Crystal Clear Ice Cube Maker, 4 Large 2"x2"x2" Ice Cubes for Cocktails and Drinks, Silicone Mold for Pure, Bartender-Quality Ice - Great for Hosting and Entertaining, Whiskey Gifts for Men

UPDATE after one year:I'd buy this again in a heartbeat. If you care about cocktails, glassware and serving the best possible drinks to your friends and family, get this. In my earlier review I mentioned bottled or filtered water; update - totally unnecessary. Tap water is perfectly fine. Our freezer is set to 5F degrees. I don't think there's anything magical about the water or its temperature.Assemble the mold, fill it to within a quarter or eighth of an inch of the top, carefully place it in your freezer, then leave it alone for 16 hours. Take it out, LET IT SIT ON THE COUNTER FOR A COUPLE OF MINUTES, then grasp the silicone molds with your thumbs and index fingers and use your other 6 fingers to push downward on the rigid insulated portion; it should come off fairly easily.Then separate the lower silicone mold from the upper mold. You don't have to be gentle here: the molds are durable. If your freezing period was correct, the lower mold should be a mixture of ice and water.I remove the ice from the bottom of the cube mold by tapping it with a wooden spoon (over the sink). Once it's all off, put the upper mold face down on the counter, and push down on it... the cubes should loosen and come out of the mold. Immediately put them in the freezer. There's a storage unit available. If my storage unit is full, I just leave the new cubes in the upper mold.We recently purchased some Art Deco old fashioned glasses from Amazon and they're beautiful, but a bit too small for these cubes. So I take a (sharp) serrated knife and carve them into rough looking roundish cubes that look more interesting than the plain cubes. See 2nd pic above.TL/DR: Buy this if you care about cocktailsI’ve been using this for a week and a half, and it works really well. With the freezer set at 4°, it takes between 14 and 16 hours to make four beautiful, clear ice cubes. And guests really notice!Update: for best results, use filtered or bottled water. Fill to the fill line, let it sit for a while, then tap the housing to release any air bubbles lurking inside. With the freezer set at 5°, it takes about 16 hours to get fully formed cubes in the top mold and the proper icy/slushy mixture in the lower section. Do NOT use warm water to remove that icy mix from the underside of the top mold: you’ll damage the cubes and they’ll end up lopsided. I usually tap the partly formed “cubes” from the lower mold (which adhere to the top mold) with a wooden spoon to dislodge the extra ice. Then you can pop out your beautiful clear cubes. After sitting in the freezer a while (I put them in larger silicone molds I no longer use), I store them in a large ziplock bag. Still happy, still 5 stars.2nd update: the only issue I’ve had is an occasional bubble or two in the cubes. This is what I’ve landed on as my approach:1. Put the lower silicone mold in the insulated housing2. Fill the lower mold with bottled or filtered water3. Insert the upper mold into the lower mold4. Fill upper mold to fill line5. Carefully place in freezer set to ~5°F6. DO NOT TOUCH, MOVE, JOSTLE THE MOLD for at least 14 hours7. Remove from freezer after ~16 hours have passed, remove cubes8. Cheers!

Standard for all my reviews: When reviewing products, I'm always objective and honest about the product or service. I review with information that I feel others would like to know about the product as I always assume what I'm writing will influence for or against the purchase. I try to go above and beyond surface characteristics and input into quality, value and application. Most importantly, I end the review with an answer as to whether I'd purchase the product again which I believe is the most critical question pertaining to the item. To manufacturers: Manufacturers: Want me to review your items, just let me know!I've been using a number of different ball and cube molds and tried everything from using different temps of water, distilled water, filtered water, etc. with no real good results. Always cloudy and sometimes cracking. After doing some research I had settled on the True Cubes product but never got around to purchasing it. Then, we visited friends and he had True Cubes and they looked great. He mentioned he gets the best results with hot water.After getting the product, I tried regular cold tap water and I've never had to change it up. They came out nearly perfect, most all the time are crystal clear and while they take about 18 hours to form up, that's fine for our usage. If I have multiple visitors coming over, I make the cubes in advance and keep them in a heavy duty baggy. It takes a little bit to figure out how to remove them easily but once you get the process down, it's easy enough. It's not a small unit so be sure you make space in your freezer so that it can be level while the cubes forms up.Personally, I'd prefer slightly smaller cubes but that is splitting hairs. While a bit larger, they still fit into a standard whiskey or rocks glass just fine for whiskey, scotch, old fashioned, etc. And there's just something about that crystal clear rock that elevates your, and your guests', drink experience.I would purchase this again and highly recommend it.