FoodSaver DM1000 Frozen Conconction Maker Key West

I distinctly remember making fun of the Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker when I first saw it advertised in the Front Gate catalog. ("Who's going to buy a three hundred dollar blender on steroids?!? Hah-hah-hah...") Imagine my horror when my wife announced that she wanted one for her birthday. Looks like that "who" was going to be "me".

The vast majority of positive reviews on Amazon calmed my fears a bit and I ordered one up. As usual, Amazon delivered quickly and it was unpacked and setup in a couple minutes.

Exactly true to its claims, the thing actually makes perfect consistency margaritas and any other frozen drinks you can think of. I think I like it more than my wife. It has a "power tool" vibe to it that guys appreciate. Spinning blades and high speed motors. What could possibly go wrong?

There's a few things/tips to be aware of:

1) It's BIG. It just barely clears the front of our kitchen cabinets and is too tall to go under them. Pretty heavy to lift onto a high shelf too.

2) It does a more consistent job making a "full" pitcher than just a single drink. Having a lot of ice in the hopper works best; putting a single glass full of ice in will be too watery if you use the automatic cycle. To compensate, for a single drink I manually hold the "shave" switch on for ~4-5 seconds prior to starting the automatic mix cycle. Works great.

3) The shaved ice melts faster than cubes when it touches glass, so I've taken to icing the pitcher to keep the glass cool (or at least filling it with cold water for a few seconds) before adding the liquid ingredients. Unlike plastic pitchers on commercial drink makers, the glass (thick glass at that) can transfer a lot of heat. Popping it straight out of a hot dishwasher onto the stand will give you a mighty runny margarita.

4) Although "dishwasher safe" the lid to our pitcher turned a funny mottled brown/green color after one cycle in the wash. Not sure if it was the heat or the detergent or what, but after that it was slightly brittle and generally "weird". A call to the 800 customer service number yielded a free replacement which we just hand wash now.

All in all, it works as advertised and is a real crowd pleaser at parties. A good gizmo.

When I saw this item for sale I just had to buy one for my husband as a college graduation gift. Margaritas are his favorite drink and he just couldn't duplicate that restaurant quality consistancy with a blender. This Margaritaville machine actually shaves the ice instead of chopping it like a blender would do. This creates that nice smooth consistancy of the drink instead of a lumpy texture.

It's very easy to operate. All you do is fill the ice chamber with ice, pour the correct amout of your drink mixture into the pitcher (it will make 1-3 servings at a time), set the machine to how many servings you would like, then turn it on. The machine automatically measure,shaves and blend the perfect amount of ice according to the amount of servings. No more watery drinks.

When my kids have friends over for pool parties they love me to make them alcohol free strawberry daiquiris or pina coladas or fruit smoothies.

One nice feature about this machine is that as the ice in the ice chamber melts, the water is channeled into a collection reservoir, that is easily removeable to dump out. The water never mixes with the drink mix.

Clean-up is simple. Whatever ice remains in the ice chamber can be left to melt and drain into the reservoir then discard it or you can have the machine shave the remaining ice into the pitcher. We put our pitcher and pitcher parts into the dishwasher for a good cleaning.

If you are a frozen drink lover, like my husband and I are you have to own one of these. It's pricey but worth it!

I also, highly recommend the canvas carrying case that can be purchased separately. It's very nicely made.

I have been looking for a blender that would make perfect margaritas or daiquiris and this is the one. It makes 1, 2 or 3 drinks at a time, and perfect everytime, as long as you read and follow the directions and put in the right amount of mix. Easy to use and clean. I had been looking for an Island Oasis Blender on Ebay, but the Margaritaville Frozen Conconction Maker is so much smaller and priced well below what a used Island Oasis was going for. This is perfect for travel and I plan on taking it to many Jimmy Buffett concerts. The only downside is the ice storage on top, they need to have an attachment that will hold a bag of ice so you don't have to refill as often.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 188 reviews  4.5 out of 5 stars