Are You Still Using Ice Trays in Your Refrigerator?
Space in an RV freezer is often limited and best utilized for food storage. Traditional ice cube trays take up valuable space.
Along with being very inconvenient to store, ice cube trays are a pretty slow way to make ice. Why wait 2 hours for 12 ice cubes when you can make 9 cubes in 6 minutes and 26 pounds of ice per day?
Portable Ice Makers for RVs: a faster and more efficient way to make ice.
Unlike freezing ice in your refrigerator, which happens from the water’s indirect exposure to cold air, portable ice makers use direct exposure to a cold metal rod to produce ice. This is what makes the process so much faster.
Supplying kids with cold drinks and hosting fellow RVers for drinks is a part of RV life. Having ice on hand all the time using traditional ice cube trays can become a full-time job.
Their small size, combined with quick production of ice, makes portable ice makers ideal for RVers and have become an essential appliance for many.
What to look for in a portable ice maker
Most portable ice makers are very similar from brand to brand. One thing to note is a large majority of bullet cube units are actually produced by a company named Hicon. The appearance and some options will vary but most will be very similar in makeup.
Here are the main things to consider:
- Production – Number of cubes produced per batch.
- Speed – Time to produce each batch.
- Type of cube – Most produce bullet-shaped cubes but other types are available.
- Special features – Timer, filter, self-clean mode.
Our Favorite Options for Making Ice While Camping
1. Igloo ICEB26
- Product Dimensions: 12.4 in x 14.63 in x 9.61 in
- Product Weight: 20.5 lbs
Igloo is well known for its industry-best coolers of all sizes, so it makes sense that they are also in the ice-making market.
The ICEB26 is one of the more quiet ice makers available. It is also very stylish and is available in multiple colors including white, silver, blue, black, and red.
9 pieces in 7 minutes and 26 pounds per 24 hours are the production numbers. The removable ice basket holds 2 pounds of ice and the water capacity is 3 quarts.
2. Frigidaire EFIC206
- Product Dimensions: 15 in x 11 in x 14.5 in
- Product Weight: 19 lbs
Another well-known name in appliances, Frigidaire is a popular favorite. One great feature about the EFIC06 is the option of large or small ice. The ice bucket capacity is 2.5 pounds allowing for a lot of storage.
It can have 5 pieces ready in 6 minutes, making it one of the faster ice makers. Total ice production is 26 pounds per 24 hours.
3. VIVOHOME
- Product Dimensions: 12.59 in x 9.64 in x 12.59 in
- Product Weight: 17 lbs
The portable ice maker from VIVIOHOME is built with stainless steel construction for durability and great looks.
It produces the first batch of ice in approximately 6 minutes and can produce 26 pounds in a 24-hour period. The ice maker comes with a removable ice basket and low water indicator.
Two size options of ice allow for large ice for sodas and smaller ice for mixed drinks.
4. Luma IM200SS
- Product Dimensions: 14.25 in x 11.13 in x 13.88 in
- Product Weight: 25.3 lbs
This Luma ice maker utilizes a filter to produce clear ice as opposed to the cloudy or white ice produced by most ice makers. It produces clear, square, cocktail-quality ice.
The production time for a batch is longer at approximately 15 minutes, however, it makes 24 cubes per batch and is capable of making 28 pounds per day.
5. IKITCH
- Product Dimensions: 12.3 in x 8.7 in x 12.9 in
- Product Weight: 15.65 lbs
IKITCH claims it produces 9 cubes in just 6 minutes, making this one of the fastest ice makers. As fast as it is making ice, it is also very quiet and has a small footprint at only 8.7 inches wide, making it great for countertops.
Two ice size options and full ice and low water indicators make for ease of use.
6. Magic Chef
- Product Dimensions: 14.1 in x 9.5 in x 12.9 in
- Product Weight: 20.3 lbs
Known as a more budget-friendly brand, Magic Chef has proven to be a reliable brand as well.
Their ice maker produces 9 cube batch sizes in as little as 7 minutes and the standard 26 pounds of ice in 24 hours, along with small and large cube size, positions this ice maker with some of the more expensive ones.
It comes in a variety of colors including red, silver, white, black, and even a camo edition.
If you use your RV often and like to entertain, having a portable ice maker can make your life easier. Keep the drinks cold and your guests happy.
One of the best parts about RVing is engaging with the community of traveling enthusiasts. iRV2 forums allow folks to chat with other RVers online, and get other perspectives on everything RVing, including products, destinations, RV mods, and much more.
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Kendall lives with his wife and their two cocker spaniels full-time in their RV currently in Mexico. He is one half of DashboardDrifters.com and the co-founder of RVSpotDrop, a web service for full-time RVers.
