Considering other machines start at $200, for $50 this is a great home cotton candy machine. Once you get the hang of a few quirks, it makes great cotton candy. If you have ever used a commercial machine this will feel disappointing. Additionally, if you want to be able to make cones for folks on the spot - this isn’t great for that, but to be fair, no machine that isnt a $200+ commercial grade machine will allow for that.What to know:1. Cleaning is a pain- as others said, getting the spinning head off to clean the machine is incredibly difficult and gets harder with each use. I need my husband to do it now and I’m expecting us to break it in the next few uses trying to remove it for cleaning. (The actual cleaning is very easy- just run hot water)2. Putting the spinning head back on- if you have to push it down very hard so it’s nearly touching the grate and heat lamps. I have often thought it was pushed down far enough only to wait 10min for it to heat up and still not get any spun sugar. This isn’t an issue as much as something to be aware of for trouble shooting.3. This isn’t a fast machine. Once it’s heated up (about 10min), it takes about 5-10min to make one small-medium sized cone. I find that after about 4 or 5 cones the tray becomes too filled with sugar spray and it starts catching your cotton candy so you have to take it off to clean it which adds to your time. Basically- if you want to use this to make cotton candy in real time for more than 2 people - prepare to miss half your party and have folks standing around for a while. This really only works or a crowd if you make it ahead of time.4. It’s picky. Have dreams of creating your own flavors? I, for example, made my own flavored sugar with saffron and rose for ‘adult’ cotton candy. While it was completely dried out when we went to use it- just adding that extra liquid for the flavor meant the low-ish wattage of this home quality machine wasn’t enough to turn it into floss. That tells me that if you tried to use those crazy flavor packs you can buy online, they wouldn’t work either (you have to add the tiniest amount of water to your sugar). This only creates a problem if you’re trying to be fancy and not use your basic pre-flavored cotton candy sugar. But as an adult who bought this for adult use- that was disappointing for me.Overall it’s a fine machine. You get what you pay for and maybe a little better than what you pay for in this instance. BUT even then, the $50 home machine does not compare to what a commercial machine can do. If you want to make cotton candy an interactive part of your parties- splurge for a commercial grade or get a rental.The usage of this machine was rather easy, I would suggest crushing up any hard candy before putting it in, the cleaning was ok on the bowl but the spinning part was hard to dry off and rinse, I would suggest making it in bulk to deal with the cleaning problemBought this for personal use and it works great. The manual says to use a tablespoon of flossing sugar and that only makes a small amount of cotton candy. Like maybe a little bit bigger than the size of an ear of corn. That’s my only complaint.I bought this because I have never owned a cotton candy machine before. In hindsight, I'd have probably spent a bit more and gotten a larger/more powerful one.This machine does it's job, and makes cotton candy. I tried making some for an event I had, and it all melted over night. I don't think this is related to the machine itself, however because of the size and power of the machine, making it on site wouldn't been possible, and making it in advance seems to have failed due to (like) humidity in my area.I tried again for Halloween to make cotton candy, but the machine had to be moved from near my front door (cooler as the door kept opening all night), to the kitchen (where it was warmer), because the little heater couldn't get hot enough in the area it was.Again, it does great for small batches in controlled environments, but don't expect to take it outside unless it's a hot day, and don't expect to be handing out cotton candy quickly. It takes about 1-2 minutes per cone.Summary: Good product for home use, with a controlled environment. Not speedy, but you can make smaller cones to make it go further.I would recommend a larger/more powerful model if you want to have any kind of event with more than 15 people at it. Cotton candy does not seem to store well in my area.It works well, but it's not a commercial cotton candy maker of course, but I made three large margarine containers full of three flavors of cotton candy in around an hour. I bought this because my wife and kids love cotton candy and I bought it so I could make them fresh cotton candy. For $40 it seems to be a good value, but I won't know for sure until I have had it a while and see how it holds up. If anything changes in the future, I will update my review. It's pretty easy to clean, just make sure to wait until the bowl that spins around cools off before you try and pull it off to wash it.This machine provides great quality cotton candy at home. For someone who likes cotton candy, this machine will pay for itself through the first container of candy floss sugar.I found that it works best ith candy floss sugar or plain white sugar from the few things i've tried so far. In addition to the cotton candy, you also end up with a ring of hard sugar around the edge of the catching bowl that also makes for a nice treat too.It takes the machine about 10 minutes to prepare, but once its there, you can make multiple cones of cotton candy in one go.Cleaning is relatively easy. You just need to take it appart and soak it in hot water and with a bit of wiping it all comes clean. The plastic bowl is easy to remove and there is only one hexagonal nut located in the metal spin disk that holds the disk on that is also pretty easy to remove. Note that it doesnt come with a tool to take it apart.It makes cotton candy - about half the sugar melts into the cracks of the machine and is wasted unless you stop repeatedly and sneak it out with a toothpick. It’s okay! I mean, cotton candy in our kitchen is awesome for sure. But durability? I can’t see it lasting long. There are scorchmarks on the spinner that I can’t remive and the paint is already chipping. Less than a week old and about 15 uses in.Works far better than I expected - with both the nostalgia cotton candy sugars and with just any hard candies (peppermint cotton candy - yum!). So easy my 12 year old can use it. Cleaning is easy enough with a wipe down - and the unit itself is solid and seems to be of good quality. A happy surprise as my daughter begged for a cotton candy machine for her birthday and I didn’t have high expectations this would work out!I haven't tried this with hard candy yet, but with flossing sugar it made cotton candy super well. It was a really simple process and you only have to wait 10 minutes for it to heat up and then you're on your way to make delicious cotton candy.The one thing I wanna complain about is that the extractor head is really hard to remove from the machine for cleaning. Otherwise the parts are easy to clean and overall good machine.Note that hard candies will make strands very quickly but sugar floss and even regular granulated sugar takes much longer to melt. I heat it up 6 or 7 minutes when using hard candy, but with sugar, I will let it heat 10-12 minutes at least. If the strands don't form quickly, just be patient and let it heat!