Hot-Air Electric Popcorn Maker, 8 Cups, Healthy Oil Free Popcorn with Measuring Scoop, Retro Red

So far, so good! I just got it, cleaned it, and did the 2 minute warm-up, which is probably pretty important to clearing and burning-off any residue before making popcorn. When I poured the carefully measured popcorn in and turned it on I was anxious and waiting for anything to happen. Some un-popped kernels flew out to begin with (about 20 I'd guess) and then it settled into the heat-cycle and started popping the rest. Big, perfect popcorn followed until it stopped popping, I turned it off and emptied the rest of the chamber into my bowl. The serving was just right for the bowl I used and after a little garlic salt I'm good to go. It all works! Yay! Now I can eat more delicious popcorn without the adverse effects of all that oil. There's no after-taste of the hot-air process that I notice, which was on my checklist since it still seems miraculous that such a small device works so well. EDIT: (12 hours later) OK, I made a mistake in the procedure. You're supposed to turn it on for 2 minutes to preheat it, then turn it off, quickly add the popcorn into the popping chamber, turn it back on and get your popcorn. That works much better! The initial instructions are confusing because it smells when you first turn it on out of the box (for 2 minutes) so I didn't connect that with the NORMAL operation, but only with something you do initially to prepare it for later use. BUT You do that first, to remove any unwanted residue from the heating element, THEN every time you use it, turn it on for 2 minutes to preheat, put in the kernels and have your bowl ready under the popcorn exit chute. I have a problem with the measuring lid. (IT'S IMPORTANT to get just the right amount of popcorn into the popping chamber or it won't work right, but the measuring lid is hard to use.) The mark is difficult to see and a large flat volume is more difficult to measure than a tall cylinder or an actual measuring cup. >>>It takes 6 table spoons to fill the chamber.<<< 1 table spoon is 15 ml, SO IT'S 90 ml which is much easier to get with a measuring cup, or even a small container that you can have an exact mark to indicate the same amount that you pour in from the measuring lid. I did it BOTH ways, using the measuring lid, then a measuring cup to make sure that the volume of kernels was correct. 6 TBSP = 3.5 fluid ounces = 90 Mile Liters (ml).

EDIT: It's now September 2014, and we have used this popcorn popper 2-3 times weekly since we got it November 2012. It still works perfectly, with many types of different corn. Now we mostly use organic, to make the wife happy. She's able to operate it perfectly too. Fill atleast up to the line/circle above the airholes in the chamber, and you're golden. Works every time then. We don't bother to preheat it anymore though. I usually spray on some "Kernel seasons" popcorn butter, and that makes it somewhat more crispy. Then season to taste. Tastier than microwave popcorn. Happy with the machine, would get another if it stopped working. ORIGINAL REVIEW: I read all the bad reviews of this item before I purchased, (what where they on?) and by the sound of it this product should almost not work at all. Not so. Fill the correct amount! ( Use the top lid as measuring cup up til and including the hashed area.) Well, I tried that, and did the "burn in process" that god rid of the plastic smell first, and then I started it. It was totally perfect! Not one - not a single unpopped kernel on the first try. The sound is definatly noticable, but not a problem. Much less than say a blender or hair dryer. Actually it does sound similar to a hairdryer on a medium setting/speed. Looks great, pops Perfect! -Follow the instructions! I used the standard Walmart "Great Value" $1.88 dried corn kernels, and a 12 inch wooden bowl which became full of popcorn. < <<< EDIT: Tried it again; 1. try: 2/3 of Kernel flying everywhere, unpopped. 2. try, slightly less corn: 3/4 of kernels flying everywhere, unpopped. 3. try, checked measurment, this time more than the 2 other times: Perfect! Have now finished and popped the whole bag succesfully, perfect every time since. >>>If the kernels is rotating inside the chamber, you are using TOO LITTLE, they will spit out unpopped! Fill to ABOVE the airholes!<<< Comment: I have noticed that on alot of cheaper amazon products where there are more unhappy customers than happy ones, it seems that the issues most have is because of wrong usage, not really the product faults itself. I do not belive I am able to get one good product after another, while most others gets faulty or malfunctioning ones, or do not work as described. I think it's a user issue. This product is such a product, it works fine if used as described. Also, someone said to barely cover the surface of the measuring cup. That is TOO LITTLE! Did you not read the separate small piece of paper that describes the measurement? It says UP TO and INCLUDING the scratched/hatced area inside the cup. If you have bad eyesight, measure up to the line inside the chamber instead. As for taste, i melt some butter, or use spray butter ( to make seasoning stick), then popcorn salt + "Kernel season's" white cheddar popcorn seasoning. Tastes great then!

