VIVOHOME Automatic Ice Maker In-depth Review

Vivo Home is a California based company that manufactures a wide range of home, leisure, and hobby products. They have a colorful range of countertop bullet ice makers and a couple of portable nugget ice makers.

Key Specs

Where to Buy

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Compared to Other Bullet Ice Makers

8.5 Performance

The Vivo Home has convincingly proved itself one of the best performing portable ice makers we have tested. It topped the charts in terms of ice quality with ice bullet size and weight often while producing zero amounts of waste ice. Its overall capacity was only slightly less than two of its closest rivals. If you’re looking for really thick and chunky ice bullets, this may be the machine for you.

7.5 Ice Capacity Test: Competitively Good

The Vivo Home makes quite thick and chunky ice bullets. Consequently, the average ice making cycle is 11 min 30 sec which is around 2 min longer than similarly performing machines such as the Frigidaire EFIC189 and also the AGLucky HZB-12B.

The average time to fill a basket takes a little longer on average, around 105 min or 1 hr 45 min. However, our tests showed that periodically the time can increase an additional 20 min or so. Capacity wise, you can expect up to 10.5 oz per hour or 7.2 kg over 24 hrs. This is slightly less than its two closest rivals.

9.9 Ice Quality Test: Top Class

Like most other machines, the Vivo Home takes around 5 rounds or waves of ice making before it stabilizes into a typical working pattern of 5 grams or more per bullet.

However, we were surprised at how quickly the Vivo Home produced rounds of ice weighing 6 grams or more per bullet. In fact, it regularly produced ice bullets of over 7 grams and even some weighing as much as 8.7 grams.

Put into perspective, its close rival the Frigidaire EFIC189 rarely reached 7g, and the AGLucky HZB-12/B only reached 7.7 grams on occasions. Furthermore, there were regular rounds where zero amounts of waste ice were produced. A rare feat for other machines.

7.6 Design

The immediate impression of the Vivo Home is that of an older, more bulky kind of design. What stands out, though, is the spacious control panel on the upper part of the lid. It also has a comfortably sized basket. Despite the solid build quality, the lid showed comparatively poor insulation design.

In The Box

• One ice maker
• User manual
• Detachable ice basket
• Ice scoop

The Vivo Home countertop ice maker arrived securely boxed between two styrofoam pads. The ice basket and scoop were securely taped down—as was the ice scooping mechanism of the machine which you shouldn’t forget to remove.

Dimensions

8.0 Build Quality: A Match to Performance

We liked the hard front body of the Vivo Home and the fact it was easy to keep clean. The sides, by comparison, are made of a more bendable plastic. We found no flaws on the body, although one quality issue or perhaps design flaw, were the lid joinings with their noticeable gaps.

5.8 Lid Design: A Slip Up on Insulation

The Vivo Home has a comparatively small view window, but the view inside is good enough. While the upfront controls on the lid are quite refreshing, we did find issue with the overall lid design. The joinings on the lid hinge show wide gaps and, not surprisingly, our overnight test showed poor ice preservation.

These results were practically the same as the Frigidaire EFIC189. Both machines are among our top performers, but not so with the insulation design of the lid.

8.9 Panel Design: Refreshingly Spacious

If you’re looking for a user-friendly control panel with high visibility, the Vivo Home is not a bad design. Not many machines have the control panels on the front of the lid and this design, for some reason, is exactly the same as the Costway. We liked the spaciousness of the control panel and the silver-edged finish.

8.3 Ice Basket: Comfortably Wide

The Vivo Home has a relatively large ice basket. The basket is just slightly larger than that of the Frigidaire and likewise has no raised edge. The material is a medium strength plastic, so better than the average generic production.

Water Reservoir: Relatively Large

The Vivo Home has one of the larger-sized reservoirs. It holds 2.3 quarts (2.2 L) which is the same size as the Frigidaire EFIC189. Unlike the Frigidaire, the larger tank isn’t at the expense of a raised ice basket which can then interfere with the Ice Full alert. A larger reservoir is more advantageous if you are serving ice from the machine through the day.

Drainage Plug

The drainage plug is the standard generic production. It is a rough plastic tether attached to a soft silicone plug. Like most other machines, the plug is on the right hand side. We did find it a little tough however to jiggle out.

Ice Scoop

Cord and Plug

The white cord of the Vivo Home is 70 inches or 5.8 ft long, which is one inch shorter than the standard 71 inches. For most home use situations, this should be sufficient. The plug is also earthed with three prongs which is the best safety standard for a device that remains on for extended periods of time.

8.6 Usability

Despite its more dated bulky design, the Vivo Home ranks high in terms of usability. The control panel is spacious and positioned on the upper end of the lid. Furthermore, the body is easy to keep clean, and the wide ice basket has a comfortable scoop leverage. It is also one of the quietest machines we tested, if only by one decibel point.

8.7 Ease of Use: Nice Control Panel, Wide Basket

The Vivo Home design is a little different with the controls up front on the lower part of the lid. The control panel is also wide and nicely spaced. This is a convenient design and there are only two control buttons.

The average-sized view window makes it easy enough to see inside. A nice thing about this machine is the relatively large-sized ice basket with a good length for comfortable ice scooping.

8.3 Noise: A Recorded Low

Most portable bullet ice makers emit a similar level of sound of around 67 to 68 decibels. This Vivo Home, however, proved to be a little quieter than most other machines measuring 66.6 dB. While not a major difference, it perhaps says more about the quality of its mechanical design.

8.5 Cleaning: Little Effort Required

The Vivo Home has a self-cleaning function. This function flushes water through the ice making mechanism and the evaporator fingers. To clean your ice maker, all you need to do is wipe down the reservoir and outer body, and periodically descale the machine with a white vinegar solution.

To drain out the water, the silicone plug and hard plastic tether are standard and the plug hooks easily around the edge of the machine.

You should also keep the water guard free of debris and grime, and removing it is very easy. The bright blue body does not show stains easily and is also fingerprint resistant. There are other colors such as copper, aqua green, silver, black, and white.