Pacojet Competitor? The Ninja Creami

[Anna N]

13 hours ago, KennethT said:

Anna NThe pacojet my friend had wasn't like a blender blade, it was more like a microplane disk that would continually scrape the top layer off of the frozen container - it made very fine shavings

Thanks. I am learning more and more about how the Pacojet actually works and it only makes me think that calling this new machine a competitor of any kind is stretching things. Still I am certain it is a fun toy for some people. At one point in my life I might have wanted one!

[btbyrd]

Um...

 

The Standard Pacojet blade looks like this:

 

The Ninja knockoff blade looks like this:

 

There are a couple other blades available in the Pacojet coupe set, but they're designed to process non-frozen products (and they still look like blender blades). There's also a whipping disc. Anyway, it's no stretch to call the Ninja a competitor to the Pacojet. Whether or not it's a worthy competitor remains to be seen.

[KennethT]

3 hours ago, btbyrd said:

Um...

 

The Standard Pacojet blade looks like this:

 

The Ninja knockoff blade looks like this:

 

There are a couple other blades available in the Pacojet coupe set, but they're designed to process non-frozen products (and they still look like blender blades). There's also a whipping disc. Anyway, it's no stretch to call the Ninja a competitor to the Pacojet. Whether or not it's a worthy competitor remains to be seen.

Hmmm. I remember it looking more like a disk - but it was like 12 years ago so I don't trust my memory. But I do remember it shaving the whole top surface of the canister rather than a chopping action of a blender.

[rotuts]

PacoJet's

 

patents must have expired.

 

those blades are so similar

 

they would be making lawyers

 

salivate

 

otherwise.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, rotuts said:

PacoJet's

 

patents must have expired.

 

those blades are so similar

 

they would be making lawyers

 

salivate

 

otherwise.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/17/garden/sorbet-made-in-10-minutes-from-canned-really-fruit.html

 

PacoJet was invented in "the early 1980's."

 

 

[ElsieD]

22 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/17/garden/sorbet-made-in-10-minutes-from-canned-really-fruit.html

 

PacoJet was invented in "the early 1980's."

 

 

 

Interesting article. I can't find that they ever had a $1,000 machine, though.  

[rotuts]

the PacoJets I recall being interested in

 

were very expensive.

 

this 

 

https://www.cookstore.ca/pacojet-pacojet-2-system-pacojet-2-40530.html

 

is he second version .

 

you need a few extra ' cups 's etc 

[ElsieD]

49 minutes ago, rotuts said:

the PacoJets I recall being interested in

 

were very expensive.

 

this 

 

https://www.cookstore.ca/pacojet-pacojet-2-system-pacojet-2-40530.html

 

is he second version .

 

you need a few extra ' cups 's etc 

 

GASP!

[rotuts]

Yep.

 

High end restaurant expensive

 

and used over and over again

 

daily

 

to re-coup the cost 

 

so very durable.

 

and the places that had a PacoJet

 

had a Blast freezer.

Edited August 29, 2021 by rotuts (log)

[andrewk512]

A few redditors on r/icecreamery who own the Ninja have posted rave reviews. A random home cook on twitter has also used the Ninja to make the Modernist Cuisine Pacojet pea soup to good effect. I reached out to Ninja on Instagram to ask them how their device compares to a pacojet but unfortunately only got a boilerplate response.

 

I also reviewed the Dave Arnold - Chris Young convo on Twitter that was mentioned here. I am more and more convinced that this is a Pacojet clone (with likely less durability to account for the cheap price). Even if I had to buy 5 in my lifetime for home use though that would be thousands cheaper than a Pacojet.

 

I don't want to get myself too excited but a pacojet has been my dream kitchen equipment for years, but never been able to justify the price over acquiring other equipment (chamber vacuum, blast chiller, CO2 rig, temp controlled induction burner, nitro dewar came first, the APO is next on my list). I jumped the gun and ordered the Ninja, it's arriving on Sept 7th apparently. I'll test a few of my sorbet recipes and report back. They tacked on an extra 25$ international "fee" without me knowing though, so with that + duties + restocking/reshipping fees, if I don't like it I suspect my best option is to resell it within Canada

[ElsieD]

Best Buy has some interesting reviews:

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/reviews/ninja-creami-ice-cream-maker-with-7-one-touch-programs-cloud-silver/6448312?variant=A

[Anna N]

30 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Best Buy has some interesting reviews:

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/reviews/ninja-creami-ice-cream-maker-with-7-one-touch-programs-cloud-silver/6448312?variant=A

Thanks. The reviews are so thorough and so long that I would have to spend a week to read them all! 

On the whole most reviews seem to find it well worth owning. 

