I greatly enjoyed a Donvier back when they were popular...this product is similar, but with the nice extra feature of doing the stirring for you! Like other reviewers have said, you need to be sure the freezer bowl is frozen solid before starting...I would put it in a freezer on a very cold setting for at least 24 hours. Refrigerate your mixture after making it for at least a couple hours. I usually run the ice cream maker until the ice cream is too hard for it to easily stir, and then take the freezer bowl out, cover it with foil and put it back in the freezer to get extra hard before serving. It comes out great, I have very little problem with ice crystals forming.