I got a Sunbeam Frosty, and I have to tell you that it doesn't work a damn when it's a hot day. I had cold ice cream mixture with a few thicker bits of semifrozen cream. That's it.
Perhaps it'd work better in winter, you know, the most likely time to want ice cream....
As far as I can tell, the best thing to get for efficiency is a refrigerated unit that stirs AND freezes, as opposed to the prefreeze units like the Frosty, which is just an icepack with a mechanised stirrer. I have it on excellent authority that the Italian makes - like these (http://www.espressoimports.com/gelatomachines.html) ones, for example - are better than mere Sunbeam, but they tend to be almost professional/commercial grade, and are often priced accordingly.
As you'll most likely be going the sorbet route, you can avoid machines entirely with either granita recipes like this (http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/35/Basic-Granita) one, or the blender route. Which is to make the ice cream, wait until it's frozen hard, then break into chunks which you turn into slush in the blender then refreeze for a softer texture.
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Perhaps it'd work better in winter, you know, the most likely time to want ice cream....
As far as I can tell, the best thing to get for efficiency is a refrigerated unit that stirs AND freezes, as opposed to the prefreeze units like the Frosty, which is just an icepack with a mechanised stirrer. I have it on excellent authority that the Italian makes - like these (http://www.espressoimports.com/gelatomachines.html) ones, for example - are better than mere Sunbeam, but they tend to be almost professional/commercial grade, and are often priced accordingly.
As you'll most likely be going the sorbet route, you can avoid machines entirely with either granita recipes like this (http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/35/Basic-Granita) one, or the blender route. Which is to make the ice cream, wait until it's frozen hard, then break into chunks which you turn into slush in the blender then refreeze for a softer texture.
YMMV. :P