Ecozy Smart Panel Nugget Ice Maker Mistalo Review: Cool Countertop Convenience

When we reviewed the $339.99 Ecozy Smart Nugget Ice Maker last year, we gave it high marks for its fast, quiet performance and its many smart features, including voice control, push notifications, and a self-cleaning option. The company’s new Ecozy Smart Panel Nugget Ice Maker Mistalo not only offers all of these features but adds a bright, colorful control panel, water purity and temperature readings, and a double-insulated chamber that helps reduce ice melt. At $499.99, it’s more expensive than its predecessor, but we think the added features are worth the extra cash, earning it an Editors’ Choice award for smart kitchen appliances.

Measuring 15.5 by 14.0 by 9.3 inches (HWD) and weighing 26.4 pounds, the Mistalo is bigger and heavier than the model that we reviewed last year (11.3 by 8.7 by 12.7 inches, 20 pounds), but it’s still smaller and lighter than the $665 GE Profile Opal 2.0 (16.5 by 13.4 by 17.5 inches, 38 pounds) and should fit on most kitchen countertops. It has stainless steel sides, a black top, and a front panel door that opens out from the top. On the right side of the unit, there's a ventilation fan. A plug on the bottom of the ice maker is used for draining and cleaning purposes.

Ecozy Smart Panel Nugget Ice Maker Mistalo ice bucket

(Credit: John R. Delaney)

A removable ice bin on the inside of the door holds up to 2.6 pounds of ice, which is a bit less than the Opal 2.0 (3 pounds). The water supply container sits in a slot above the ice bin and holds up to 7.5 cups of water. To fill the container, simply pull it out halfway, open the cover, and fill it three-quarters of the way with fresh filtered water (more on this below).

Ecozy says the Mistalo can churn out 44 pounds of nugget ice per day (or just under 2 pounds per hour), and it has a double-insulated inner compartment designed to reduce melting. Its predecessor can make 35 pounds per day, at a rate of 1.5 pounds per hour.

Central to the Ecozy Mistalo's operation is the full-color control panel located on the top front of the ice maker. It contains buttons for power, cleaning, setting a timer, and activating a blue LED for illuminating the ice bin. Colorful icons on the display tell you when the machine is making ice, when the ice bin is full, and when it’s time to add water or activate a self-cleaning cycle.

A clock displays the current time, and below that are the air temperature, water temperature, and the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) readings. The TDS reading tells you the level of organic and inorganic materials, such as metals, minerals, and salts, in your water. The reading will glow white if it is below the 200 parts per million (ppm) mark, and yellow if it is above 200ppm. Ecozy strongly recommends using filtered or bottled water, which typically has a low TDS reading.

The self-cleaning feature takes around 20 minutes and should be performed weekly if the TDS reading is lower than 200ppm, or every 3 days if it is above 200ppm. Simply drain any existing water from the machine, add new water to the container, and press the Clean button. You can run the cycle as many times as you wish, but make sure you drain the machine after each cycle.

The ice maker uses 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios to connect to your home network and to your phone. You can control it using the EcozyHome app for Android and iOS devices, and use Alexa and Google voice commands to turn the machine on and off. The ice maker panel on the app’s Devices screen shows the machine's name and current status (on, off, making ice, cleaning), and there's a Start button that will tell the machine to begin making ice.

Ecozy Smart Panel Nugget Ice Maker Mistalo screenshots

(Credit: Ecozy/PCMag)

When you tap the ice marker panel in the app, it opens a screen that displays a picture of the device. While the machine is in Standby mode (not making ice), the screen shows the current water temperature and the TDS reading, and has a Timed Start (timer) button with 10- to 90-minute increments and a custom setting. There’s also a Start button, a Schedule button that lets you specify one-time or daily start and end times, and a Cleaning button that begins a cleaning cycle. While the machine is making ice, the screen shows the elapsed ice-making time and has buttons for specifying an end time or forcing an immediate stop.

Tap the three lines in the upper-right corner to access the settings screen. Here, you can edit the ice maker's name and view the machine’s serial number, firmware version, and IP and MAC address information. You can also adjust the LED brightness, turn the LED on and off, enable sounds, change the temperature unit (Fahrenheit or Celsius), update the firmware, share the device with other users, and view the last cleaning date.

Preparing the Mistalo for first use was easy. I rinsed the interior, the ice bin, and the water container with warm water; wiped the exterior with a wet cloth; and ran a cleaning cycle. After draining the machine, I powered up the ice maker and pressed the Wi-Fi button on the control panel until it started to blink. Once the app discovered the ice maker, I tapped Connect, and a few seconds later, it was on my network. I gave it a name, filled the container with water, and was ready to make some ice.

Ecozy Smart Panel Nugget Ice Maker Mistalo display

(Credit: John R. Delaney)

Once I pressed the On button, the snowflake icon lit up, indicating that the ice maker was working. After two hours, the water container was empty and the ice bin was halfway filled, so I added more water. After another two hours, the bin was full and the Ice Full indicator was illuminated.

The Ecozy Mistalo was extremely quiet and delivered perfectly crunchy nugget ice every time. It responded instantly to mobile app commands to set a timer and turn the light on and off, and it had no trouble responding to Alexa voice commands to turn on and off.

Final Thoughts

(Credit: John R. Delaney/PCMag)