Customer Reviews
Save your money! 
2008-07-14
I have gone through two of these units and I have friend who also tried and failed. The motors can not stand up even to a 5-10 person margarita party. I ended up pulling out my 15 year old Hamilton-Beach blender to save the day (and the party). Looks cool but stay clear, unless of course you are looking to give up alcohol.
Tantalizing but Temperamental 
2008-06-04
We bought the Margarator because of its DC power feature. Thought it would be ideal for tailgating, i.e. Buffet Concerts. Used it at home the first time since we didn't have a concert on the horizon. Followed the instructions. 23 minutes of loud blending resulted in Margaritas with a thin slushy layer on top of really cold liquid. We blamed the ($1.25) 5 pound bag of ice, with large chunks of cubes stuck together, for the poor performance of the crusher/shaver. Tried it a second time the following weekend. Wanted to test ice cubes from an ice-maker. Filled the bucket 3/4 of the way to the fill line with ice cubes. Also put in 1/2 the bottle of Margarita mix. Viola, slushy Margaritas in about 12 minutes!! We were excited. It was still loud and you do need to turn the power on for the slushy margaritas to pour out. Also used a little bowl to collect dripping from the spout.
The Margarator worked so well that we decided to bring it to a Memorial Day BBQ. We followed the same 3/4 ice with 1/2 bottle of mix measurements and got repeat great results. Then things went south. Tried to make a second batch when it malfunctioned. Not sure what happened, but the motor spun up without spinning the crusher. Messed around with it, but people were getting annoyed at the loudness. Drank cold margaritas to clear out the container. Looked inside and nothing was broken.
We called the manufacturer and they said to send it back. A replacement is supposed to be on the way. We'll see if it's any better. Giving it two stars because there's potential for it to be a good unit if they improve the quality and drop the price to $50 or less...
ZERO STARS - A real piece of junk - DONT BUY 2008-05-01
so far this thing has done nothing but waste a good bottle of tequila and raise my blood pressure. It has no ability to grind ice. When i first got it, i looked at the 'grinder' and 'grinder cage' and was a bit puzzled how these two non-aggressive looking pieces could ever possibly grind ice into a slush. I was right . . . they can't. I don't see how they ever arrived at a $100.00 price tag for this worthless thing!
Cool name - over-hyped product 2008-04-17
Summary - the margarator kinda works, with much effort during the party (oh, were you planning to have fun instead of work?). It seems cheaply constructed, and other's experiences (failures) bear that out. Those with high expectations will likely be disappointed, and I think that's why there are so many negative reviews. However, to get better than this, you have to turn to the expensive pro-machines. Welcome to your new home: Rock and a hard place and you in between. I would suggest machine rentals, except at $100 a pop, after 12 parties and you could have bought a used pro machine yourself.
What is it?
The Margarator is an insulated blender with dull blades that pulverizes the ice in a margarita mix to make a frozen drink.
Quality?
The motor and build quality are suggestive of a heavily cost-reduced consumer product.
It is just about possible if you get everything cold to get fairly decent results. However, if your expectations are perfect restaurant quality frozen margaritas then you will probably be disappointed.
Use experience:
The reality of using it is (as others have said), a challenge to get the mix cold enough without diluting the mix too much with ice. It does take much longer to get the mix ready than the instructions suggest. Use tip - keep the machine running when serving, otherwise the ice floats to the top and you just get the liquid at the bottom.
After running a friend's Margarator all night at 2 parties, I really wanted to serve frozen margaritas at my own parties (and fruit granitas for my kids parties). But the shortcomings of the Margarator had me looking around for other options. Eventually, I dropped coin on a used Taylor 430 restaurant machine. Even used they're like 10x-15x the price of the price of a new magarator, so it doesn't seem like it's a fair comparison. But unfortunately a restaurant machine is the next step up from breaking up ice in a blender. There are some <$1k granita machines (with the see-through bowls - e.g. Faby), but they are not designed for outdoor heat, plus you can't top it up with extra mix since you'd dilute the frozen mix with unfrozen product and have to wait an hour for it to refreeze. If you're willing to spend that much, you might as well spend a little more to get a machine that really does what you want; a used Taylor or Crathco that will last for years and years.
