Our daughter also saw those commercials on the t.v. at her grandmas house. On the way home one day she almost quoted the commercial verbatim highlighting the 3 minutes and the ability to make different flavors. Of course, this was a Christmas item. We searched for the product and she confirmed it when we found it on here. We read the negative comments on and braced ourselves and her, warning that it may not be what she expected. After trying it tonight, I will say this..... PEOPLE MUST NOT BE READING/ FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS CORRECTLY. We used cold Heavy cream AS INDICATED. We used crushed ice AS INDICATED (by putting our ice in the blender.) We used 4 tbls of table salt AS INDICATED. We made vanilla for now and used the amount INDICATED. We set a timer and the whole family shook it for 3 minutes AS INDICATED. My daughter loved this part and exclaimed we were in a commercial! For this alone I will give it 5 stars. But I also give a 5 it because people just like to complain for no reason. It came out the consistency of a soft serve/ frozen yogurt. You can shake it longer for thicker consistency (ALSO INDICATED) No pre-freezing or altering the directions at all. It came out quite tasty! When you see the cup and the size of the compartments the ingredients go in, who in the world thinks it will make a lot?? Who even wants to give a Small child a Large quantity of ice cream anyway? This made a perfect One Scoop serving size and if you add toppings, it will reach above the rim. So ya commercials always make things look bigger/ better/ tastier. Who ever ate a burger that looked exactly as it did on the commercial?? Did we get the only one in the world that worked or are we the only ones who can follow instructions correctly and not get bent out of shape when an inexpensive child's product yields a result different than our expectations??