KNB: Icy Treats Snowcone and Slushie Maker

As I said in my halo-halo post, my older son suggested we order a snowcone maker. So I searched amazon.com for snowcone maker, slushie maker, and ice shaver, and found some that reminded me of those I saw in some stalls in the Philippines.

The Paragon brand was very expensive, and yet I knew that it produces crushed ice too
chunky for me to consider for halo-halo, just a bit finer than the crushed ice my fridge makes. So on to the next...

I seriously considered the New Hawaiian Ice Shaver, because not only was it familiar (I saw it in action in one of the vendors in the Philippines), I also knew that the ice shavings produced by it was perfect for halo-halo. But when I placed it in my cart, the shipping cost was prohibitive! It was so heavy that the
S&H would have been a whooping $45! So I scratched it off...

Next I considered something made in Japan (because they make excellent blades), but the plastic body (of the pink one) seemed so flimsy that it reminded me of my sister's ice shaver when she was still in the Philippines, which when cranked threatened to fall apart. The gray one looked like metal, but the make was not specified and I did not dare try.

So I just checked out those that had high reviews, and settled for Hamilton Icy Treats after reading the negative reviews versus the positive reviews.

My very own experience with it? It definitely faster than my mandolin slicer-made shaved ice, and the only negative thing I can say about it is I have to pause and rearrange the ice so they don't stick together and get stuck that way. Otherwise, the gadget is sturdy for the purpose, the shaved ice has two settings - slushie (coarser) and snowcone (finer). Sometimes I just switch from one to the other just to dislodge the stuck ice and keep it going. The on and off switch is the cover itself (which I think is an excellent precaution to avoid cuts in children). And it is compact enough that it does not occupy too much countertop space (unlike if I bought the New Hawaiian brand).

But if I lived in Hawaii, I would have settled for that...