Homtone 2.64 QT Ice Cream Maker, No pre-Freezing & Large Capacity Automatic Ice Cream Machine with Compressor, Easy Operate & Clean, Keep Cooling for 2H, All Stainless Steel, LCD Digital Display

Homtone ICE2580 ice cream maker.We have used this ice cream maker twice and it has worked well. It runs until the ice cream gets thick, which makes the motor slow down, then it stops, which is good. When it stops, the ice cream is frozen enough, still soft like soft serve ice cream. I have two related complaints. One, the instruction manual is poor. The machine is made in China, and the manual reads like it was written by someone whose native language is not English. Most of it can be understood with some effort. The second complaint is that the controls are hard to figure out. If it had a good instruction manual I would be able to figure out the controls without trial and error. There is a display screen, power on/off button, menu button, start/pause button, and time setting button. When the power button is first pressed, the timer will be initially set for 60 minutes. If I remember correctly, pressing the time setting button once will change it to 1 minute. Then, each press of the time setting button will add one minute to the timer. The machine is designed to keep the ice cream cold for two hours after it is done freezing, but the instructions are poor and insufficient, I really can’t tell you how it is supposed to work. I believe that the menu button lets you select the “hold” mode instead of the “make ice cream” mode. The instructions say “We have added the following humanized design: when the ice cream is finished and no one is operating it, it will automatically enter the insulation program.” I don’t know what “no one is operating it” means. We have always turned off the machine when the motor stops, and served the ice cream right away. The purpose of the Start/Pause button is to let you stop the machine when the ice cream is nearly done, and add fruit or other ingredients, and resume to finish.Another problem with the instruction manual is the recipe section. There are four recipes for ice cream, one for fresh lemon sorbet, and one for chocolate frozen yogurt. In the recipe for vanilla ice cream, it says “Turn machine on, pour mixture into freezer bowl through ingredient spout and let mix until thickened, about 50-60 minutes.” Fine, but there is no ingredient spout. Maybe an earlier model had one. In the Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream recipe, it calls for 190g granulated sugar. First it tells you to “combine the strawberries with the lemon juice and 190g granulated sugar…” Then it says “… combine the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved.” Well, if all the sugar went into the strawberries and lemon juice, then there isn’t any sugar left to go into the milk.There are plenty of ice cream recipes on the internet, so the problems with the recipes in the instruction manual can be avoided. The instruction manual issues should not stop you from buying this machine. It is well made and works well.Edit 6/16/25. The menu button gives three choices. Each choice has an icon to give a hint what it is. The first icon is an ice cream cone. It is for making ice cream. The mixing paddle will turn and the cooling mechanism will run. Another icon is a snow flake, it will make the cooling mechanism run but not the paddle. It is for keeping the ice cream cold after it is made. Another icon looks like a paddle or a fan. It will cause the paddle to turn, for mixing ingredients, but not the cooling mechanism. I believe it is recommended that you mix ingredients in another bowl, then pour them into the ice cream maker bowl. That makes it unlikely that you will spill anything outside the ice cream maker bowl where it will freeze and stick the bowl to the rest of the machine, making it hard to pull out.

OK, it's expensive. ONCE YOU GET OVER THAT, you lightly mix your ingredients (it'll really mix them unless it's got a lot of chocolate chips or similar chunky things in it), throw them in, if you're going to add things (like frozen cherries to cherry ice cream) wait till the ice cream has started to thicken (about 75% thickened) then chunk them in one at a time while it's stirring (don't just dump them in). You'll have ice cream in about 45 minutes to an hour. I've made sherbet, sorbet, ice cream, and just about anything else similar in it over the past 90 days. Note, it weighs about 40 pounds and it's bulky. There are hand holds on the bottom of it, but if you are frail or weak, getting it onto and off of your kitchen counter is going to be an issue, and it's too tall to sit on your counter but under your cabinets in most homes (measure twice). With that said, it does a great job, it's fast, it's self contained, and it's easy to clean.

Generally, it does what it suppose to do, but the information on the screen is very minimal. When you do not use it the screen shows "00". You feel like they could easily program the device better and give you much more options.

The media could not be loaded. If you are looking for an ice cream machine that it’s easy to use, this is the one.I’ve been using mines for several months now and no issues at all. Just prepare your ice cream base (cool it if the recipe requires it), add it to your machine and let it do its job. When done you’ll have nice, soft and delicious homemade ice cream.The machine is great, very low level of noise and no need for prior preparation in order to use it. Just plug it in, pour your ice cream base and select your option needed.Definitely recommend for those who are looking for an easy to use ice cream machine, it’s worth the money.

The media could not be loaded. 1 cup heavy whipping cream , 2 cups milk about 6 shakes of salt , 2/3 big squirts of lemon or lime juice , 5/6 spoons of sugar 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract or whatever flavor you want ,2/4 strawberries chopped up or whatever fruit you want , put in last min or they will freeze .30 min for milkshake 35/40 for soft serve 50 for hard . Makes 1 full bowl enough for 2 people

Works great easy to use easy to clean and makes great icecream I would say if your on the fence just get one fast delivery my only complaint is it's made in China come on Amazon how about some American made products

This is certainly a much easier way to make ice cream then the old school away with ice and rock salt. The instructions say that after it’s done making the ice cream it will go into a keep cold mode for up to 120 minutes I have yet to see it do that as I get nervous because the temperature starts to climb quickly after it’s done and then it starts to melt I have manually put it into freeze mode, but the compressor doesn’t kick on until the temperature gets up to 20° by that point the ice cream is starting to melt. I guess I just need to make a really small batch. I’m willing to lose and see what happens if I don’t intervene.

Makes great ice cream. Just right size for out on our patio. Ice cream freezes up nicely.