I've tried it once so far. The first thing I noticed is that the little plastic pins used to clip the top cover are not very strong. I suspect they won't last long. It's true that it's not that easy to pour the kernels into the machine through the inlet without making a mess, but a funnel quickly solved this problem. The kernels all popped except for a few, and some kernels popped once they were in the bowl, so watch out ;o)! It's otherwise a pretty simple to use and efficient popcorn maker. It's probably not the quietest, but a cycle only lasts a few minutes, so that's not too bad. The popcorn maker is light and small, which is good for storage. The butter also melted properly on the top.