There is really no shortage of soft serve machines to choose from. You will need to look at the feature list. This will give you some indications of how practical one ice cream maker will be for your life style versus others.

Price may seem to be the biggest factor, but perhaps is not in the grand scheme of things.

There are two main classes of ice cream machines. One feature in particular will become your best friend - the self-contained freezer unit. The typical ice cream making machine requires you to pre-freeze the ice cream bucket for 12 hours or more before you can get started. Now, if you have kids, even 12 minutes can be an eternity for them.

We would strongly suggest that your next icecream freezer come equipped with a self-contained/built-in unit so that you will not have to pre-freeze the bowls for hours before hand.

We think the Lello units are some of the best ice cream makers around:

• They are very substantially-made heavy-duty units
• They last for years
• They come with self-contained freezer units already built in
• You can skip waiting for freezer bowls as these units are ready to go as soon as you turn them on
• They are fully automatic so there's no guesswork, just great results every time
• They are easy to use - just add your own fresh ingredients, and push the button
• They come in 1, 1.5, and 2 quart sizes
• Your home ice cream maker will have you eating delicious fresh desserts in as little as 20 minutes
• Clean up is very quick

Automatic Ice Cream Makers	Capacity/Cooking Time	Free Shipping Via Prime
Lello 4070 Gelato Junior	1 Quart 30 Minutes
Lello 4090 Gelato Pro Quart Ice Cream Maker	2 Quarts 45 Minutes
Lello 4080 Musso Lussino 1.5-Quart Ice Cream Maker	1.5 Quarts 30 Minutes
Lello Musso Pola 5030 Dessert Maker	2 Quarts 20 Minutes

NOTE: After reading all of the reviews of each of the above machines, we've come to some new conclusions.

We still strongly support this type of technology, i.e. that of the batch freezer vs. having to always pre-freeze the ice cream bowl, which either requires a lot of planning or leaving them permanently in your freezer taking up a lot of valuable space.

The problem we have is that, while the Lello 4070 (Gelato Junior) has a 4-star rating, it does indeed have quite a few 1-stars and the people have had real problems with this unit. We're not talking about frivolous cosmetics but actual functional or non-functional machines. This is a real shame as the price makes this attractive to first-time users or folks wanting to get their feet wet with more expensive self-contained freezer ice cream machines.

For the price, one would expect an excellent working machine that will make great-tasting ice cream desserts. That is far too much money to risk on a machine that may fail after a couple of uses, not work as advertised, or in some cases not work at all right out of the box. This is not really workable as far as we can see.

There are a nice amount of people that have had success with this model, but we cannot ignore the group who have had a terrible time with it. So, although it may have a 4-star rating overall, there is a chance that you may get a "lemon" or just have some bad luck; either way, there is an alternative, so please don't give up yet.

In fact, this brings us to the Lello 4090. This unit has worked great for some and not so for others. It too has a 4-star rating overall, but the 1-star folks have had some real problems with it - on a functional level. Come on, if you have shell out this sort of money, you expect that the thing will practically go to the store to pick up the ingredients, make the ice cream, and serve it up to you and your hungry crew. But you would hardly expect it will break down soon after purchased, not make ice creams with decent textures, or not work at all. That's just too much.

The 4090 has some similar issues as the 4070. Some swear by the 4090 and others can't wait to send it back, provided that the warranty has not expired on them. So, the thing is, you may luck out if you purchase the 4090 and things may go swimmingly, but if on the other hand you happen to get one that is not quite right, then what?

Well, we found a little-known unassuming product - a sleeper if you will. This little hidden gem has the exact same specifications as the Lello 4090 at near half the cost and nowhere near the amount of 1-star ratings. In fact, the Lello 4090 alternative gets a 4.5-star rating with only a single 1-star rating (hmm, there is hope).

Here's what we found:

Automatic Ice Cream Makers	Capacity/Cooking Time	Free Shipping Via Prime
Whynter SNO Ice Cream Maker	2 Quarts 20 - 40 Minutes

What a funny turn of events ... Typically we buy a representative model of the things we review, after all if we only write and never try it, then how do we really know? We don't believe in buying something, trying it out, and then returning it. This is unethical and anyone trying to run a legitimate business knows that this type of fraud is the fastest way to bankruptcy court. We respect unspoken intangibles such as Karma amongst other things.

Since we DO NOT receive FREE courtesy copies, demos, floor models, seconds, loaners, etc. we have to buy like anyone else. We're a small non-profit and we're trying to help people save time and money. We do honest product reviews and report the findings. We do this to help generate extra funds for our main business which is saving animals from the Parvovirus (http://www.ParvoBuster.com).

Having said all of that, we were all set to buy the Lello 4070 Gelato Junior. But after reading the problems people are having, we were then looking at the Lello 4090 and the Lello Musso 4080. Now, as previously mentioned we're very small and have budget limits. So, the cost of the Lello machines is a bit much, as in way too much for the sake of doing a product review. This looked rather bleak, but upon further checking we came across the Whynter SNO Ice Cream Maker and thought wow, this might be a solution.

So, we bit the bullet and ordered it today. In fact, we also ordered a few things:

• Whynter SNO Ice Cream Maker
• Lello 4091 Replacement Bowl *
• Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book
• Lick It! Creamy Dreamy Vegan Ice Creams Your Mouth Will Love **
• Pacific Natural Foods Naturally Almond Non-Dairy Beverage, Low Fat Vanilla **

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