PREMIUM Ice Ball Molds (6-Pack), BPA Free 2.5 Inch Ice Spheres. Slow Melting Round Ice Cube Maker for Whiskey and Bourbon

First, I recommend using distilled bottled water for the best clarity. Don't waste time boiling the water if you read that somewhere. It doesn't help. These ice ball molds work great and are inexpensive. They are also very easy to use. I have tried many different types, and I personally don't care if they are crystal clear. All that does is make the drink look nicer. I dont recommend using tap water though. What I love about these molds is that they will not come apart before the water freezes. Some of the crummy ones don't seal right and the water leaks out before it freezes and you get half a ball of ice or less. You only need to fill up the bottom half of the mold and when you place the top in, it will push the water up to the top. I don't need a funnel, as some molds do. These work perfectly as is. I have experimented with various water types and the best for clarity with these molds is simply distilled water. Buy a gallon jug and it will fill the molds more than you think. The ice balls come out very clear. Now because these molds aren't designed to freeze from the top down, you will never get completely clear ice from them. For those you need a more expensive mold that is insulated on the side that will force air and impurities down as the water freezes, which is what gives the clearest ice. If that's what you are after then look elsewhere. But I get pretty clear ice with these and distilled water. To open the mold, just run cold water over them until you can separate the top and bottom and put them in a zip lock bag in your freezer or ice maker tray. I'm going to buy another set to use to make more at a time. They also stack in the freezer if you have the room, which is great.

Admittedly, I just got these yesterday, so I can't speak for their longevity yet, but I am happy with them so far, and will update this review down the road if my impressions change, or if there is something significant to update. First, they arrive in a box inside a bubbly envelope. They seem to have fared well in shipping. My set did not have the issue with the misshaped lip on the silicon top. I gave them a quick wash and went to work. As you can see from my pictures, I had some mixed results, but this is due to user error, and not the product itself. I got a few egg-shaped balls and some nice round ones. This was due to various levels of filling them. Others have written that they are hard to fill. I took someone else's advice and filled them to the line inside via the faucet, and then put the tops on them and filled them the rest of the way with a condiment squeeze bottle that fit perfectly into the little hole in the top. The ones I filled all the way to the top expanded and gave me egg-shaped "balls." The ones I left down a little from the top gave me nice round balls. If you over fill them, simply flip them upside down and give the center of the lid a little press, and the water will squirt out. Keep squirting a little at a time until you reach the fill level you desire. Yes, as some have complained, they do have an equator once frozen. This is due to the design, but for a <$25 set of 6, the slight equator doesn't bother me at all. It's a small sacrifice to not pay upwards of $200+ for something that makes one or two "perfect" balls at a time. A few things I learned in my first round of ice balls: when you take them out of the freezer, run them under tepid-warm water for a few seconds BEFORE opening. This will loosen them in the mold without the water coming into contact with the ice ball. Then, twist the top and it will dislodge from the plastic base. Once dislodged, squeeze the sides of the top of the silicon lid (kind of hard), while holding it over the base, and the ball will pop out of the silicon and into the base, ready to be transported to your ice bin or favorite beverage. On my first one, I got excited and opened it up quickly without running it under water. When I did this, the silicon top came off, and the ball was frozen in the base. I tried to run it under water with the top off and the shock of the water hitting the ball caused it to fracture. It stayed in one piece, but it was all cracked and wet. When you run the sealed container under water, it seems like it was less of a shock to the ice inside, so it didn't crack, and the ball wasn't all wet when I took it out. Finally, I like that they are stackable. It takes a little fiddling to get them seated, but once they are seated and stacked, they are stable and stand well in the freezer. On that note, due to all the stuff in mt freezer, I wasn't able to stand them perfectly upright in the freezer. They were slightly off kilter, but didn't leak. I am enjoying an adult beverage with a nice ice ball floating in it, and round 2 is in the freezer as I write this review. All in all, I am very happy with my purchase. If anything goes wrong, I will post an update. ***UPDATE*** Been using theme for over a year and still love them, especially for the price point. Things i've learned: fill them to the top with the lid off. The gently put the lid on and flip upside down. You can squish the center of the cover a little and bleed out some of the water until the air bubble is between the size of a nickle and a quarter. Then turn right side up and into the freezer they go. To egt them out, I sit them upside down in the sink and run warm water on them for about 30 seconds. Then the pup out of the container easily. A good solid squeeze on the silicon top and out the pop!. I would buy again, but I don't see the need anytime soon, as they are holding up quite well.

4 stars only because it won't fit in most water bottles or insulated containers. The opening has to be greater than 2". You have to run the frozen ball under water for a few seconds to get it to fit most containers. Nice size for rocks glasses and large mouth containers. Durable plastic. Holds up to being frozen repeatedly.

I have been searching for large ice cubes trays for awhile now. I had the silicon six cube blocks but that started to be a workout trying to remove the ice. I was desperate to find easy ice cubes and thinking I’d just start looking for those super old school ones where you pulled the silver handle to dislodge the ice. Then I found these. My search is over! They are the consistently the easiest to use. They are large which I like so I don’t have to use a lot. For my iced tea, two ice balls are perfect. I don’t care what they look like I only want them to cool my drink and most importantly, be easy to get out. One tip. When you fill the bottom mold, fill it to the top and make sure when you put the lid on a little geyser of water shoots out. Otherwise, for me anyway, the ice ball was not complete and was more of a pain to get out. Also, try to get rid of any water on the lid as when it freezes, it makes it a bit harder to remove the ice ball. PS-I rated 4 on durability as I really haven’t had them long. They seem good so far but I could imagine something bad happening. In a month more I’ll update

These work great!

Excellent,everything that I expected!