popcorn machines (1 Viewer)

[Keith M.]

I was considering purchasing one for the lobby area...

Do any of you own one? Which one? Pros/Cons?

Do the popcorn fumes fill the whole house? Was it really worth the $$$?

BTW, Im would prefer a 6-8oz with heated bottom....

Thanks in advance...

 

[MikeWh]

There is substantial discussion here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=322822

A particular vendor is doing a PowerBuy right now, which ends March 31. A link is in this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=370742

I've seriously considered getting in on the PowerBuy, but I've got too many other HT priorities right now.

 

[Jonas Pearson]

I have the Paragon Theater Pop 6 which is available through a certain Powerbuy mentioned previously.

The pros are that it is a decent price, is well built, and works well (it has a heating tray, very important!)

No cons.

It is in our finished basement in a room next to the theater. During popping there is some very slight smoke/steam generated but nothing problematic. You can tell when you have just made popcorn but the smell tends not to be a lasting problem.

 

[Keith M.]

I was about to pull the trigger on that group buy, but Im concerned about the quality of the Paragon poppers. The kettles are aluminum. This will make cleaning in the long run difficult and cause corrosion. The group buy is tempting but considering I will own this thing for many years and not want to replace it, I want something easy on the eye with commercial grade build quality and ease of maintenance/cleaning the group buy savings are not enough to overlook other offerings...

Im leaning towards spending alittle more and buying one of the top-of-the-line Cretors poppers. They are nickel plated all steel construction w/ tempered and tinted glass. They have a direct drive agitator motor, which will out last the Paragon motors. They also feature plug-in kettles, which allows easy removal for cleaning. They offer more contemporary style machines vs. the carnival looking Paragons. And Cretors are the inventors of the popcorn machines which cant hurt.


Geez, that sounded like a commercial...sorry



Have any longtime owners of the Paragon line of poppers had any maintenance issues? Are you still happy with the quality/construction of the machine? Ive recently read complaints at the previously mentioned link about the build quality...

I guess the bottomline is, if it consistently makes great popcorn, thats all that matters...

 

[Keith M.]

Well, I went ahead and ordered my popcorn machine.

I ended up going all out and getting the Cretors Night Club Popper. It looks incredible all stainless steel & black w/ tinted tempered glass.

I should have it in a few weeks and will then post some feedback...

In the meantime, I would like to know what popcorn you all have been using and enjoy the most. The Cretors is coming with Naks Pak Coconut Oil and Kettle Corn Popcorn packs. I was thinking of ordering some Megapop w/ flavacol in it. Seems like it gets lots of praise...

Any other popcorn stuff I need? Flavored salts? Butter toppings?

 

[Eric Hahn]

I picked up the ptheater 6 from the power buy, I my wife and our 2 year old love it, so far just mega pop, 6 oz prepacks, do not see a reason to switch,

as far as cleaning, I wipe the kettle down after every use and havd not seen any build up yet, almot a months use, ( we are using it too much):b

the heat tray and lamp are neceassary, to crisp up the popcorn, it actually is better if you let it sit(yea right)

we love the smell, it lasts a few hours.I would have loved to get a 4 oz machine, but the only one I saw that had the heated tray and lamp was a star, that no one could recomend, and it was almost the price I paid for the 6 oz,

enjoy, nothing like fresh popcorn in the house!!

 

[Glenise]

Eric,
I got my Star 4oz for $299 plus shipping brand new.
That's the only reason I didn't get the Paragon 6oz.
The Star 4oz pops 115oz per hour while the Paragon 6oz pops 113oz and the Paragon 4oz pops 92oz per hour.
Congrats on your purchase!

 

[Eric Hahn]

yea, I am sure it would have been big enough, 1 6oz is alot of popcorn for 2.25 people, I think the 4oz size would be perfict...

some people get huge machines, I would just pop more they hold alot, glad to here the star is a good popper, I was close to that one, but decided to get the paragon,

Man I am getting hungry for popcorn now, I guess I'll have to pop a batch tonight, we also use it as a reward for my daughter, she will do just about anything for it:b

enjoy!

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Eric and Glenise: where did you get your poppers from?

 

[Glenise]

Hank,

I just sent you an email.

 

[Eric Hahn]

I got mine from the above threads from AVS, I do think the power buy is over now though, I think it was stargate cinema

I also was looking into deusterco.com they sometimes have referb popers, they say mostly glass breackage that they sell discounted, but you have to call them.

glenise, let me know whare you got your star, that seems like a beter price than I found when looking for one..

 

[Keith M.]

Well, my Cretors popper arrived this morning. So tonight after work I will open the box and hook it up. I will post my small review shortly.

The box is VERY HEAVY!!!

 

[Glenise]

Congrats on your new Cretors Keith!

 

[Parker Clack]

A review with pictures please!

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Thanks for the note Glenise! And I second the call for pics and reviews.

 

[Tom_K]

I order the 6oz. Paragon machine as part of the powerbuy -- amazingly I received the machine in less than 2 days and started it up tonight. Seems easy to set-up, clean etc. and the second batch was as good as our local theater. THe kids are thrilled. By the way 6oz. makes a lot of popcorn. THanks to Mike Wh for the links and for giving everyone the heads-up on the powerbuy.

I'll keep you posted as we use it more.

 

[Keith M.]

So far so bad! I hooked up my Cretors popper yesterday, and the heated bottom pan and upper light doesnt work. The company I bought it from had Cretors call me directly. I even bought new bulbs, but no good. They wanted to send me out some parts (balasts and wiring harnesses, etc...) and let me fix it. I appreciated the offer, but stated I had spent a pretty penny on this so-called premimum machine and I wanted it to work out-of-the-box. Im not about to start mucking around w/ the electronics in hopes of making it work. That is there job.

So I am now waiting for them to fax me a return shipping label, and they will send me out a new unit when they receive this one.

This unit is heavy and looks very well built. To bad its defective...

Right now, Im thinking I should have just bought the Paragon everyone else has...Im very tempted to just get my money back and stick to the microwave popcorn.


Stay tuned...

 

[Jonas Pearson]

Interesting...my carnival looking, aluminum-kettled, low quality Paragon machine works just great.

 

[Glenise]

Keith,

Sorry to hear about your popper.
If this will make you feel any better.
I've ordered about 5 things on the net recently and 4 arrived damaged or defective.

1. Plak mounted poster arrived damaged.
2. PS2 arcde kit from Red Octane arrived damaged.
3. 3" trackball from Betson arrived defective.
4. Popcorn from Snappy was old.
5. My Star popcorn machine arrived perfect!