What’s important to know is that this popper is well constructed. It feels durable in every respect. So what’s the problem? Power… far more than popcorn poppers need to expel popped kernels. The popper is able to pop but unfortunately not efficiently. The vortex of hot air is so strong it propels popped kernels at an alarming rate and with so much force that scalding hot unpopped kernels are ejected sometimes popping in the bucket (I invested in a 12” tall food grade bucket to try and contain what the popper puts out. It didn’t work.) blasting previously popped kernels creating an effect akin to a bomb built with thousands of ball bearings in it! Sometimes the scalding unpopped kernels land on skin which is extremely painful, both when they land on you and again as you try to brush them off. Cleanup up of the popper is simple and easy so long as you do it well after cool-down. The cleanup of the room is another story. Unpopped and popped corn is everywhere. Compared to a silicone microwave popping bowl this device wastes easily 4x the amount of kernels. I tried adding the recommended amount of kernels thinking the manufacturer knew what it was talking about. Unpopped volume is no less than when I attempted to add more than recommended kernels. My thought was that perhaps the popped kernels would fill the air chamber and create a cover keeping me safer from escaping unpopped Kernels this only worked to a point. Unpoppable (defective corn) sometimes burned but never to the point where it wasn’t ejectable once the popped corn began to clear the machine. Most does not burn and just begins shooting out everywhere. One might suggest that the premium Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn could be to blame. Well I tried jolly time and Walmart brand too….what a mess!! The corn kernels would have to be considerably heavier to remain in the hot chamber until popped when it would be lighter and more easily expelled, but the weight of unpopped kernels seems pretty consistent across brands. My previous popper was a similar design but with less force so kernels stayed in the machine until popped at a more normal rate. Wasted kernels was considerably less as you might expect. My dog hears this device power up and gets anxious. He knows hot kernels will be flying soon after it starts up and doesn’t like to stick around. This would be a safety issue to operate near children or crowds. Now there is going to be the oddball out there who assumes I run this thing with the lid off…..and they would be wrong. Keeping the heat inside the popper is critical to popping…..running it with it’s lid off would be as stupid as operating a blender with its lid off…..Mayhem and mess would ensue. Also thinking that my issues were limited to my machine…..I picked up a second one. Both wreak havoc in the same manner. Also of note….because it’s expelling so much Unpopped corn again you might want to blame the popcorn companies….after all isn’t the rate of unpopped corn attributable to them? I wondered that too so I took the unpopped kernels from inside the bucket and poured them back in the machine. Most eventually pops when I keep putting the unpopped back in. As long as the corn stays in the machine….it will pop. Bottom line shoppers? Find something with less power unless you like wasting money on unpopped kernels, enjoy scalding your skin, and get some kind of weird thrill from chasing popped corn all over the kitchen. Look my results may be unusual but after attempting to Pop as much as as two packages of 8lbs of Redenbachers and various weights of Jolly Time, and Walmart brand corn with consistent results… I’m convinced by my results. It’s your money……I’m just sharing what happened to me. Good luck! Happy shopping fellow shoppers!!!!!

