I have had this popper for a little over a week. I bought it the day after it was on sale for "Prime day" at about $14. So I paid full price (19.95) and now a week later it's down to about 15.50. Anyhow I tried to get amazon to give me a credit for the difference but apparently they only do so for TV's. But you don't care about my history ordering this product, you want to know what I actually think of the product.I have used it perhaps half a dozen times so far. I've been using Black Jewell popcorn (about 1/8 cup) with a small amount of oil (canola is what I happen to have right now), perhaps about 1/2 teaspoon. I stir them together in the container and add popcorn salt (I'm still experimenting on exactly how much to add to give the popcorn the right amount of saltiness). Put it in the microwave and set it for popcorn (which on my Whirlpool unit gives about 90 seconds. I've tried longer times as well. About half the time some of the popped kernels are thinking about burning. I have not burned the popcorn enough to make it inedible but I am still experimenting on the exact length of time.Most of the kernels pop (4 or 5 typically fail to pop in a batch of 1/8 cup). I now know not to try to repop the unpopped kernels. The flavor and saltiness are good (but this probably has more to do with the choice of popcorn and amount of salt). Sometimes I eat it out of the container, at other times I pour it into a small stainless bowl that I often use. Black Jewell kernels are typically smaller than regular popcorn so I end up with the popper about half full -- not even enough to get up to where the top is. IMHO there should be holes in the top to allow the steam to escape to keep the popcorn from becoming damp (a problem that so far I haven't really had). Previously I have popped about twice as much -- at the movies I would typically eat half a tub of popcorn so this is less than half that much.I use a sponge with warm water and dish detergent to clean the popper and let it dry in the air. It is easy to do it that way.SUMMARY: I would buy this again (even at the full price). I expect to eventually find an amount of popcorn and time to make very good popcorn. I now prefer it to my hot air popper because I don't have to add butter to salt the corn. I do however like to add butter after the popping sometimes. With hot air corn butter is always mandatory if you like salt on popcorn. With this popper butter is optional.EDIT: I have now had it for almost a month and am still experimenting with the settings. Currently I have settled on the automatic popcorn setting on our Whirlpool microwave. This runs for approximately 1.5 minutes. Interestingly it seems less likely to burn Orville Redenbacker popcorn than the gourmet stuff but mostly adjusting the amount of corn I pop and the amount of oil seems to be working. I have slightly increased the amount of popcorn (to somewhere between 1/8 cup and 1/4 cup) and decreased the amount of oil (I pour the oil into the cap of the oil bottle and dispense it into the popcorn there -- I'd estimate about 1/2 tsp). I then stir the oil into the popcorn with my finger and pour on the right amount of popcorn salt and stir it again.SECOND EDIT: We have arrived home from our extended vacation and I am now using our home microwave, a Dakor whose popcorn setting "senses" how the popcorn is cooking and goes until it should stop. I've popped three batches in three days, some Redenbacker and two varieties of Black Jewel. Two batches popped perfectly with about a teaspoon of unpopped kernels and no hint of burning. On the third batch I opened the microwave door when I thought it might be getting ready to burn due to a hint of smoke. There was a very faint smell of burnt kernels but it was not objectionable in the least. There were about two teaspoons of unpopped kernels.As of this moment I would rate this device as 4.5 stars and would unquestionably repurchase it again. HOWEVER, based on all the poor reviews there may be a strong correlation between satisfaction and the kind of microwave/level of user skill in making this device work well. I still have not popped any corn without oil.Purchased these as a part of a gift for Christmas and they are great. Have only received compliments :-D.I have had this Lekue popcorn maker for 4 years and I love it. I even purchased two more and gave them to friends that love their Lekues too. It has made countless bowls of perfectly popped popcorn until today when I used a smaller microwave. More on that later. Here's how I always make my popcorn. I add trader joe's popcorn kernels, without oil, just below the upper 100g line. Then without pushing down, I very gently place the lid inside the bowl so it sits level with contact all the way around. I place the Lekue in the center of my microwave and set it for 3 minutes. I listen while it's cooking and turn it off as soon as there is more than a second between pops. It always finishes popping under 3 minutes. With my 1100 watt microwave it was flawless. There was so much popcorn that the the lid lifted way above the bowl with only 0-3 unpopped kernels. That microwave recently died so I have been using my older 1200 watt microwave instead. The popcorn comes out almost as good as with the 1100 watt but it's slightly dry, doesn't raise as high above the bowl and there are about 25-30 unpopped kernels and some partially popped ones. I also have to set the 1200 watt at 70% power vs 100% so the popcorn doesn't get too dried out. Today I brought the Lekue to my friend's house. She has a small 900 watt microwave with the inner dimensions being much smaller than my microwave at home. I set things up as usual as mentioned above. The popcorn was slowly popping and I started to smell burning at 2.5 minutes. I shut the microwave off and took the Lekue out immediately. I was shocked to see a big black clump of smoking burned popcorn. The bowl and lid were smoke stained brown. The smoke alarm went off. Thank god we had the exhaust fan on and a window open, but even then it stunk up the room. I dumped out the the burned