Review: Natridy Slushy Machine Model SL2-01 $180

Amazon Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/3Y9hWvs Price as reviewed: $180 (MSRP: $195) Slushie Machine for Home | Frozen Margarita Machine | Professional Frozen Drink Maker | 100 oz Smoothie Maker | Bartesian Cocktail Machine | Makes Milkshake, Ice Cream & Slushies (Black) From the Natridy Store This slushy machine has a built in compressor (using 24g of R290 refrigerant) that chills the liquid in the mixing vessel. I poured in a 2L bottle of dollar store cola and in about an hour it had made it into an flaky snow-like consistency. [The default slushy cooling setting - 4 dots - was a little too cold for that particular cola, which was close to the minimum sugar content, I found that by changing it to the "3 dots" setting the output was more like a slushy and less like snow.] With thin soda, there were a few drips out of the nozzle. Nothing major, everything caught by the drip tray, but something to keep in mind. When I used eggnog for milkshakes the thicker mix didn't drip at all until I started dispensing the result. Next I tried using eggnog as a base for the milkshake setting, which worked great! Very cold, smooth and creamy milkshake that was difficult to suck through a small straw. Since I had the milkshake mixture loaded, I cranked up the power to the "ice cream" setting. After another 30 minutes of cooling, it was the consistancy of a very soft soft-serve. However, right about this point the auger/mixer stopped moving as the mix had gotten too viscus for it. I had to let the mix warm up a bit and melt just slightly before I could get the auger moving again (and the auger needs to be moving to dispense whatever is inside the machine). So for making ice cream, the auger motor wasn't strong enough (at least with eggnog as the base mixture....) and I could only get a very very soft ice cream like output. It mostly held its shape, but was super soft. So it worked great for slushies (you may need to tweak the pre-set temperature setting depending upon the sugar content of your mix), great for milkshakes, and I'm sure it would work well for icy adult beverages as well, but the auger motor isn't really strong enough to make ice cream, so don't buy it for that purpose. The mixing vessel and auger come off the unit for cleaning (simple single lever operation to install or remove) and are dishwasher safe, but also super easy to just clean with soapy water. The only major downside to this appliance is that you must have a minimum amount of liquid/mix for it to work (22 oz for milkshake, 32 oz for slushy) and it does take 25-60 minutes to be ready, so it's a batch process, and not a single serve quick ready system. It also takes up a lot of counter/storage space when not in use. If you want to host parties with slushes for kids or margaritas (or slushy rose) for adults this appliance works well, and the price feels appropriate for what you are getting (a combination mini-freezer and slushy auger system).