Many positives, couple slight negatives. If I could make the rating 4.75 I would do it. Positives: Great price, very cute looking, easy to wipe clean and light weight but does not tip over thanks to it being a little squatty. The English portion of the manual was easy to read, with correct spelling and phrasing. We use generic popcorn and only a few kernels don't pop, right at the beginning of the cycle, but the rest pops perfectly. We love having the on/off switch rather than having to plug and unplug the unit to start and stop it. Slight negatives that would not prevent us from buying another one: This popper does not have the set-up to melt butter in the measuring cup on the top from the heat of the popping. We rarely used that function on our old popper and do not miss it now. Only other slight drawback is that while it does pop well, not all of it pops up and out of the heater and down the shute. As soon as you hear it stop popping there is no force behind it to push the remaining popped kernels out. It is very easy to get them out. Turn off the switch and lift the lid, then pour that small amount of popped corn into the bowl. Remember to preheat the popper for two minutes as indicated clearly in the manual. We plug ours in, remove the lid , turn it on with the switch, then set the timer on the microwave oven. We don't walk far away. In two minutes we have enough time to get the spray margarine out of the frig, get the popcorn and measure it into the lid, put the popcorn away and get the bowl. Put the bowl in place and the heat from the popper will warm it it a bit before you shut off the warming cycle. Pour in the popcorn in, put the cap on, and turn on the popper again. Enjoy

OK so I have a review for those who look at customer responses as "Bible" on here. First of all, some of the people who purchased this did NOT read the instructions first before operating. It's abundantly clear and to those who did leave 5 or 4 stars and told me to read the instructions, yall are the real MVP's! With all that out of the way, heat up your machine. It gets hot FAST but that's okay. Keep it on for 2 or 3 min to ensure your popcorn is going to be perfect. Shut it off when you're ready to fill the popcorn maker with kernels. When you use the red lid to fill it, THE LINE IS YOUR FRIEND! there's a line which indicates about 1/4 of a cup of popcorn kernels. Do NOT put in more than that. That's exactly why your popcorn burns. I made the mistake by putting over that line indicator and yes, my machine smoked up and I had burnt popcorn. No big deal though bc after that adjustment and using less kernels, my popcorn came out perfect with very few unpopped kernels and zero burn. It was enough to fill a large plastic mixing bowl. As far as noise, ya it's a bit noisy like a hair dryer. It's air being circulated so what do ya expect? Lol. This sound was hardly off-putting or irritating as you realistically should only have to "deal" with it for 4 min tops including the time spent warming your popcorn maker up. For $14 I'm certainly not complaining. I spent $2 on a large bag of white kernels. The instructions are clear in noting that white and yellow pop differently and to try different brands to see what works best. So if you find yellow isn't working for you, try white and vice versa. I got jolly time brand if that helps. Let me also say for those who have issues with popcorn flying out, use a tall popcorn bag or those novelty plastic popcorn boxes. That's what I plan on doing since the bowl I had was too low to the shooter part and I had a few fly out but not many. Again, not enough to irritate me. Highly recommended this product should you want a good popcorn maker at a decent price.

It works good, but when it pops, it takes out half the kernels I tried putting in less still does the same thing when it pops it picks up the current blows the curls around so only pops about half of what you put in there and the bottom bowl is full of kernels so when it pops and take out the popcorn and put the other kernels back in there to make more popcorn, but other than that, it works good

This popcorn maker is only good for its appearance. This little guy is beautiful but unfortunately looks doesn’t help the fact that it actually doesn’t work. Most of the kernels pop out while it’s cooking and you literally end up with a handful of popcorn. Disappointed to say the least! Will use this as decoration at this point. Two stars for the look!!

This is a cute little machine. Quick and easy. Perfect for movie nights. Its a little messy though. The air wips around and pushes out the kernels once it's started. The popped popcorn goes everywhere. It is also quite loud. But I'll take this over the microwave bags any day.