Lello 4080 Musso Lussino 1.5-Quart Ice Cream Maker, Stainless - 110/120V 60 HZ

I purchased this machine about 4 weeks ago. My previous ice cream machine was one I purchased from Sur le Table. It appeared to have been a generic machine. Don't recall the manufacturer. It worked ok and stimulated my interest in making frozen deserts.One of my concerns regarding the Lello 4080 was cleaning the bowl since the stainless steel bowl is not removable. Apparently this enhances the freezing of it's contents. Actually it's not too bad to clean. Just wipe it out a few times and you are done. I have some concern about getting liguid down into the mechanism through the spindle so I leave the paddle on until the last. It's a bit harder to clean but seems safer to me.I have made 4 batches of ice cream and it works beautifully. The ice crystals must be smaller because the product is very smoothe . The maximum amount of custard is 900 ml. I don't know what the final volume is but I think it may be a little less than 1 1/2 quart.Surprised there is no temperature readout on the thing but I guess it is not to know the temperature but rather go by what the ice cream looks like.So far I am 100% pleased with the Lello 4080. I suggest adding about 3 tablespoons of vodka or liqueur to the recipe to keep the ice cream from hardening when you place it in the freezer. There is a difference! I am not sure what makes this machine so good. Maybe it's the rotation speed or the cooling element or possibly the paddle.I would recommend it. Expensive but hopefully you will not need more than 1! I did get the Assurian warranty offered on Amazon. The price on Amazon is good. An Italian supplier asked $799. on Ebay and would not budge.Enjoy our ice cream!Follow-upI have been using this machine for over a year with good results. After reading other reviews I guess you either get a good one or a bad one. Fortunately for me I received one that works perfectly. I still suggest care in cleaning so that contents don't get into the works through the spindle. A small balloon over the spindle might help! Another suggestion is that you completely clean out the contents or let it melt completely before starting another batch. I had some extra from a previous batch and thought I could just dump it in. The machine made some terrible noises from the gear box when it encountered the frozen part at the bottom. I thought I had killed it but is still working fine. Amazon sells Asurion warranty which I purchased. I had a warranty issue with a dishwasher and Asurion was very difficult to work with. Finally got it deemed unrepairable and received a refund but was without a dishwasher for 2 months. Up to you! Adding some Vodka or flavored liquor will help keep the ice cream soft in the freezer. Maximum of 3T vodka per quart. This machine works fast and makes fine ice cream. If you are serious about ice cream I think this machine is for you. Hope you get one of the good ones. See other reviewers problems.5 year follow-upI have been using this machine for 5 years. Not heavy use but mabe1-2 times a month, So far I have had no problems.I had the warranty with Asurion but never used it. My experience with Asurion with other appliances is not positive.I am very satisfied with the Lello. If I had to make a complaint it might be that it has a large footprint and unless you are Mighty Joe Young it is impossible for one old guy to move around. Be careful not to get anything down the spindle.

Amazon had a sale on this item at considerably less than list price, and I decided to take a flyer and ordered one. I paid a little extra, with Prime, for 1 day delivery, which is probably worth it when dealing with a product like this, because air shipping is probably going to subject an item like this to less potential "in-transit trauma" than going through the truck distribution system. It arrived in fine condition.The item itself looks very presentable and will fit in with a high end kitchen containing stainless steel appliances. From what you can see from the exterior, it appears to be well-built. The "instruction manual" that ships with the product is really not a manual at all; it has a page or two of instructions and the rest of it is a small recipe book. One comment on the recipes given for standard ice cream is that there is no reference to food safety, such as the need to cook the basic custard to a certain temperature to kill potential salmonella that might accompany the raw egg yolks called for in the recipe, so beware; you don't want your purchase of this thing to make you sick. Maybe they don't raise chickens in Italy the way they raise them in the US, so perhaps that was not a concern for whoever made the recipes.I have now made 4 different frozen desserts in the few days I've owned this product; 2 standard flavored ice creams, using the custard base recipe in the enclosed recipe book, plus 2 frozen yogurts from another ice cream book ("The Perfect Scoop"). All have come out very well, and have better textures and more intense flavors than even high end product you can buy in your grocery store. Frozen yogurt is especially easy to make as no cooking of the base is necessary before you put it into the machine.One note on recipes is that when you start using consumer recipes in books aimed at the general public, these recipes generally assume that you are using a much lesser device, often one without a self-contained refrigerated chiller, and as a result they can call for taking the base and chilling it in the fridge for an hour before putting the contents into the ice cream maker. With this Lello machine, you don't really have to do that, you can just plunk the base right into the maker and turn it on; the machine will do the rest and it can deal with ingredients that are room temperature rather than pre-chilled. I would not, however, put a hot 170F degree base into the machine without letting it cool down to room temperature, even if the machine could overcome that.The purchaser needs to consider that there is no way he or she will ever amortize the cost of this appliance, because the ingredients needed to make a high end frozen dessert are expensive, and likely will add up to what you would pay for a premium frozen dessert in the grocery store. If the goal is to make a cheap dessert, I can assure you that a little searching at your local market will lead you to much cheaper product than you can make for yourself. Therefore, the only reason to go to the effort to make your own frozen desserts is that you value freshness and control over the ingredients used that can only come with something you made for yourself. Even if you have a large family to feed, this machine is not going to save you any money, no matter how many batches you make per day or per week. There is no economy of scale here, unless maybe you have your own dairy cow out in the back yard.My only reservation about this machine is that I do not think that they are really designed to be repaired, and I do not know how long you can expect them to operate before they end up in the dump. If I had paid $700 for this machine, then I would be very upset if I only got a couple of years of use out of it, however having gotten the product at a reduced price, I'm willing to take that risk. Everything I have read about machines in this class leads me to believe that unless you don't use it often, a lifespan of 5 years would be unduly optimistic. I have friends who have owned several similar machines in this price range and who stopped buying them after they came to the conclusion that none of them will last more than a few years and that none of them can be economically repaired. The manufacturer of this machine has only a very token presence in the USA, through a distributor, and I have read "uncharitable" comments about them when it comes to repairs, albeit of different models than this one. So my advice would be not to buy this thing if you are expecting it to last for 10 or even 5 years, no matter how durable it might appear on cursory inspection. I would strongly suggest buying it with a credit card that will double the manufacturer's warranty such as a Visa Signature card, and then to register the purchase immediately with the respective "warranty manager-type" service, to be sure that you will get at least 2 years use out of it for your several hundred dollars.With this caveat, I do recommend this item for purchase, and if it continues to work for me in the way it has worked so far, I will be very happy that I bought it.

Long researching brought me to this product and it does what you expect. Other brands like Whynter and other will make ice well enough but “good enough” wasn’t what I wanted. With food going up in price, using the right machine and it doing the best job makes the most sense. Very easy to use. The taste, and texture is a premium product.The price is high, and for most this is a splurge buy. If you can, you should. It’s a professional grade machine that, if taken care of, should last a long time.Some are curious on how to clean, it’s very simple. With a sponge you can load with warm soapy water and use the sponge to suck up the left over liquids. A bit time consuming but it’s worth what you get out of it.Quality build and functions are as clear as day. Perhaps now the machine has been updated, reviews here and online bring up the cons of the timer ticking too loud. Mine does not do that. Another con was the leg not being level. Mine is level. Last con was a gap in the pin that holds the dasher. Mine has what looks like a plastic mold to prevent too much from getting in.Perhaps this machine was updated over time and I am extremely satisfied with this machine and since getting it, on day one I was making strawberry and pineapple sorbet from fresh fruit. Both amazing.If you can, you should.