I've wanted an ice cream maker for YEARS but they were always out of our price range and didn't make enough ice cream for it to be worth the while. When I came across this one, I decided to give it a try since it fit into my budget and had good reviews.DEFINITELY made a great choice!! It works great and makes a gallon of delicious ice cream each time. The best ice cream I've ever tasted. It takes about 35-40 minutes to go from ingredients to a soft-serve type ice cream, a little longer if you want hard ice cream (just take the soft-serve and pop it in the freezer for about 20-30 mins)We use an old plastic 1 gallon ice cream container to put our homemade ice cream in after we make it so we have it available whenever we want it. At first, I was expected (but skeptical) hard ice cream like you get on a cone at an ice cream shop, not soft serve like from Dairy Queen. But once I realized that it really only took around 30 mins to make the soft serve and maybe an hour total if you want more firm texture, I was sold.Tips:we DO keep the clean, aluminum inside container in the freezer after we use it. It seems to help set the ice cream fasterwe DO use heavy whipping cream instead of the half-and-half the recipe calls for. It makes for a thicker, creamier ice cream that doesn't form ice crystals or come out grainy or gross after re-freezing it.As for the reviews that said it was too soupy, too hard at one end & too liquid on the other, too grainy, etc. All I can say is: You didn't follow the directions, you did it wrong. Because we've been making ice cream with this very machine all summer about every other day (we have a large family) and have NEVER had ANY of those issues at all, UNLESS we just dumped the salt, ice, etc. and didn't layer. If yours is coming out too "soft" then put it in the freezer and let it get harder. And do NOT freeze it in the aluminum container for heaven's sake, put the ice cream in a clean, new plastic container with a tight fitting lid (you know, like you buy it at the grocery store?!?) and it won't freeze to the sides or be impossible to get out. Common sense apparently isn't that common in the ice-cream making world, I guess.. It's not rocket science, it's ice cream!!we DO layer the rock salt (we just bought a giant bag of water softener salt at a home improvement store for about $5 and the bag is HUGE, like the size of a bag of mulch) and layer it with about 1/2 inch salt, then ice, then salt, then ice, repeating until the entire aluminum canister is surrounded by this layer. Anything else seemed to make the entire process take longer.The entire device seems to be of good, sturdy quality, it's not THAT loud (noticeable but not earth-shattering) and really does make real, fresh homemade ice cream with minimal fuss and it makes an entire GALLON. We store it in an old (clean) plastic lidded gallon ice cream bucket that we had and then add in any toppings we want with each individual servings. Definitely recommend!