If we had kept the pup, we were looking at getting an ice maker... I figured that at a price of $2.99 (cheapest price for cubes I have seen in the past 2 years) and $5.99 (most expensive price for a block I have seen), and that during a 7 night trip we could and have gone through about 2 blocks every two days and 2 bags of cubes in a day for a total of $6 (low) to $25 (hi) per day totally about $70 for the 7 nights ... An ice maker would pay for itself within 1-1.5 years, depending on how much you camp, how well built your coolers are and of course, how many sources of ice there are near where your camping...
I purchased one from a Canvas member this year.
The big advantage to an ice maker is its ability to produce about 18 lbs of ice every 24 hours.
A tray of ice approx. every 20 minutes. A relatively small foot print.
Weight is around 29 lbs. You will have to fill it with water approx 2 times per day.
Hope this helps
After camping in the heat, not having any ice for your drinks and tired of buying or using ice trays, I bought my first unit on ebay with shipping around $100. Works great! Just have to add water about once a day. I leave it in the camper all the time. I love that the ice is softer. So I bought another unit off craigslist below 100 for the house. I highly recommend them!
I have had 3 of them. Each one made ice very often. Makes about 7 cubes at a time about every 3-5 minutes. It keeps my wife full of ICE. However (after keeping it plugged at home full time). Each one quit making ICE after about 6 weeks. SOoooooo, I dont know if I will buy another. ICE cubes are small, and melt as fast as put liquid over them. On a side note, I admit, I miss it real bad myself.
Have a Dometic and love it. It's the first thing out of the PUP and by the time I'm set up, have a tray/bucket of ice. 12-13 pieces of ice in 15 min. / Says it will produce 33 lbs a day.
It's also the last think I pack (stick it in the doorway) and I have a tray/bucket of ice for the cooler for the drive home. Liked it so well, gave one to our friends who just got back from a 2 week trip from Niagara Falls-Vermont, etc and said it was the best. DW had a cool refrishing beverage quickly. One thing they commented on was that they didn't have to find a place to get ice. Thumbs up from us!
PS: Don't leave it plugged in full time so can't react to that.
We have one that we use at home all of the time. We purchased at Target when it was on sale for about $79. Works great. I have always thought about taking it camping, but then I would need bottled water to pour in (as campground water isn't always the best). I'll have to take it next time to try it out.
The downside to most portable units is that the ice melts faster as it isn't as "hard" as ice that is made in the freezer. The cubes have a hole in the middle that also allows liquid to melt them faster.
But, it does work great at home.
[quote author=mwownbey link=topic=1303.msg17635#msg17635 date=1351001372]
I have one that I found on clearance at Sam's for about $70 a couple of years ago. It looks retro like 1950's. I love my ice so it is a great thing. It does not take up too much room (smaller then my 13" TV) and doesnt weigh much either. I definitely think it is worth every penny!!!!
Umm... why have we not seen this make an appearance on any of our camping trips?? We need to get this puppy fired up in November ;D
The freezer in our hybrid makes ice, but it takes a few (4-5?) hours to make. They are the solid cubes, maybe a little bigger than an inch square or so.
I have 4 trays in there to make a decent amount at a time.
Then they go into a bin as we make more.
I hope to get this process down a little better as we use it more.
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