Product Description

The Back to Basics sno maker is child-safe,fun to use and convenient because it uses regular ice cubes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115214 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: Back to Basics
• Model: S500
• Dimensions: 6.70" h x 6.80" w x 14.30" l,

Features

• Fully-automated electric ice shaver; uses regular ice cubes
• Safety switch operation; kid-safe design moves ice, not blade
• Attractive white and clear plastic housing; lightweight; simple to store
• Includes recipes and instruction manual
• Measures 10-1/2 by 6-1/2 by 11 inches; 1-year limited warranty

From the Manufacturer
This machine effortlessly turns cubed and crushed ice into soft, fluffy snow in seconds. Great for snow cones, slushes, and cool, healthy treats. The elegant, kid-safe design moves the ice, not the blade. Made of easy-to-clean, white and clear plastic, the Sno Maker will look good in any kitchen.

Customer Reviews

A value for the price
Does this machine shave ice like Plum Street in New Orleans or Jo Jo's in Kauai? Nope. Is it a reasonable alternative to the $2000 commercial machine and block ice deliveries to your home? Yep. A fun machine to have around; turns out a fair-sized portion every 2-3 minutes if you keep it filled with ice. The result is definitely finer than what you'd get in a sno-cone at the fair or a kids' sno-cone maker. I've also found it makes finer ice and works more quickly if you use smaller cubes such as those you buy in bagged ice from the store rather than ice-tray cubes. The ice is somewhere between powdery snow and flaky crystals, if that helps. I'll probably wait until next summer to invest in syrups; you may find raspberry in your grocer's coffee aisle to get you started. So, at $30-40, cheaper than a trip to Hawaii and probably more convenient than heading to New Orleans right now, but it should remind you or a friend of the real thing. I was pleasantly surprised.

Best Low Price Ice Shaver!
My little one is home with a sore throat, slight fever, and hoarse voice today. Last night, she wanted a snow cone, so I took this out of the closet-- I hadn't used it since last summer. It's always hard to get my kids to drink enough liquids when they're sick, but I can always get them to have a snow cone! She's had two today already.

With just 6-8 ice cubes, this makes a big bowl of shaved ice in about a minute or two-- it's almost like snow. This shaved ice maker is very quiet and works extremely fast.

I've had this for 6 years, and sometimes it's used heavily. The kids have even attached an extension cord to it and had snow cone sales in the summer-- their sales blew away the other kids' lemonade!

There are all sorts of syrups available. My daughter's favorite is the Blue Raspberry. I prefer grape, but I stick with the sugar-free raspberry lemonade or sugar-free cherry. My other kids like Rainbow snow cones and use all the syrups at once. Nobody here likes the rootbeer!

This is a fun machine to have around in the summer and when nothing else seems to soothe a sore throat!

This is the Hawaiice or Hawaii Ice Shaver Model S500.

Hawaiice Electric Snow Maker Features and Functionality
I purchased the Hawaiice Electric Snow Maker after having another manufacturer's manual hand crank model for 3 years and now look forward to being able to entertain company with Sno Cones on 100+ degree days. I chose the brand based on the name recognition of 7 years of vacationing in Hawaii and it's advertised features and functionality. The manual model required you to make in advance circular ice cakes which became a pain after a while. This model does great with icemaker ice cubes although has a tendency to jam if the cubes are large or melt and then refreeze into a block. It would also be nice to be able to actually use ice blocks, but this model doesn't offer that feature (minor modifications to the design would enable that option however...). The whole unit is well designed such that cleaning it is extremely easy and user friendly. The only "real" negative I've found is that the lid for the ice hopper (bucket) can disengage too easily when full (a brief period of time after you're starting or refilling the unit with more cubes) and it looks like a potential "achilles" heel in terms of what's going to break first on the unit. While that may not sound bad, the lid is the main safety mechanism to ensure the razor blade for slicing the ice is not accessible for accidental reach or inquisitive fingers. The advertisement implies it'd be easy to create beds of shaved ice for parties and displays; that's really an overstatement unless you're very patient and can spend hours slowly feeding bags of ice cubes to the relatively small hopper (and then storing the result until you have enough). Overall the machine performs GREAT for quickly creating 5 or 6 rather large sized sno-cones while not requiring manually preparing ice cakes. You'll also want to purchase the syrups for the sno-cones when ordering as the unit does not even come with a sample packet or bottle; a missed marketing opportunity if you ask me!