Lello 4080 Musso Lussino 1.5-Quart Ice Cream Maker, Stainless - 110/120V 60 HZ

Just as an FYI for those reading, my point of reference this review when it comes to making ice cream is the Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment I currently have. I put the freezer bowl in my deep freeze which cools it to about -5F (about -21C ) based on my kitchen thermometer probe against the side of the bowl when I remove it. Its been a solid workhorse and I had no complaints with how the ice cream comes out once put into containers and frozen, but I wanted to up my game and go with a machine that had a built in compressor and was dedicated to making frozen treats like ice cream. This arrived last night and couldn't wait to put a batch of chocolate through it (I prepared my base in preparation for its arrival). That being said, here's my review.The packaging was absolutely excellent. There is a lot of form-fitting foam around the unit protecting it as I hoped there would be for an expensive, heavy unit like this. When I look at getting something I go right to the 1 star reviews to see what problems people had. One review said the unit made clunking sounds when it was running and another said the compressor didn't chill the bowl so I inspected it very carefully for damage. Fortunately my unit seemed damage free. I also inspected so carefully because even though the ad says sold and shipped by Amazon, it was sent by UPS instead of an amazon delivery driver and the UPS driver left the box on its side instead of following the "this end up" arrows on the box. I attribute it arriving damage free due to how much formed foam is guarding it as well as the construction (stainless steel and REAL SCREWS AND BOLTS as opposed to interlocking plastic).I set it on the counter and gave it some time for the refrigerant to settle (about an hour I guess? I'm not sure I was eager to get started) and turned on the chiller to ensure the chilling unit was working fine. Lets just say that the chiller worked REALLY well.So, now that my concerns from issues that some people had were put to rest, how did it work compared to my freezer bowl attachment? Two words: Next level.The minute the first batch was processing I knew this was going to be a night and day difference. I was only 6 minutes in and could tell a difference. At 12 minutes in the ice cream was looking smooth and absolutely luscious. At 21 minutes the ice cream was so thick it almost bogged down the motor to a complete halt so I shut the chiller off and let it run for another 2 minutes before removing the ice cream. The picture attached is a frame grab from a video I made at the 23 minute mark when I decided to scoop it out. It pulls out of the maker like firm soft serve. The taste test was incredible! Absolutely smooth, creamy and luscious! Even when put in a container and frozen down to deep freeze temperatures it scoops easier than ice cream from my KA attachment and you get that "ruffled" surface from the scoop. It doesn't lose that creaminess either.Now don't get me wrong, my KA attachment when frozen in my deep freezer made great ice cream and keep in mind its going to be your ingredient choices that largely dictate your end result, but when it comes to turning your base into ice cream this machine does everything better if not outright "crushing" my KA attachment. The ice cream really is "next level." It comes out of the machine firmer while whipping in a little more air to give it a creamier texture. And of course, since I don't have to freeze a bowl I have the liberty to make as much as I want when I want without having to wait for a bowl to freeze overnight.Two final comments about this unit. Since you're probably coming from a freezer bowl unit to this, watch your first batch carefully. My KA attachment was able to get my ice cream to soft serve but the compressor in this unit can get it your base so cold and frozen you can bog the motor down to a complete halt. Get to know the machine before you set the timer and walk away. If the motor bogs down turn off the compressor let it run for a minute and you're ready to scoop out. Second, being one piece construction the bowl doesn't come out, but it does clean up as easy as the instructions say with a warm wet sponge. Unscrew the nut and you can remove the beater to clean separately.Although the only freezer bowl version of an ice cream maker I have is the KA attachment, I feel pretty confident to say this maker will take your ice cream game to the next level. If you love ice cream enough that shelling out the cash for this machine is in your budget and you've been waffling over this purchase, I say go for it. I freely admit I'm still in the "initial purchase" romantic phase with this maker, but I have zero regrets. For me, it was absolutely worth it.

Amazon had a sale on this item at considerably less than list price, and I decided to take a flyer and ordered one. I paid a little extra, with Prime, for 1 day delivery, which is probably worth it when dealing with a product like this, because air shipping is probably going to subject an item like this to less potential "in-transit trauma" than going through the truck distribution system. It arrived in fine condition.The item itself looks very presentable and will fit in with a high end kitchen containing stainless steel appliances. From what you can see from the exterior, it appears to be well-built. The "instruction manual" that ships with the product is really not a manual at all; it has a page or two of instructions and the rest of it is a small recipe book. One comment on the recipes given for standard ice cream is that there is no reference to food safety, such as the need to cook the basic custard to a certain temperature to kill potential salmonella that might accompany the raw egg yolks called for in the recipe, so beware; you don't want your purchase of this thing to make you sick. Maybe they don't raise chickens in Italy the way they raise them in the US, so perhaps that was not a concern for whoever made the recipes.I have now made 4 different frozen desserts in the few days I've owned this product; 2 standard flavored ice creams, using the custard base recipe in the enclosed recipe book, plus 2 frozen yogurts from another ice cream book ("The Perfect Scoop"). All have come out very well, and have better textures and more intense flavors than even high end product you can buy in your grocery store. Frozen yogurt is especially easy to make as no cooking of the base is necessary before you put it into the machine.One note on recipes is that when you start using consumer recipes in books aimed at the general public, these recipes generally assume that you are using a much lesser device, often one without a self-contained refrigerated chiller, and as a result they can call for taking the base and chilling it in the fridge for an hour before putting the contents into the ice cream maker. With this Lello machine, you don't really have to do that, you can just plunk the base right into the maker and turn it on; the machine will do the rest and it can deal with ingredients that are room temperature rather than pre-chilled. I would not, however, put a hot 170F degree base into the machine without letting it cool down to room temperature, even if the machine could overcome that.The purchaser needs to consider that there is no way he or she will ever amortize the cost of this appliance, because the ingredients needed to make a high end frozen dessert are expensive, and likely will add up to what you would pay for a premium frozen dessert in the grocery store. If the goal is to make a cheap dessert, I can assure you that a little searching at your local market will lead you to much cheaper product than you can make for yourself. Therefore, the only reason to go to the effort to make your own frozen desserts is that you value freshness and control over the ingredients used that can only come with something you made for yourself. Even if you have a large family to feed, this machine is not going to save you any money, no matter how many batches you make per day or per week. There is no economy of scale here, unless maybe you have your own dairy cow out in the back yard.My only reservation about this machine is that I do not think that they are really designed to be repaired, and I do not know how long you can expect them to operate before they end up in the dump. If I had paid $700 for this machine, then I would be very upset if I only got a couple of years of use out of it, however having gotten the product at a reduced price, I'm willing to take that risk. Everything I have read about machines in this class leads me to believe that unless you don't use it often, a lifespan of 5 years would be unduly optimistic. I have friends who have owned several similar machines in this price range and who stopped buying them after they came to the conclusion that none of them will last more than a few years and that none of them can be economically repaired. The manufacturer of this machine has only a very token presence in the USA, through a distributor, and I have read "uncharitable" comments about them when it comes to repairs, albeit of different models than this one. So my advice would be not to buy this thing if you are expecting it to last for 10 or even 5 years, no matter how durable it might appear on cursory inspection. I would strongly suggest buying it with a credit card that will double the manufacturer's warranty such as a Visa Signature card, and then to register the purchase immediately with the respective "warranty manager-type" service, to be sure that you will get at least 2 years use out of it for your several hundred dollars.With this caveat, I do recommend this item for purchase, and if it continues to work for me in the way it has worked so far, I will be very happy that I bought it.