Great article, but when I see the best of anything I say, hmmm this author must had tried every ice maker on the market. Or are they going off reviews others have posted who also I assume haven’t tried them all. From now on Kendall how about a title like Some great I e Makers you may want to consider.
It’s not just you, my rant just reached a breaking point on your article. Keep suggesting.
Peace out
We purchased the fridedare ice maker. Worked great for 1 summer season than died half way through the 2nd summer. Skip it!
A summation of the features would be nice- while the article is titled “Best Ice Makers” not sure what sets these apart from others – or not even what sets them apart from each other – they all seem to produce about the same.
Some info about current usage would be helpful – especially if you’re on solar or generator.
if the first cubes are made in 6-9 min – does this mean every 6-9 min another batch is made??
A follow-up article would be great addressing these points.
I have the Luma and the real reason to get that ice maker is because the ice is perfectly smooth. Other ice makers create ice that has lots of tiny bubbles in it. Those tiny bubbles create cavitation and cause all of the carbonation to come out of your soda. If you’re making a Jack and Coke with ice regular ice will leave you with a flat drink while Luma ice will leave you with a delicious cocktail.
MSRPs of each would have been helpful. Do any accept a water line, or mjust they be filled with water? Water capacities??? How often must they be refilled to make the 24hour capacity???
Aw, com’on, Man. Don’t buy that camo ice maker. You’ll spend all your heartbeats looking for the damn thing.
You, like others, do not say where these devices are made, and that is important to me. I will not buy from China. Was this just neglected, or intentional? Seems to be widespread, as few things do NOT come from CHINA.
We have the IKitch and it’s a great little machine. Works well for making the ice, but the article I had read said it could be put outside the camper and it really can’t. We keep it inside on the counter and we have ice whenever we need it. I also use it at home but I find that the ice is a little bit drippy when I remove it to put it in the ice tray in the freezer. In the camper, I turn it if off at night so it doesn’t keep us up, and I have ice again in 6 minutes the next morning to put in our tea. It holds a lot of water in the reservoir so you aren’t having to refill it more than once a day or so. Depends on how much ice you are using. However, I would not plan on using an ice maker to keep a cooler full of ice, because the cubes are small and not that dense so they do melt faster than ice you make in a tray or the bagged ice you purchase. This is just perfect for cold drinks. I also found that I didn’t take up valuable fridge space with 2 liters of soda, or juice. We also didn’t go into the fridge at all except at mealtimes, which made the fridge work much better as well. I think for me having the ice machine was a very good purchase.
A real review, thanks
Hi folks,
We had a terrible time with 3 ice makers not working right until a fellow camper mentioned he had the same problem. To find out it was not the ice maker but the water we were using – distilled water. Distilled water does not have enough minerals in the water to activate the water flow sensor. We switched to spring water or plain drinking water. Problem solved. So before blaming the ice maker for not working right. Try changing the water you are using.
I forget the brand name but we experienced bad tasting cubes even though it was cleaned before use and several batches were discarded. Kind of had a “refrigerator” taste.
I appreciate this review. We’re “between” RV’s at the moment and ice cube trays in the freezer were a pain in the patoot. I’ll google all these for additional reviews and pricing.
Our favorite is the GE Opal 2.0 Nugget Ice Maker. How did we ever live without Nugget ice before. If you read the reviews it will give you pause. But if you clean it every month as directed she will last and last. Have one on our RV, at home and at the office. Highly recommend. Amazon has a great price and you can also buy an extended warranty, which is not a bad idea for a $628.00 ice maker. By the way, make sure you buy the 2.0, not the original as it had many problems breaking down.
Responding to Joe K’s comment. He is absolutely right. The less hard water and minerals you have, the less maintenance you will have and the longer the ice maker will last. We use bottled water. Who wants smelly ice in their cocktails?
We have the Igloo ice maker in Red. We camp about two weeks each month so it is always running. I have to have cold drinks. We haven’t had any problem with it. It has a removable ice basket, light indicator to tell you to add water and you can pick two sizes of ice cubes. We’ve been using it for about two years now and would recommend this ice maker.
I have one. Find it a bit of a PITA at home, and it would be a lot more pain in an RV. First, I do not like ice in a drink, it means the ice is taking up drink space, and the drink thins as the ice melts. Cold drink from a fridge works fine for me, and if I want it cold for a long period I use an insulated mug or cup with a top, can get up to 3 hours of cold that way, you can even cool the drink cup by putting it in the fridge or freezer. No expense buying a ice maker, don’t have to fill with water and keep track of it constantly, no extra space taken up. I go out to relax, not to keep busy, except maybe while fishing.