Consumer vs. Pro:
One of the main pluses is the pro machines basically never die as they are easily repaired and could be resold for virtually the same amount you paid for it years later. When you consider the net loss of owning a pro machine that's resold 4 years later vs. the cost of a new margarator (with no resale value after 4 years), then the pro option might not seem like such a crazy proposition. Sure, you have to front more cash at the start for the pro machine, but the total cost of ownership at the end of 4 years is not as wildly different as it first seems.
Poor. 2008-04-14
It just didn't make sense to me how a stainless steel ring recessed into the bottom of a container cold actually crush ice into the nice slushy drink that was pictured on he box. Although I was happy to receive this as a gift, my initial skepticism turned out to be well warranted. No slushy, frozen drinks, just watery ones. Oh well, it makes cold drinks, and you can carry them around, even though it is a bit cumbersome. Next purchase is probably going to be the Maragaritaville one, it certainly appears that it does the job it advertises.
Piece of Junk 2008-04-06
Be 'part' of the party! Now you can make a gallon of Margaritas at one time! Fill "Margarator" with ice, add Margarita Mix and Tequilla. Secure lid and flip on the switch. In a matter of minutes you will have delicious and refreshing Margaritas! Product Features: 1 Gallon Capacity Easy Dispensing Spout AC/DC Power Capabilities
YES......A Real Piece of Junk.......... 2008-02-12
Was so excited to get "The Margarator"...........used it once, more like Margaritias on the rocks..........Very slushy........not very good at all. The second time I used it I noticed that one of the white clips that locks the grinding cage into place had snapped off........Again, it didn't work very well at all, and the second (and only other) clip was broken off.....Tried several times to contact "The Helman Group" to purchase a replacement grinding cage.............they simply never responded............Save your money........Inferior product made by an inferior company who simply ignores customer service requests!!!!
What a piece of junk! 2008-02-06
This product truyly deserves 0 stars. Warning -choking hazard - you may end up with plastic in your drink even when poured through the dispenser in the unit.
Save your money. The first time we used it the plastic clips broke. However, for us, the unit contnued to work. While we never got anything like a chipped ice drink, we got crushed ice and a little foam. Unfortunately, the broken plastic was obscured by the slight foam. Thank goodness I was straining the ice chunks through my teeth before swallowing, and managed to avoid swallowing the broken piece of plastic. The strange thing is the unit would still work even the second time we tried it. It just doesn't work as advertised. When we used whole ice cubes we got chunks (and broken plastic). So the second time around we thought we would give it a help by using crushed ice from our ice maker. The consistency never changed.
We took it back to the store and bought the Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker. This one was truly like restaurant consistency Magaritas. Note - make sure you follow the directions for alcohol to tequila ratio that comes with the maker and not the one on the bottle of Magarita mix you use. The ratio should be 2 to 1, not 3 to 1 like on the back of the magarita mix.
The margarator sucks 2008-01-21
The Margarator is a very bad product! Long story short, it just flat out does not work correctly. Do your research on this product before buying it, their are plenty of people who are not happy with the performance or the customer service from the maker. I myself had no luck making a quality drink as they claim it makes and I have still not heard back from their customer service people after two attempts. I have since taken the machine back and bought a Jimmy Buffett Margarita maker and I must say it works absolutely great although it cost $300.
Plastic clip broke on first try 2008-01-12
What a great idea, I wish it worked. Purchased at Belk's Dept. store. First time we tried it a plastic clip on the grinding cage broke and it stopped (like it should if all parts are not functional, so that's something, I guess.) We assume the crescent-shaped ice cubes from our ice maker were too much for it, which is a pi** poor design since that's what your average user will be using. After reading all the other reviews, we're returning it for credit rather than replacement - I don't like my odds of the 2nd (or 3rd, etc.) unit I try actually delivering on what it promises.
