DQ for Blizzards would be somehow more efficient is outrageous (and the closest one to us is only 5 miles away). It would truly take longer just to get our shoes on* & into the car than it would take to run the Arctic Twister! (* = I'm talking a family of four who all tie our own shoes--no other hindrances like diaper bags or anything.)

3. Noisy? Well, the thing DOES have a motor. So does your blender, food processor, popcorn popper & hand mixer! It's not like you're running this thing for any real length of time. In my mind, if you can't handle a bit of noise from a product like this for all of 10-30 seconds, then you are missing the whole point of having a good time using a product that is meant to be fun. Lighten up folks--life is wayyyyy too short!

4. And, no, a regular ice cream scoop is NOT too big to use with this machine (when you see the size of the chute into which you place the ice cream, you'll find this a strange comment, too). No special equipment needed here.

5. Next, I can't imagine there is a kid out there (or many of us adults either) who wait for everyone in the room to have their cones in-hand before taking a lick of theirs...is there now a new etiquette to eating ice cream? I wonder if the comment about waiting for everyone to be served was written by Emily Post (with ice cream dripping down her arm)!? The laws of physics explain pretty well why ice cream melts the longer it is out of the freezer. Therefore, mix it, serve it & eat it--no need to sit and admire it (although it IS pretty darn cool).

6. Finally, the comment about this product being too hard to use if you have arthritis is SO untrue...I have pretty severe arthritis in both my hands and my elbows and had NO PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER using this machine. The most difficult part was scooping the ice cream from its original container--if you can do this part, you should be fine. If you can't scoop it out & you don't have arthritis, then your freezer temperature is set too low or you should dip the scooper in hot water first. However, once the ice cream is in the Arctic Twister and the motor is turned on, it begins to soften up--and one only needs to push the handle periodically and enough to advance the ice cream down toward the mixing assembly, but a lot of physical effort is not required since the motor does the work of mixing & churning the food. Again, if I could do this without any pain, nearly anyone can.

Truth be known, I agree with the comments that the design of this machine could be improved upon, since a fair amount of ice cream is not pushed through the machine (although we, too, have NO issues in licking the remains off the cone-shaped assembly--it's no different than licking the beaters when making a cake! Probably another lapse in the etiquette of our house ;) ). It would probably be nice is there was a way the machine could extrude closer to 100% of the finished product. But this is not enough to make me want to return the machine--and even less of an issue when serving a larger group of people, since the amount wasted remains the same whether making one cone or 50 cones & therefore becomes a relatively minor amount after numerous consecutive servings.

I am very impressed that this little gadget is so great at pulverizing the mix-ins, especially in the absence of any sharp parts (there is nothing that could cut you whatsoever--all parts are plastic, but seem sturdy at the same time). I half-expected the chocolcate chips to pose a problem because of their larger size and hard consistency; but they came out tiny & beautifully interspersed amid the Girl Scout Cookies, nuts, sprinkles and whatever else we added. Versus DQ (and other ice cream places), it is nice that you can use as many ingredients as you want (and have a greater variety) without being charged 50 cents or whatever they charge for each one, you can vary the flavor of the base ice cream, and you don't have to pack everyone into the car and stand in long lines and even battle to find a place to sit. The Arctic Twister is convenient and fun and, in short, I highly recommend it! I decided to write a review because I was just about to buy one for my sister's kids for Easter this year and couldn't believe the amount of negative reviews about it. I have no doubt they will love it as much as we do.

See all 51 customer reviews on Amazon.com