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Nickens February 17, 2011 at 1:46 pm

My girlfriend expressed to me that when she was a little girl she loved shaved ice and always dreamed of being able to make it at home. So when Christmas rolled around I remembered this sentiment and decided on the Little Snowie.

This device produces true shaved, not crushed, ice from real ice cubes. It does not require specially formed ice cubes and has the power to make quite a few at once. You likely wont be able to open a shaved ice stand but will have no problems serving a party at your home.

In addition to being well designed and built it also comes with a few starter flavors making it usable right out of the box. This payed off as she was able to immediately use it after unwrapping it. In fact the device requires absolutely no preparation to use. Just plug it in, insert ice cubes, flavor and eat.

She has owned it for a couple years now and the lack of preparation required has paid for itself. As soon as it starts to heat up it ends up on the counter next to the coffee maker

Meder February 18, 2011 at 2:13 am

I have had my Little Snowie for over 1.5 years. I have 2 children and our family absolutely love it. During the summer we use it constantly. We have found a place locally to buy the concentrates we like and we can make all the flavors we love as we need them. I even use it to make sno cones for my daughters softball team’s concession stand. We make tons of money for the team. We have an extra blade but have yet to have to change it. If you want cones with a top you need to buy a funnel about the size of the top of your cup ,it isn’t necessary but makes the sno cones look like the ones from the stand.The mixes that come with this are great tasting also.

The only problems we had are some minor jams from using ice cubes that are too big. I use crushed ice which works best so having a refrigerator that crushes ice is very important or buying crushed ice that is small. It is a little loud but it makes the sno cone really fast so its bearable.It does leak some because of sno missing the cup or just out of the mouth of the machine so use a tray or towel under the machine. Not a huge problem. It holds enough ice to fill a 16oz cup with a top in the chamber.

Overall its a really reliable machine that makes a quality sno cone that I have yet to hear any complaints about. You will love the taste and quality of the machine.

Levett February 18, 2011 at 1:56 pm

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The product itself was well described by the reviewer who explained that it blasts ice out of the chute in a wide pattern that is somewhat difficult to catch completely in a standard 6oz snow cone cup. Some flakes of snow will inevitably escape. So, it can be a bit messy and is best used outside on a picnic table or over a counter/floor that you can easily sponge to remove the melted ice.

Now, the good news is that it is very quick to fill that 6oz snow cone cup and the dome on the chute works as advertized to form a nice rounded top on the ice in your cone. You’ll be adding ice to the hopper frequently as the hopper only holds enough ice for maybe 3 cones. But, you’ll you won’t have people waiting in line for this machine. It’s way faster than cheapies. Also, note that the grinder looks much like a garbage disposal mechanism from the top and while relatively quiet if running with the hopper empty, it makes a fair amount of garbage disposal-like noise when shaving the ice.

The ice quality is pretty good. It’s finer than the coarse grind from the original sno-cone machines. So, it is indeed a shaver, not a grinder. The particle size of the snow it produces is not adjustable.

The package included 4 – 16oz (pint) bottles of pre-mixed syrup and 4 – 4oz bottles of flavor concentrate. 4oz of concentrate + 5lb of sugar yields a gallon of finished syrup. So, in total there’s enough supplies (sans the sugar) to make 4 gallons of syrup plus an additional half gallon of syrup ready to use.

A small package contains 4 each, friction-fit pouring spouts, stretchy rubber spout covers, and shampoo bottle style screw on caps with a little open/close dispenser tip. The spouts and covers fit the 16oz syrup bottles and the screw caps fit the concentrate bottles.

One handy extra that is included is a pneumatic foot switch and hose. The switch is essentially a rubber hemisphere that sits on the floor. When you step on it, it compresses the air it contains which travels up the hose and activates a pressure sensitive switch to start the unit. I found this item very handy as it frees both hands to manage filling the cones.

For those of you considering letting your kids operate this shaver, the biggest hazzard is putting hands into the grinder chamber while the anvils are turning. That could bruise some fingertips. But, the manufacturer recognized that hazard and installed a safety switch that will not let the grinder operate while the top is open. Once the top is closed and latched, there is no way to put hands/fingers into the grinding chamber. With a little supervsion at first, a responsible 8 year old could probably do a good job running it.

Note that there is a 3-position rocker switch on the side labled on-off-foot. If set to on, it runs continuously (and produces snow continuously). In the foot position, it only runs while your foot is depressing the dome on the foot switch.

Overall it’s a pretty decent product for the price and its intended use. The only thing I would like to see improved is to tame the discharge pattern of the snow so that it all goes to filling the cup. But, the mess is only water so not that big a deal to clean up. Overall, I’m happy.

Beal February 19, 2011 at 1:39 am

My daughter has wanted one of these for years. She finally saved enough and we ordered it from our “warehouse club” for $200. It came with a lot a flavoring syrups – so it was a great starter set.

Pros: easy to use, pretty good shaved ice – no big chunks like the cheaper models. As good as 90% of the sno-shack shaved ice stands you drive by. ALSO – uses ice cubes from your freezer rather than having to freeze your ice in a mold!

Cons: a bit messy, not quite as good as the huge industrial machines used in snowie shacks.

Overall, this was an expensive purchase, but I am glad she got this rather than the “disposable” models out there. She has used it every day for a week and is in LOVE with it.