The media could not be loaded. Just received it today so I can't comment on longevity. Otherwise, it was simple to setup, run the cleaning cycle and get my first batch of ice.

I am an "ice snob" so I'm very particular about my ice. I was buying a bag every day from Sonic. I had figured out optimum time to get fresh ice from the top (which is cloudy and "soft") instead of ice that had been sitting there (that's clear and "icy"). I was worried this machine wouldn't make the SOFT ice. But it makes PERFECT, soft ice. So far, I couldn't be any happier.

Update: After less than 8 weeks (I've already descaled it twice) today it suddenly stopped working. The add water button was on, but the reservoir was full. After watching several YouTube videos I kept seeing that the pump wasn't priming and to place my finger over the hole in the reservoir. That did nothing. Also said to try squeezing some water into the hole. Well, that's a problem, because the space to put something in the hole is not large. So I did some research and found the perfect little squeeze bottles that you can even get here on Amazon (I happened to get my at my local Walmart). They are called Joie Condiment Mini Squeeze Bottles.

I love pebble ice. This has been the best purchase I have ever made. The set up was easy and the machine is easy to use. Once cleaned and set up, I filled it up with water and had ice within 10 minutes! I now have access to pebble ice whenever I want. The machine is pretty quite, and I usually don't even notice any noise from it at all. I will note that it is a bit bigger than I originally expected, but it easily fits on my counter top. I also want to note that I took a chance on buying an amazon return (for about half the price) and when it came, it was brand new! This is by far the best purchase I have ever made.

Goodness, I didn't know how much I needed this in my life until now. I LOVE this thing! I purchased it after being frustrated from cheap ones failing and breaking. I decided to bite the bullet and cough up the money. The bonus was that it was a nugget ice maker. It holds plenty of ice for my husband and I. It is nicely insulated so that the made ice stays cold and stores for use.

I got the Opal 1 icemaker because I wanted to make edible ice and ice that would work in drinks without the traditional larger cubes, and to that end, this is perfect! It makes ice really quickly, although it takes longer than the advertised 7 mins to get usable ice. The initial ice is barely frozen and in a very small quantity. It's more like 15-20 mins before you get enough good ice for a few drinks (depending on the cup size).

What I wasn't expecting is the vibrations from it. Others have stated it's fairly loud and even the instructions have a half page dedicated to "normal operating sounds". However it's not obnoxiously loud. It's more like a dishwasher level of sound. It does vibrate quite a bit though, so depending on the surface you put it on or where on your countertop it's sitting (corner is louder than by itself) and depending on your house, it may be anywhere from tolerable to "return it". I can hear the vibrations of it from upstairs, but it's not because of the noise from the machine, it's from the vibrations as it does it's thing. It's sitting in a bar area, on a granite countertop and you can feel it from quite far away. I did notice that the metal shell of the ice maker tended to rattle so I ended up solving that by having a large bottle push against it and that stopped the rattle. Other reviewers took the shell off and added padding to the inside, but I wasn't prepared to void my warranty quite yet. The bottle (or anything that's heavy enough to press against the side) works well enough.

With that being said, I don't think the noise/vibration is a deal breaker. It makes ice relatively quickly, so I have been turning it on when I need ice, then turning it off 30 mins later when the hopper is mostly full. This works for me as the ice stays frozen for quite a while after I turn it off, and I'm the only one taking ice from it. If you have a lot of people in your house that want ice all the time, this strategy obviously won't work for you.

I took off 1 star because of the vibration, but otherwise this seems to be an icemaker that works as advertised and is from a reliable brand. If you are looking for a nugget ice maker and don't need large volumes of ice, this is a great solution that is easy to setup, easy to use and seems well thought out.

The GE makes great ice and lots of it and it has a self-cleaning mode.

For comparison, we had a Costway that broke after three years of continuous use. Its fan was loud when making ice, but its smaller ice bin filled quickly, so it didn't run for very long. It worked great, but it was very difficult to clean, requiring about 45 minutes with a toothbrush and flashlight to get the gunk out of its depths.

The GE's fan is almost silent, but the compressor makes a low omnidirectional 118 hertz hum at about 62 decibels. It's quieter than the Costway, but the GE makes more ice so it runs for longer periods.

Interestingly, my wife commented that the GE is louder. So psychologically, the longer (but quieter) run time seems noisier.

The sound might not be a problem if you have a loud household (kids, TV, dogs, etc.).

If you have a quiet household with a kitchen that's open to the living room and the ice maker is sitting on your countertop, then you might be annoyed.

We put the ice maker in our walk-in pantry, so it's out of sight and its sound is muted.

Despite the GE's weird loud-quietness, I think I'd still pick it because of its capacity, self-cleaning capability, the type of ice it makes, the lighted ice bin, and, being a $$ quality GE Profile product, it should last a lot longer (hope).