[Yiannos]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

Best Buy has some interesting reviews:

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/reviews/ninja-creami-ice-cream-maker-with-7-one-touch-programs-cloud-silver/6448312?variant=A

 

24 out of 26 of those positive reviews are provided by people in Best Buy's "Tech Insider Network", which means they all got a free machine for writing some words down. I have owned a couple of Ninja products in the past (a combo slow cooker thing and an indoor grill) and ended up giving them away because they always felt a little cheap and while they did a lot for a little money, I never felt they did one thing particularly well.

 

Edit: I also have a really hard time believing that all that's missing from the Ninja machine is roughly $10K of durability.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Yiannos (log)

[andrewk512]

1 hour ago, Yiannos said:

 

24 out of 26 of those positive reviews are provided by people in Best Buy's "Tech Insider Network", which means they all got a free machine for writing some words down. I have owned a couple of Ninja products in the past (a combo slow cooker thing and an indoor grill) and ended up giving them away because they always felt a little cheap and while they did a lot for a little money, I never felt they did one thing particularly well.

 

Edit: I also have a really hard time believing that all that's missing from the Ninja machine is roughly $10K of durability.

 

Yes all the reviews on the major retailers are sponsored unfortunately and focus on the same manufacturer recipes so I do not trust them. Many of them are "influencers" or do not have experience making ice cream at home. Even if their machine was free, I would at least like to see them test a recipe that they would actually do in a regular machine.

 

I will be testing bases that I would've otherwise churned at home, sorbets and sherbets as I have not done much with ice cream itself to have a reliable comparator. I am going to focus specifically on subjective ice crystal size and mouthfeel

 

 

[rob1234]

Lots of recipes to try here https://pacojet.com/en/category/recipe/ 

[andrewk512]

Just now, rob1234 said:

Lots of recipes to try here https://pacojet.com/en/category/recipe/ 

 

Tuna ice cream for the first test? 😛

[rotuts]

If you like the idea

 

of  **  flash **

 

mixed up frozen stuff

 

I mean that very positively 

 

and can keep a number of ' cans '

 

very very frozen

 

( this might  be important )

 

Im betting if the price is OK

 

for you

 

you are going to enjoy 

 

working with this .

Edited August 30, 2021 by rotuts (log)

[Anna N]

I don’t think this appliance is geared to impressing ice cream connoisseurs.  
A number of reviews did point out  various “cons”. The blade does not scrape the walls or the base of the container leaving unincorporated ingredients. The containers must be absolutely level in the freezer and not be too cold. One of the major complaints was simply that it does not make enough ice cream in a single session. A pint of ice cream doesn’t stretch very far! Still I can see it being a fun toy. 

[ElsieD]

20 minutes ago, Anna N said:

I don’t think this appliance is geared to impressing ice cream connoisseurs.  
A number of reviews did point out  various “cons”. The blade does not scrape the walls or the base of the container leaving unincorporated ingredients. The containers must be absolutely level in the freezer and not be too cold. One of the major complaints was simply that it does not make enough ice cream in a single session. A pint of ice cream doesn’t stretch very far! Still I can see it being a fun toy. 

 

I agree.  I watched a video of someone making a mango/pineapple sorbet I think it was, and pieces of fruit were sruck to the sides.  It has me thinking that if I were to try that, I would puree the fruit first.  A pint of ice cream at a time is fine for this household as there are just the two of us.  I'm really keen to hear from @mgaretz and hear what he has to say.  

[weinoo]

7 hours ago, Anna N said:

On the whole most reviews seem to find it well worth owning. 

At least until...it's not!

[weinoo]

6 hours ago, Yiannos said:

I also have a really hard time believing that all that's missing from the Ninja machine is roughly $10K of durability.

That's the problem with eGullet. Too many skeptics!

[Anna N]

23 minutes ago, weinoo said:

At least until...it's not!

Those of us who love kitchen toys know it has a limited shelflife. We will re-home it fairly quickly but we have learned a great deal in the meantime. And had fun. 

Edited August 31, 2021 by Anna N
Typo and to add the fun bit. (log)

[DesertTinker]

I did some poking around on The Wayback Machine. It takes some clicking and waiting, but one can get to the tech specs, and it appears that the Pacojet also pressurizes during its cycle. I would imagine that the lack of a pressurizing system is one of the major cost saving points, aside from replacing most of the stainless steel with plastics

[mgaretz]

UPS just sent me an update - the Ninja is back on for tomorrow 8/31.  We'll see.

[weinoo]

10 hours ago, Anna N said:

Those of us who love kitchen toys know it has a limited shelflife.  We will re-home it fairly quickly but we have learned a great deal in the meantime. And had fun. 

My guess, though, is you're not buying a new one...more likely, it's one of those things where at one time, if you happened to see one in one of those second (or third, or fourth)-hand stores and you could pick it up for a few bucks (loons?), we'd be reading about it on your's and @Kerry Beal's blog about your trip to an island!