This thing is awesome. I went through a lot of the reviews on different brands and settled on this one because 1.) very inexpensive 2.) has a start and stop button 3.) comes with the cleaning detergent crystals 4.) the top has a handle, making it much easier to clean and refill, 5.) it has charcoal packets to give a final filter to the water past distillation. Came fast and well packaged. I bought it to distill water for my opal nugget ice maker. My water was so hard even filtered it was clogging up the opal and required weekly vinegar cleanings. Since buying this and distilling my own water, the opal runs like a champ, no cleanings needed in over a month.I also bought a mechanical timer, I set it to 3.5 hours and leave a little of the water in the bottom so the minerals don’t bake on. I still get white film/haze all over the metal inside, but that cleans off just fine with the cleaning crystals included. The film does not impact the taste of the water at all, and I’ve cleaned the machine only once in the 1.5 months I’ve had it.I have drank the water as well, it’s really good, especially with the crystal clear nugget ice made from it as well.You will not regret the minimal investment in this awesome machine.