1. the unit came with a big red sticker on the top window that reads "DANGER - Risk of fire or explosion...", (... seriously?) and the sticker has a super gooey adhesive that leaves a horrible mess. When i used adhesive remover IT MELTED THE PLASTIC (shown in first two pictures). cheap materials.2. it's extremely loud. not just the ice dropping-- when it is making ice. My watch says it's 68-73 decibels. "well how loud is that?" ...glad you asked! Per chatGPT, that's "as loud as a vacuum cleaner, or an urban street with moderate traffic passing by". i think chatGPT is being a bit harsh, honestly, but it's comparable... it's somewhere more than a loud box fan, and less than a vacuum cleaner. that's right, VACUUM CLEANER.3. equally important, i would describe THE TYPE OF SOUND as mostly a circa 1970's garage fridge failing condenser, with strong notes of box fan and hints of high pitched ear ringing that seems to achieve a surprisingly high level of echo off a hard surface like countertop. and THAT is the most soothing sound it makes. Then that is followed by the more jarring ejection stage which has weird louder groans and clicks leading to the expected crashing ice into thin brittle plastic every 15 minutes. And i say all of this as a father that is no stranger to constant noise already. this thing is loud and noisy. EDIT: since i could not with good conscience return this product since the top was ruined because of the stupid red sticker and extremely cheap materials leading to a melted lid... we had to move this thing into the mud room because it's just way too loud to keep in the kitchen. after 4 months, i still find myself wondering if i should spend the extra money for a smart plug to set a schedule for this clatter organ so that i don't NOTICE IT EVERY SINGLE TIME I LIE IN BED AT NIGHT A WHOLE FLOOR AWAY. i can't understate how loud this thing is.4. the instructions recommend it is to be placed six inches on all sides from a wall. this wasn't in the product description. if you do that (should i?? remember... "DANGER Risk of explosion"...), if i place it six inches from a wall, it is not only awkwardly placed, that only leaves 4 inches in the front of the unit on a standard counter top-- which means the glass vessel you want to load with ice is probably placed perilously close to the edge of the counter (see pic)4a. it blows lots of very warm air out from the fan on its side. keep this in mind if you are planning for a space on your countertop. i'm assuming in tight spaces that if it can't ventilate properly, the environment will warm up significantly and the barely insulated ice tray will be that much more less effective at keeping good ice.5. AND despite it being recommended six inches from the wall, that is STILL NOT FAR ENOUGH TO FILL WITH WATER IF THE UNIT IS UNDER CABINETS (see pic)6. if you put it under cabinets, each time you have to fill it, you'll have to pull it so far out to reach the reservoir that the unit almost has to hang off the counter (see pic)7. to drain it, it needs to be plugged in. Weird. So if you don't have an outlet near your sink... you may need an extension cord to drain it, like me8. the "thick ice setting" makes thick sheets of ice that i'm pretty sure may cause the ice basket materials to break if i use the required force to chop them up with a butter knife. i can't keep an ice pick around, i have a little kid. Also, if i decide to slum it and just use the sheets... they are too big to fit in a pint glass! (see pic) so i probably can't use the thick ice setting, which was the primary reason i chose this particular product. womp wompReally really bad design, and materials choices on this one. But it makes pretty good ice, fairly quickly. And it does so with almost no consideration to the consumer whatsoever.also... this is not a cheap choice. i paid twice as much as most other models for this. I just don't see the value here at all.