GE Profile Opal 2.0 with 0.75 Gallon Tank, Chewable Crunchable Countertop Nugget Ice Maker, Scoop included, 38 lbs in 24 hours, Pellet Ice Machine with WiFi & Smart Connected, Stainless Steel

Okay, I’ve had the GE Opal 2.0 since July 2025, and I think I can share some valuable insights before you make a purchase. First and foremost, the machine is top-notch and meets the high standards of their Profile line. It’s well-crafted and performs exceptionally well, although it does have a few quirks that I can tolerate given its quality and the consistently great ice it produces. If you’re considering buying an Opal 2.0, you’ll need to commit to either a strict descaling schedule, which can be inconvenient, or invest in a water delivery service to have large bottles of distilled water delivered to your door. Personally, I prefer the latter option. I live in Virginia, where our water is not hard at all, especially compared to the Southwest. Even with regular monthly descaling, the machine would occasionally lock up after limping for weeks. The GE representative advised me that for optimal ice quality and performance, it’s crucial to use distilled water and descale the machine once a month. GE sent me a replacement under warranty, but unfortunately, the warranty period doesn’t reset. The new machine is a 2026 model (my old one was a 2024), and it’s even more impressive than the one I had. Some great improvements include a metal scoop with a magnetized holder that snaps onto the side of the tank. It also comes with descaling powder as an alternative to vinegar, a descaling filter, and an air filter. Now, let’s address the quirks: (1) When you clean the machine, the cleaning light never turns off, as per the manual. Mine hasn’t turned on on two separate machines. (2) You need to prime the pump inside the water reservoir. It can take a few attempts, and I’m not an engineer, but you have to force water into the pump to start it pumping. Some people recommend using a turkey baster or holding your finger over the intake to create suction. I’ve found both methods effective. You only need to do this once.

