Great Northern Midway Marvel Commercial Quality Popcorn Popper Machine 16 Ounce

The media could not be loaded. I have had this machine for a month now, and I have run over 10 lbs of corn through it... it is a fantastic machine and makes great corn every time. . It comes mostly assembled (I attached picture of popper in box), you have to put the glass doors on the front, put popper in, etc. It went together easy and I only needed to make just one adjustment to align the hinge on the glass door correctly to the magnet which keeps the door closed.It is nice and big, so you can put the popper unit in an out easy and get to anything you want inside. This is something that you set up and it stays there (not to put away between uses). I personally like the look of it on our counter.The pot is very shiny and wipes out easy after use (I wipe it out once a week). I don't scrub it and so it has taken on a nice golden hue inside the pot. Operating the machine it takes 2-3 minutes to heat the oil and it will pop an 8 ounce batch in about 1-1/2 min after adding corn and starting the stirrer. A 16 ounce batch completes in about 3 min after adding corn. It is nice an quiet, but will make some noise if a kernel gets between the stirrer and the pot.. when that happens, the kernel will squeak a bit being rubbed against the pot until the kernel frees itself. No issues, it just pops great!For now I am using the prepacked Great Northern Organic Yellow Corn and their White Corn in a 50/50 mix (8 oz of each). The result of popping is delicious, tasty and fresh popcorn with a very nice popcorn smell coming from the machine. Far superior to what I have ever made with my past array of air poppers, stove/kettle poppers and microwave poppers. No burnt kernels at all. Old maids go in the old maid drawer, but there are not really many of those.I decided to purchase this unit for the size of it, the fact it works on a standard 15 ampere outlet and that it has a deck warmer. I figured I could make less with a bigger popper and still make a bunch if I have friends over. Turns out I would never make less than 8 ounces and now I seem to use it's full capacity each time making 16 ounces each time. I like the design of it and, while it is a small thing I noticed the etching on the glass lined up with the warming light which diffuses the light nicely. As I said, I find myself making a full pound of corn at a time now and use the warming features of the machine to keep the popped corn fresh (it has a 50 watt light plus a deck warmer, which is a 50 watt oven element under the popcorn deck). Popping 16 oz at a time I will have left overs at night, but that works just fine for us. I turn the warmer back on when I want corn the next day and it tastes fresh.Bottom line is that I love the machine and would buy again. No regrets at all. It was a very good purchase for our family of four popcorn eaters.Attached is picture of popper as I am ready to add a cup of corn and video of it popping.

Our church has the smaller version of this popcorn machine and it had difficulty staying heated during cool, outdoor events. So, we decided to go with a larger machine when we started our non-profit agency. We use it to draw people to our booth at events so we can tell them about our agency (and maybe get a donation!) This one is WELL worth the money! It heats up quickly, maintains the heat even in cold weather, pops quickly (said the 6 year old waiting for popcorn to pop!), and keeps the popcorn warm for a long time. We are very impressed with how well this popcorn works. It's also easy to clean. BONUS!

Straight away, unboxed- doors don't come close to lining up, and one won't even grab the magnetic latch. Hardware looks, let's be kind and say- flimsy. Doubt creeps in. Uneasy feelings. Did I just spend $350.00 on this mammoth collection of cheaply made and poorly assembled bits? It's huge, ugly, and badly made, but will it make popcorn?.. Lots and lots of popcorn?..Yes- sort of. I followed all the directions as best I could given that the manual and the instructions printed on the glass door are different. That being said, it DID make popcorn- just not nearly as much as advertised. I got about 3 gallons from 15oz. of un-popped kernels and 1/2 cup of oil. Not brilliant. Just as many "old maids" as when I use a whirly pop, only the holes for the trap to the "old maids drawer" were too small for most of them, and required removal by hand anyways.Kettle stirrer* HORRIBLE GRINDING NOISE* Turn off the machine to find the mechanism that stirs the popcorn inside the kettle is misaligned and now scratching the inside of the kettle to pieces. I mean DEEP, gnarly scratches. Like, are there metal shavings in our popcorn scratches. And this proceeded to happen EVERY SINGLE TIME I used the machine (3 in total) with the last time resulting in a total failure of the stirring mechanism. It was mangled and completely unusable. All in less than a month.Now begins the return process... And I threw out the original packaging because it was ENORMOUS and I didn't anticipate having to return the machine inside 30 days. Amazon was very helpful in trying to find a solution, however no one sells boxes that big in singles. So you're looking at $100.00 for a five pack of gigantic boxes, four of which you'll likely never use. Unless you need to ship a motorcycle, or something...?Bottom line, don't buy it. Sure I guess, if you're a glutton for punishment and you enjoy being let down massively... this is the product for you. But honestly, I'd rather have sandals made from LEGO.

December 2023 update: We originally purchased it in March of 2021, and use it for at least 8 batches per month (we love popcorn). One batch (16 oz) makes the equivalent of about 4 regular sized bags of popcorn. One minor note: I think it might be from how much we use it, but one of the fuzes in one of the switches (that controls the heating element) wore out after a couple of years of (frequent) use. I was worried that we were going to have to replace the machine, but I decided to try replacing the switch. Replacing it wasn't very hard and only took about 20 minutes including time to watch videos on youtube. It has worked great ever since. If you have the same misfortune with the switches, they are very affordable (at the time of writing this, they are $9 for a 3-pack) and available here on Amazon. Still way glad that we got this machine, and we still love using it all the time. Here's the current link to the switches, if anybody needs it.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S914SFB_________________This was a birthday/Father's Day gift that we have been using for about a month. It works perfectly to make theater-quality popcorn at home. Cleaning is easy too! Such a great product!

Ordered this for our PTO. They love it. Pops great popcorn with no issuesEasy clean up.