Presto 04868 HOT AIR Popper, MEDIUM, red

Wow! This actually works really well. The media could not be loaded.  I’d like to give this one star because I I’ve had nothing but problems with the last two Presto popcorn makers I bought and I just threw them both in the trash today because I just gave up. They were spitting out so many unpopped kernels and one time the lid actually exploded off the top of one and popcorn and butter went everywhere and it was a disaster. I was even on the phone with customer support and they were useless.So I was looking for a different hot air popper. They all looked pretty awful. I think there are two or three models all made by the same company in China and very little difference between them.But this is actually very clever in the way it works.You must read the instructions, you just must. But it popped the corn as expected and I thought the little screens on the popper would filter out all the unpopped kernels, but it doesn’t really work that way.First you have to take the vent cover off the clear popping bowl. Pour in your popcorn and plug it in. Depending on how it pops you may have to shake it once or twice according to the instructions. That’s no big deal. After it’s done popping you put the cover back on to the popping bowl. After it finishes popping, you put the cover back on top, you flip it over then you shake it up and down and then side to side and then you remove the top cover which is now at the bottom the bowl and filled with all the unpopped kernel But they’re all contained within the top cover because the unpopped kernels get filtered through the vent on top of the bowl. So you can either just eat the popcorn out of the popping bowl because the kernels fall into the cover which is beneath the popcorn or take the cover off and dump the kernels, a lot of them into the trash and poured the popcorn into another bowl orr probably better yet just leave it on. I had one or two unpopped kernels. That’s a miracle. If I would have let it pop just a little bit longer I probably would have had less. But that’s not an issue because they all go into the bowl cover which you simply remove and toss the kernels into the trash. Or if you’re not going to add butter or any other toppings you’d probably could just leave it on because it wouldn’t affect the popcorn in the bowl and actually as you eat the popcorn more kernels if any are left would fall into the bottom cover. It’s quite an ingenious design.I’m rambling on a bit and it’s really hard to leave a review on a cell phone but this does work really well. It’s extremely ingenious the way it’s designed.And I would definitely recommend using Oroville Redenbacher popcorn however, because of this design you could probably use any brand. On the other Presto machines which just did not work you had to use Orville Redenbacher just to come close to get it half decent which it never really was.Read the instructions, by high quality popcorn and I think you’ll be happy with this. I’m just excited I have a working hot air popper.What a confusing review.Well this is an update it was a confusing review but this is the best hot air pop I’ve ever had and I don’t even get one unpopped kernel now. That’s it.

Designed better than most air poppers. I had a typical air-popper previously, with the side-shooter type design typically seen. I got rid of it because I found that when the corn started popping, it would shoot unpopped kernals out ahead of the popped corn, and often they would then pop in my bowl and go flying all over the kitchen making a huge mess! Recently, I decided to check and see if the air-popper technology had improved any. This popper is the only one I found with this “fountain” design. It has little lightweight metal swinging doors that keep the popcorn kernals in, until the popped corn begins to overflow and push them open. Because the design has a dome cover (which is a serving bowl upside down….you flip the whole thing over at the end of popping), there are no “escapees”. Make sure you follow the directions-the serving bowl/dome has a removeable bottom/cap that must be removed when in operation to vent. At the end of popping, you snap this cap back on and flip it over. Another cool feature is that when you flip it and give it a little shake, any leftover dud kernals fall through the vent into a small catch area in the cap, so you dont have duds at the bottom of your bowl! Although you could eat it right out of this bowl, there are warnings not to use butter spray…so I just used separate bowls for my family so everyone could butter/salt their own as desired. Easy to clean. Only downside is the size…its kind of bulky. Also, it does not have the “butter melting tray” feature than some air poppers have (although that never worked very well on my original popper, either.)

Great Airpopper, but Doesn’t Handle Small Kernels Well. I upgraded my standard air popper to this bowl-style one in an attempt to reduce the number of flaming hot kernels shooting across my media room. It works great for your standard kernel size, but if you’re at all into the gourmet types of popcorn (like ladyfinger, my favorite) the holes in the metal trap above the popping chamber are too wide, and you’ll lose 20-30% of the kernels from them spouting through the holes of the metal grate.

Great Popper. Pros: This popper is great. Easy to use, easy to clean, makes great popcorn. I’ll never buy another bag of microwave popcorn.Cons: (Not a con for the popper, but for the corn) I don’t recommend Orville Redenbacher’s Original kernels. I don’t know if they are more explosive than others or what, but they throw unpopped kernels all over the counter and floor (and it really hurts to step on one in my stocking feet).Using the same amount of Jolly Time Select kernels, I have very few unpopped kernels, and the few that I do get stay in the popper. I find about one quarter as many unpopped kernels with Jolly Time. I’ve only used the 2 brands so I can’t comment on any others.

The lid is a problem. This is my third Orville Redenbacher Hotair popcorn popper. I love the ease of use, the rarity of burnt popcorn, the relative health of air popping. However, as another reviewer noted, the lid tops crack and break off. The popper mechanism is fine but I may have to , again, purchase a entire new unit because of the broken lid.