True Cubes 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 cocktails I’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 housing 2. Fill the lower mold with bottled or filtered water 3. Insert the upper mold into the lower mold 4. Fill upper mold to fill line 5. Carefully place in freezer set to ~5°F 6. DO NOT TOUCH, MOVE, JOSTLE THE MOLD for at least 14 hours 7. Remove from freezer after ~16 hours have passed, remove cubes 8. Cheers!

Yup, it works great! However, I only used filtered store-bought bottled water so far, as I want to keep the molds clean. because I have hard well water. Note, you need to buy the 'Crystal Clear Ice Tray with Lid – Stackable 2"x2"x2" (link below) or the cubes will stick together. Also, make sure to let them warm up for a few minutes before adding the booze, or they may crack from temp shock. Also, when you remove the cooler from freezer, the latex molds will be frozen into the cooler box. I just put it in the sink in a couple inches of hot water for about 10 minutes and then you can pull the molds out. Worth the hassle for certain occasions, as the cubes are awesome! Make sure your cocktail glasses are wide enough or the cubes may be too wide to fit. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LNWLYXK?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Science works. In this case the engineering design of the product forces water to freeze from the top down, instead of from all sides. The unidirectional freezing forces impurity and air to be pushed from the top layer down into the bottom, resulting in clear large ice in the top 4 cubicles. After reading several other reviews prior to purchase, especially those negative, so can address some of the concerns. 1. TIMING: First timing is critical to ease of use! Take out of freezer within the recommended window of 18-22 hrs, depending on your freezer temperature. Through experimentation, I’ve found that the cubes are more clear with slower and longer freezing. There are other reviews that show clear cubes in as little as 12 hrs, but have found slower is better. It allows the time to push the bubbles and unwanted contaminants down into the bottom tray. Check on the product when it’s close to finish; pull it out and tap the side. If cubes are incomplete then bubbles will float up to the frozen level. If cubes are complete, you will not see bubbles come up into the top section. 2. SHAPE OF ICE AND PRODUCT: Use care and finesse with the silicon to prevent disfigurement and tearing. Warm water is your friend to release the 4 beautiful cubes from the top tray. Use warm water to help melt the ice underneath the top tray until you can gently pick off the remaining ice beneath,. Then firmly press out the four cubes onto a towel or container for storage. 3. MICROBUBBLES IN CUBES: The first couple times, I noticed some layers of micro-bubbles within the cubes as others had noted. Freezers have thermostats that kick the cooling on and off to maintain freezer temperature. The freezing cold air blows, cooling the freezer periodically. These cooling periods accelerate the freezing and traps some micro bubbles. I’ve eliminated these layers of bubbles by blocking the fan from blowing directly on the cubes in the freezer. A paper plate or something similar can be set up to block the directed cold air to mitigate the alternating periods of freezing. The result, consistent clear cubes that can be seen in pics attached! 4. FILL LEVEL CAUTION: Ensure that you consistently fill below the fill line. The product will siphon out onto the freezer shelf if you are even close to the fill line (pictures included). If you have issues with this then I recommend placing in an external tray in the freezer to prevent the mess.

This clear ice cube maker works great. Follow the instructions and it's easy to have 2" square clear cubes. I use regular tap water like they suggest. It can be tricky to get them out, especially if you leave it in the freezer a while. Take your time; run some warm water on the outside of the silicon mold. It can even help to slightly pull open the two pieces and run warm water in the gap. Eventually you can get the ice out. I'll store the 4 clear cubes in a bag and keep the cloudy pieces with regular ice. When using them, let them warm in the glass a few minutes before adding your favorite beverage or you might end up with a nice clear but cracked cube.

I've had this clear ice maker for over 5 years and it has stood the test of time. The silicone is durable and will last if you don't get too aggressive when pulling the two halves apart. Here's some tips I've learned over the years. - You will get bubbles in the ice when using bottled water (this uses a little less than 2 16.9 fl. oz. water bottles), unless you boil the water and wait for it to cool before putting it in. I don't bother because the ice still isn't cloudy and I don't want to put in that much more effort for ice lol. - Wash both silicone halves with warm water and soap after every use, otherwise the minerals in your water will stick to the base of the silicone molds (especially the lower half) and it's hard to get out. - Freeze time varies by freezer. My freezer usually takes about 24 hours to freeze just the top half of the cubes. The two halves are much easier to separate when just the top 4 cubes are frozen, so experiment with timing until you get it right for your freezer. - After taking the maker out of the freezer, remove the silicone from the insulated base and let the silicone sit on your counter for at least 5-10 minutes before attempting to separate the two halves. Prying them apart straight out of the freezer is a recipe for ripping the silicone. - If the top half and a little bit of the bottom half has frozen (don't do this if the bottom half is frozen solid), squeezing the bottom half to break apart the ice at the bottom will also help make separating the two halves easier. Overall it's a great clear ice cube maker, and I'd happily recommend it.

I bought this for my husband for Christmas, and he loves it! I think he’s been surprised by how well it works. The cubes come out perfectly clear. He finds them easiest to remove after about 20 hours, when the clear cubes are frozen solid, but the water below them is not. Highly recommend for the Old Fashioned aficionado among your friends or family!

Overall I love this cube maker. The cubes are huge and they are pretty clear, but I've not had 100% success with them being ultra clear. They also don't last extremely long, but they do much better than standard ice. I am going to try using distilled water next. I make mine in our deep freezer that is set at 0° and I've had several come out in nonsymmetrical shapes. Another issue is removing the cubes. The unit is basically two cubes deep and you use the top ones. The bottom ones are disposed of. The interface between the upper and lower cubes often has to be melted apart. The silicone sleaves can be difficult to separate but running warm water over the lower half makes it much easier. Overall, I think this is a great product regardless of the shortcomings that I've mentioned. I believe that once I get the kinks worked out, that I'll be even more satisfied with it. This is by far the best system for drink ice that I've used and it easily beats the commercial styles that can cost thousands of dollars. UPDATE: I've tried tap water (filtered), DI water from the store and hot tap water and the results are always the same; ice that is never clear. I have even left the unit in the freezer for over a month with the same result. Because of this I removed a star. A note of caution as well, I went to their (True Cube) website and it states, "Website Expired." Seems that this company may have gone under.

I absolutely love these. Anyone who likes to serve cocktails at home will enjoy treating their guests with the beauty of clear ice. These are not only beautiful, but also dilute your drink less while looking the business.