Customer Reviews

Nostalgia Electrics RHP-310 Retro Series Mini Hot Air Popcorn Popper

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This popper looks great but is poorly designed. Upside was it was less than $20. The biggest problem is that over the few minutes of popping time, about 1/3 of the kernels are ejected.

I've tried:
- Stale and fresh popcorn(not by design, I just had some stale corn...:))
- Different brands of popcorn
- Preheating the popper for ~5 minutes
- smaller and larger than recommended batches.

None of these things seem to have made a difference.
For kicks I 're-popped' the the ejected kernels from a recommended sized batch and got 2 more cups of popped corn out of it.

I bet a deeper or larger diameter well would fix this problem but oh well.
This popper is very lightweight, which doesn't inspire longevity.

I read the reviews about how this machine spat out hot kernels, and was possessed, etc. But I took the risk and bought it anyway. To avoid burnt popcorn, flying popcorn, and unpopped popcorn, fill the little red cap so that the kernels barely cover the surface. That's how many you should use. And as soon as you stop hearing pops, turn it off and pour it into the bowl. I didn't have to repop anything, and it all flowed nicely into the bowl. And there are complaints about the noise. All air poppers make noise like this. Some worse.

I recommend this to teens mostly. It's fairly easy to use, and awesome for study sessions and slumber parties. Also great for movie nights. I love this product!!!

I usually pop white kernal popcorn in a pan on the stovetop, and it always comes out perfect. However, I saw the Nostalgia Mini-Retro hot air popper in the store, and I thought it might be a safer way for my teenagers to make their own popcorn. I had a hot air popper years ago, when I was in college, and it worked very well.)

I tried the Nostalgia popper twice, following the instructions inside the box. When I switched on the popper I immediately noticed that the motor is very loud, and the sound it makes is rattly and unpleasant.

Next, I noticed that the popcorn "measuring cup" (the red top of the popping chamber) is so wide and shallow that it is almost useless as an actual measuring device. Its width also virtually guarantees spilled kernals when one tries to pour them into the relatively narrow popping chamber.

When the popcorn stopped popping, about 1/4 of the kernals were still in the bottom of the popping chamber; they would not pop. When I pop the same corn in a pan on the stovetop, virtually all of it pops.)

Worst of all, the popped corn from the Nostalgia Mini-Retro Popper tasted stale; with a consistency that reminded me of styrofoam packing "peanuts," and just about as tasty. It seems that the designers paid more attention to making this product look cute, than to its intended function. I promptly returned the popper to the store where I had purchased it.

Unfortunately, judging by all of the other popcorn popper reviews on Amazon, it doesn't appear that anyone makes a decent popper today. I guess I will just keep using my pan on the stove.

The machine heats up to where you should not touch it or you will get burned. The popcorn kernels just burn and sit on bottom of machine. Had to turn it off I was afraid it would catch fire. The machine was loud and it sounded like a person learning to drive with improper gear shifting. DO NOT BUY!! DO NOT BUY!

I bought this item at BBB and first put too many kernels in. As others said, many didn't pop.
I read a 5 star review and got it...you should only put kernels so that they cover the lid.
Just did a second batch with organic corn, which is not recommended, but they popped beautifully.
Going to enjoy them now :)

We bought one of these from Bed, Bath and Beyond to replace a stir popper leftover from the '70s. It worked once, and failed the next time we tried to use it (and we used the recommended amount of popcorn, and preheated for exactly 2min according to the instructions). The blower wouldn't turn on even though the power light indicated it was on. We returned it and are going to try a different brand with better reviews.

I just bought this for my dorm room because i hate microwave popcorn, and when I brought it out for movie night....it wouldn't work! The instructions said I would have popcorn "in minutes." Well I had mine on for 110 minutes...and maybe that just wasn't long enough... It's very nice looking, now if it would only pop...

The Nostalgia Electrics retro series mini hot air popcorn popper took some getting used to at first because the popcorn isn't really warm when it's done, and it is--as another reviewer mentioned--the consistency of packaging peanuts, but it was still pretty good, and it was less messy than stovetop popcorn, and not as gross and microwave popcorn.

We used the machine 5 times before it overheated. We followed all the instructions, so I can only conclude that this happened because it's pretty much a plastic box that you heat up.

All in all, what people considering purchasing this item need to know is that the popcorn produced by the machine is okay but not great and the machine won't hold up all that long.

I did not purchase this on Amazon. It was a gift so I'm not sure where it was purchased from. Like other reviews, we got a lot of burnt popcorn and many unpopped kernels. I think we did a total of four popcorn batches and on the fourth batch, we noticed a burning electrical smell. The next time we tried to use it, it was dead. It's not worth it to even try to return it. Just don't buy it.

This popper, first time out of the box, popped and ejected 32 kernels into the bowl. Then the motor stopped completely. Absolute junk. I pulled out my trusty hand-crank stove top popper and finished the job quite satisfactorily.