REVIEW – It has been a hot summer across the board for everyone this year and having a cold drink readily at hand is almost a necessity. The icemaker on my refrigerator stopped working and we’ve been left without an easy source of ice while we figure out a fix. Enter the GoveeLife Countertop Ice Maker. When it came up for review I immediately jumped to volunteer because, like I said, it has been very hot this summer. Read on to see how it has done!
What is it?
The GoveeLife Countertop Ice Maker is a compact countertop ice maker with connected smart features that claims to produce up to 26 pounds of ice a day.
What’s included?
- Ice Maker
- Ice Scoop
- User Manual
Tech specs
- Model: H717D
- Power Voltage: AC 120V, 60Hz
- Dimensions: 9.45 x 12.52 x 13.11 in / 24*31.8*33.3cm
- Net Weight: 16.8lb/7.6kg
- Ice Production: 26lbs/24h
- Pieces per round: 9pcs
- Ice Sizes: L/M/S
- Tank Capacity: 2L/0.53 Gal
- Ice Basket Capacity: 1.5lb
- Noise Level: Front ≤46dB
- Connection method: Wi-Fi & Bluetooth
- Ice Scoop: Streamlined shape (better ice shoveling) + magnetic suction attachment
Design and features
This ice maker has a stainless steel and black plastic finish. It’s not huge, which is especially nice as counter space is often at a premium in our house. At the same time, it’s large enough that it produces enough ice to handle most of our needs.
The way that it forms ice is that it submerges 9 separate metal studs into water, and the ice forms around those studs. You can select the size of ice cube that you want, which is determined by the length of time that those studs stay submerged in the water. Once the ice forms, it knocks off the ice that has formed and dumps it into the ice basket at the front of the machine. The ice itself is in the shape of a Bullet Bill from Super Mario.
The scoop that is included with the machine is especially well designed. It has a magnet in the handle so that you can stick it to the side of the machine while it’s not in use. The scoop also is tapered so that it fits cups and water bottles very well.
Setup
Setup was very straightforward. Removing the ice maker from the box, it had some plastic sheathing and tape to remove, but after that and plugging it in, it was ready to go. The plug has a lay-flat build, so it works well if you have to plug it in behind something without much room.
The instructions recommended a cleaning cycle, which also was straightforward. It has a dedicated cleaning cycle button and once that completed it was ready to go.
Fill the water reservoir, select the ice cube size you want and hit start and away it goes.
Performance
It’s impressive how fast this ice maker makes ice. Within 10 minutes the first batch of 9 ice bullets is done and ready to use.
The ice itself is somewhat soft and melts well. If you’re expecting a rock hard ice finish you may have to transfer the ice to a freezer to finish off, but that hasn’t been necessary. If you like crunching ice, the texture of this ice is perfect.
The basket that the ice dumps into isn’t refrigerated itself, so the ice will gradually melt back into the water reservoir to be recycled and frozen again, so all of the ice is relatively fresh. If you’re not going to use the ice maker for a while, I would recommend turning it off and draining the reservoir.
The smart features of this ice maker are actually quite nice. Given that everything nowadays claims to have smart features so I was skeptical at first. The Govee Home app is available on the Google Play store and getting it installed and an account was quick. Once installed, connecting the ice maker was very easy with the instructions.
The ice maker senses when it’s full and has other notifications for cleaning, when more water is needed, and how much ice has been produced.
Settings are simple, but appreciated. I was able to set the ice maker to turn off at 11pm and start at 7am. Not having the ice maker running overnight is kind of nice as it does make a little noise when it dumps every new batch of ice.
Synopsis of the process.
What I like about the GoveeLife Ice Maker
- Relatively quiet ice maker that just works. It produces ice very quickly and much faster than the ice maker on my refrigerator could.
- Ice texture is fantastic and great for crunching
- Smart app scheduling features are very handy. Being able to set a time for when it turns off at night and back on in the morning is quite nice.
- Smart app will also notify you when to run a cleaning cycle and when it’s about to run out of water
What needs to be improved?
- Nothing
Final thoughts
This ice maker has been a nice addition to our kitchen this summer. My kids are constantly poaching ice to crunch as they walk by. I don’t have any real criticism of the machine. It claims to produce up to 26 lbs of ice a day, but you would have to hang out nearby all day to transfer the ice batches to a freezer. I think the most that we ever made in a single day was 2 or 3 pounds of ice. Overall, it does what it claims, and it just works. I definitely recommend it if you’re looking for an ice maker.
Price: $179.99
Where to buy: GoveeLife
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by GoveeLife. GoveeLife did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