batch, cleaned the Lekue (the top is still stained) and refilled the bowl with kernels. For my second attempt I decided to use the 900 watt microwave's "popcorn" button which automatically set the timer to 1.75 minutes. That microwave did not give the % of power it was using on the popcorn setting, just the minutes. At 1.75 minutes the bowl was less than half full but the popcorn was not burned. So I pressed the "popcorn" button again adding another 1.75 minutes thinking "success" yay. But before a minute passed I smelled burning again. Yep, same thing, sizzling black smoking clump inside a smoke stained bowl. I quit trying and am not going to experiment any further with a small microwave. I'm guessing the Lekue just works better in a larger microwave. Maybe the low ratings are due to small microwaves? I noticed a few of the 1 star ratings mentioned using smaller microwaves but not enough reviewers mention the strength of their microwaves to know for sure. I'm not saying it won't work in a small microwave but based on my experience today I think there's a higher chance you'll have to experiment with power settings, cooking time, and the amount of kernels you use.Mi opinión después de un mes de uso muy intensivo por todos en casa es que es un muy buen producto pero le falta ALGO para tener 5 estrellas.Empiezo por lo buenoVas a comer palomitas más sanas porque las que hagas con esto no tendrán los aditivos que tienen las preparadas. Además, se nota en el sabor, son más naturales y con un ligero toque a lo que tu quieras. Te puedes hacer la receta que tu quieras y además tiene la "capacidad de almacenaje" suficiente para que coman hasta 4 personas sin atiborrarse. En mis fotos no sale mucha cantidad porque esas las prepare para mi sólo.Además en el fondo vienen marcadas las medidas para hacer 50 o 100 gramos de palomitas, suficiente para saber cuando hacer palomitas para 1, 2, 3 o 4 personas. Se quedan muy pocas sin hacer.El embalaje es original por parte de lekue, buen material y presentación con un pequeño manual para salirte de las típicas palomitas con aceite. Si eres un poco creativ@ te puedes hacer unas buenísimas.PERO... empezamos a restarle puntos.Te va a costar cogerle el truco para que salgan como a ti te gusta. En mis primeras veces (con la palomitera) salieron la mitad quemadas, y la otra mitad con dudoso gusto no apetecible ni para el perro. Con el tiempo le coges el truco aún siguiendo el pequeño manual, harás las palomitas a tu manera.Es fácil de limpiar, a medias. Me explico. El aceite se va a quedar ahí hasta la siguiente vez que prepares si no la limpias muy bien. En el lavavajillas no sale bien y a mano a veces se sigue quedando el aceite "brillando". Además, aunque el envase rojo es medianamente fácil de limpiar, la tapa que viene para que no salten las palomitas, se queda amarilla a la segunda vez que la uses.Y no, no somos unos marranos. Se queda así de verdad aún lavandola.Después de un mes de uso, RECOMIENDO la compra, la ventaja de poder comer palomitas mucho más saludables es muy superior a las contras. (Y ni caso a la gente que dice que rompe el microondas, es imposible que esto cause la rotura del microondas)Por último, un par de CONSEJOS:- Intenta lavarlo cuando se quede frío para que no te pase como a mi, no esperes al día siguiente.- Las primeras veces que hagas palomitas, sigue las instrucciones del manual pero por debajo de lo que marca. Es decir, donde pone 100gr echa 75gr. Donde pone que le eches 4 cucharadas de aceite, échale 3. Y donde pone 4 minutos al microondas ponle 3'30". Y ahi poco a poco ve mejorando tu "táctica palomitera".Espero te ayude.Este bol es una maravilla. Vale para todo, no solo para hacer palomitas. Si que esta claro que te lo vas a comprar para hacer palomitas muy caseramente. Te lo recomiendo 100 %, vale la pena. Llevaré 300 kg de palomitas echas en el microondas. A parte, como te decía, he echo verdura como brocolí, patatas, cebolla y zanahorias, y va genial. Lo bueno que tiene es que es grande, y puedes meter cualquier cosa como verduras y pescado y se hace perfectamente. Para las palomitas, te puedes reinventar a lo Ferran Adriá. Yo las hago picantes, o con queso, dulces... lo que te dé la gana. Puñadito de maiz, 2 gotas de aceite de oliva, pizca de sal, lo que te dé la real gana, y al micro. Un consejo que te dan, es que lo pongas a tope de powa, y cuando no escuches que explotan apagues el micro. A mi me tarda un minuto y medio aproximadamente. Cuando escucho que la batalla de lepanto disminuye, las saco. Ojo que quema!Escribo una segunda opinión.Al principio estba supercontenta,facil,limpio y palomitas ricas y sanas.Pero tras unos meses no puedo utilizarlo.Recalienta el microondas y se apaga.En otro microondas prendió fuego la placa de mica.Eran marcas de horno distintas.Al utilizar este producto me ha estropeado el microondas. Lo probé con otro microondas y le pasó lo mismo, solo que al rato si que volvió a funcionar. Creo que se sobre calentó al hacer efecto invernadero o algo parecido con la tapa del bol. Lo compré guiándome por las buenas opiniones, pero no lo recomendaría bajo ningún concepto. No puse mucho maíz, y antes de que se hicieran todas las palomitas, el microondas se apagó y dejó de funcionar.I'm trying to give healthy snacks for my family and have been trying various ways of cooking popcorn - on the stove, microwaved etc. I never liked the mircowavable bags from supermarkets because they had added salt or sugar.I tried microwaving kernals in various containters with disappointing results, mostly that the kernels didn't pop or if they did it was very lack lustre with small butterfly pops.I've been very impressed with this product for the following reasons:-The container is - easy to clean - easy to store because it folds up. - you can add flavourings without calories being compromised. - it's a serving bowl as well as a cooking bowl. -Most importantly, there's something about the design of this product that makes the popcorn come out consistently good.We're looking for weight loss snack alternatives and this does it for us.