UPDATE: I got the third unit and IT'S ALSO DEFECTIVE. I'm convinced there is ZERO quality control going on at GE, and I am extremely dissatisfied with the service. It takes AGES to get anything done, and their support phone line closes before I get off work most days, so it's near impossible to reach them on top of that. I can't use the actual word here, but enborkification is very real, and I will not be purchasing from GE anytime soon. TL;DR: Great machine if you can get a good one. I got three defective units in a row, one of which appears to have been used before. Currently waiting for a FOURTH replacement unit. Customer service has inconvenient hours and seemingly can't play most video files (.mov with h.264 seems to work best for them). 2/3 of the reps I spoke to were great, the other one being frankly pretty rude. For now, I'd recommend getting a 'dumb' nugget ice maker, a cheap outlet timer (like the ones for fish tank lights) if you need the scheduling feature, and set calendar alerts for cleaning and descaling. I want to start off by saying I love this ice maker. Nugget ice is great, I love the smart features, I love the design, and I love how easy it is to use. The instructions, especially in the app, are clear and thorough. The machine tells you exactly what it needs on both its display and through push notifications to your phone. The scheduling feature is great, and allows me to have ice in the morning and when I get home without wasting energy when I'm away. It's decently quiet for the amount of ice it pumps out with the occasional fit of light noise, mostly quiet squeaking every now and then. That is if you get one that works properly. Now, for how expensive this thing is, I would expect some good QC. My first unit developed a rapid tapping noise whenever it was running within the first couple of months. Since this was near a major living area in my home, this was unacceptable. I do not have hard water where I live, and I only ever put filtered water through it. I cleaned it whenever the cleaning light came on, and I took very good care of it. After some fruitless troubleshooting, I decided to contact customer support only to find out you can only CALL them since Opal apparently has its own support separate from GE. This would have been fine, except I had to take time off work to contact them, as their business hours lined up perfectly with my own work schedule, not that I could have known that going in since Opal Support doesn't have its hours posted anywhere at time of writing. Having done that, they actually took my call quite quickly and were pretty friendly and attentive despite connection issues from a storm at their office at the time. They sent me an email so I could reply with the information they needed. Their computers seem to have trouble with certain video files, so if you need to send them videos, make sure you sufficiently compress them and do NOT use HVEC encoding or the MP4 video format. After working through the technical difficulties in communication, they sent me an advance replacement, which was great and more than I was expecting. I thought that'd be the end of it, but I had issues with the replacement immediately. The replacement I got looked used (not refurbished), and since I initially paid for a NEW unit, I was pretty disappointed. There was a large scratch across the top panel, a scuff on one of the sides, and a chip in the front control panel that could be seen from across the room. Even after bringing this up with support in a follow-up email, they said I still had to send the first one back since the RMA was tied to its serial number and I would need to initiate another exchange, so I set up the second ice maker and cleaned it thoroughly. After turning the second one on, it was noticeably louder than the initial one. It buzzed loudly like a power transformer, but that wasn't even the worst thing about this one. On top of making ice more slowly than the first one, it shuts off and refuses to make ice seemingly at random. Every time this happens, it needs to be unplugged for 20-ish seconds, then plugged back in and have the power button pressed, which is tough on my knees since it's plugged in under my counter. Consequently, the scheduling feature, one of my favorite things about this machine, is no longer reliable since no one knows when it will decide to go on strike. I tried to contact support via email again, but even after a few attempts over the course of just over a week, I didn't get a response, so I had to take more time off work to call their support line again to talk to a rep. This time, I was on hold for about 15 minutes with an estimated wait time of 0 before being connected to a rep. This rep, unlike the first, made me feel like I was inconveniencing her by seeking support, and like I was an idiot for asking clarifying questions to make sure we were on the same page. She also seemed like she wanted to pass me off to Opal WiFi support (which is bafflingly ALSO its own separate service) to troubleshoot the "connection issues" I wasn't having with this device. I was told to send more info to our existing email chain and the rep hung up to "let me do that" rather than just hanging on the line while I did. After sending the info, I was connected to a different rep and had a better experience similar to my first contact (no wait time, friendly rep), which was a relief. A second exchange is now arranged, but this time I'm not getting an advance replacement and I will be without ice for about two weeks. For something this expensive, this level of QC is frankly embarrassing. I bought it in May of 2024 and still don't have an acceptable unit. I'm starting to think they're taking this long on purpose to dodge honoring their 1-year warranty. With service and QC like this, I cannot in good faith recommend this product, as much as I liked it the first month I had it.

Set up is easy. Ice maker should be near a sink. I can not imagine having it without the extra tank. We fill the tank at least once a day for a family of 4. (Get the tank!) I had to try about 10 times to get WIFi App to sink up. We shut the ice maker off at 9pm and it still has ice in when we turn it at 6am. We have an open floor plan so it is a little louder than I had hoped but I feel like you just get used to it. A few days after use it said I need to descale it even though we have a water softener. GE said to unplug it let it rest. The Error went a way. I did purchase the extended warranty. Lots of good ytube videos on how to open it up and clean the inside. Will update this review in a few month. The ice is perfect and makes drink cold fast with little foam. Not hard to chew and is helping me get more daily water intake. The drip tray is my only complaint so far. When you open the ice drawer it drips so you need a paper towel. 12/12/22- had to set it to cycle off every few hours otherwise it starts squealing. The internal defrost cycle does not seem to work that great. So I would not advise trying to run it for 16 hours straight. 12/26/22- so still dealing with squealing. I have been playing around with the schedule to give it more chances to defrost. I think the squealing comes from it not being about to push the frozen ice out. Still love the ice so not giving up yet. 12/28/22- did several cleaning cycles with bleach. Set up running time for hour on then and hour off. Moved it so it has good ventilation on both sides. No squealing so far after changes. 1/14/23- to sync up to phone app pull up a chair and sit right next to it with your phone. Any further away does not seem to work. My machine has been working fine as long as it has several off cycles between run times. If I try to leave it on for more than a few hours it always start making unpleasant noises. It has lost WiFi twice and each when it keeps running without programming it starts making all kinds of bad noises. Just my personal experiences. Keep with a on/off hourly schedule.

Looks amazing but looks aren't everything. The machine keeps saying needs water even though water is full.