Customer Reviews

Rival 8550-X 5-Quart Wooden Electric Ice Cream Maker

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

I have made probably 30 batches of ice cream since I bought this machine about one and a half years ago. It makes a batch in about 20 minutes and, if you follow the directions, (which are easy), you get perfect ice cream every time! It comes with a recipe book too. I would highly recommend making the vanilla ice cream and adding two very ripe bananas and two ripe mangos. You won't be disappointed! Good quality all around!

I used crushed ice, but the ice seemd to clog the motion during the first use. The main plastic stir part broke on first use. I keep searching the internet for the part. Like previous reviews, the bottom froze, but the top was very liquid. After re-freezing, the end result was quite good. The Cookies & Creme recipe was easy for my 12 yr old son to make. As of now, this is expensive for a one-time use. I can't understand why the most important part was plastic

As several others have stated this thing is pure junk. The bucket did leak and the instructions do advise to soak it ahead of time. Thats crazy. The process requires melted ice water to fill the bucket to transfer the cold and also to prevent the ice from freezing to the inner metal can. It will not freeze correctly with out it (also in the instructions)

BUT... my main gripe is the poor design of the paddle to socket connection. The paddle shaft is aluminum and mine (like several others here) stripped out on the very first use as the connection is too short to properlly engage the scocket. The result was metal shavings from the rounded off shaft in the ice cream and hard freeze around the outside with liquid in the center as the paddle was stuck.

I did follow all supplied instructions. This is simply a poorly designed product. If I could give it 0 stars I would!

I have used this ice cream maker 4 times and on the 4th time the
metal pin that turns the paddle broke. I find that the metal pin only
goes into the plastic paddle about 3 inches. The ice cream froze on the
sides of the bucket and the plastic paddle couldn't turn the frozen
cream causing the paddle to crumble. I would not recommend this to any
one as it is cheaply made.

The bucket leaks regardless of soaking it in water. I soaked the bucket for 24 hours and the ice water drains right out. Because of the leaking it takes much longer to freeze the ice cream and it makes a much bigger mess than needed. I would never buy this ice cream maker again. I am looking for a plastic bucket model.

The design of this ice cream maker leaves a lot to be desired. Only small cracked or shaved ice will fit around the tub and the plastic lid is already showing signs of wear.

I got this for Father's Day, used it about 6 times before it completely quit working. My first problem occurred because the paddle shaft was not long enough to fit completely into the motor housing. I corrected that by adding something (a piece from my son's lego set)to the bottom of the paddle thus extending it. Worked great--once. Then, one of the gears in the housing stripped making it impossible to turn the container. I took it back but since it was out of season there was nothing to replace it. This this is just NOT well made.

We bought this at Target years ago for less than $30. We had been given a maker from William Sonoma that never actually froze the ice cream so we eventually returned it. This Rival product was noisy, messy and took finessing, but it made ice cream! After 2-3 years, the engine stopped working. We looked at Target ever since and have never seen it for sale there, but will take the plunge again here at Amazon. I'll be back to let people know how the 2nd one works.
ps This maker works well with snow in place of ice, for those of you who live where it snows.

I was lucky and used this product outside, so the leaking did not bother me. I actually expected it to leak. It is noisy as other reviewers have mentioned. I used the recipe that came along with the book and the ice cream never froze! The machine shut off in about 20 minutes, when I opened the lid it was still liquid inside. I think the bottom on the canister was kind of frozen, so maybe the machine somehow thought it was "done". Anyways, I ended up taking the ice cream and pouring it into a plastic container and froze it. It tasted good, but using this product was too much effort for me. I won't use it again. Next I might try the automatic one that requires no ice and salt.

Do not buy this ice cream maker. I bought one thinking that it was a quality old fashioned ice cream maker like grandma's old one that lasted 20 years. BUT IT IS NOT!!! It did not freeze after an hour, and when we took it apart, it had shredded the metal shaft, and put metal shavings in the ice cream. We returned it for a new one, and it did the same thing. We returned it again, and gave it a third chance, but it shaved the rod a third time. DO NOT BUY RIVAL ICE CREAM MAKERS!!! They need to recall all of their faulty products.