I bought one of these when they were making them in the US. This new version has some design improvements and a much lower quality.

The largest problem is that the Chinese made version almost fails to accomplish it's most important design goal : pop popcorn. The wire that rotates around the no-stick cooking area fits SO poorly, and is so sloppily created, the wire barely touches the popcorn to move it around the cooking surface. It's bent up too far away from the cook surface. The wire is close near the center of the machine though, and moves kernals around there. Once a few kernals pop, they get stuck under the rotating wire because they fit underneath it. That grinds them around the heating surfaces until they get smoking and blackened.

There are many similar ways I could explain the new way the product is made, but I bet most people get the idea. The old product they used to make in the United States was great. Combined with...

Coconut oil from Amazon... http://www.amazon.com/Paragon-Coconut-Popcorn-Popping-Gallon/dp/B002YLI9E2/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1328856975&sr=8-26
Theater salt from Amazon... http://www.amazon.com/Gold-Medal-Prod-Flavacol-Seasoning/dp/B004W8LT10/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1328857066&sr=1-1-catcorr
popcorn from Amazon... http://www.amazon.com/Paragon-Bulk-Yellow-Corn-12-5-Pounds/dp/B002YLGA0W/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1328857154&sr=1-1-catcorr
Buttery topping from Amazon... http://www.amazon.com/Wabash-Valley-Farms-Flavored-Popcorn/dp/B000UZLQG2/ref=sr_1_2?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1328857695&sr=1-2

you could make real theater popping corn in your home. Now, I advise anyone trying to make good popcorn to look elsewhere for a popcorn machine that is the next tier up. The better machines actually can do nut coatings too, so that is fun at least. This machine used to be awesome. Now it is made so cheaply, it cannot get the basic operation of making popcorn correctly done right.
I bought one of these when they were making them in the US. This new version has some design improvements and a much lower quality. The largest problem is that the Chinese made version almost fails to accomplish it's most important design goal : pop popcorn. The wire that rotates around the no-stick cooking area fits SO poorly, and is so sloppily created, the wire barely touches the popcorn to move it around the cooking surface. It's bent up too far away from the cook surface. The wire is close near the center of the machine though, and moves kernals around there. Once a few kernals pop, they get stuck under the rotating wire because they fit underneath it. That grinds them around the heating surfaces until they get smoking and blackened. There are many similar ways I could explain the new way the product is made, but I bet most people get the idea. The old product they used to make in the United States was great. Combined with... Coconut oil from Amazon... http://www. amazon. com/Paragon-Coconut-Popcorn-Popping-Gallon/dp/B002YLI9E2/ref=sr_1_26? ie=UTF8&qid=1328856975&sr=8-26
Theater salt from Amazon... http://www. amazon. com/Gold-Medal-Prod-Flavacol-Seasoning/dp/B004W8LT10/ref=sr_1_cc_1? s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1328857066&sr=1-1-catcorr
popcorn from Amazon... http://www. amazon. com/Paragon-Bulk-Yellow-Corn-12-5-Pounds/dp/B002YLGA0W/ref=sr_1_cc_1? s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1328857154&sr=1-1-catcorr
Buttery topping from Amazon... http://www. amazon. com/Wabash-Valley-Farms-Flavored-Popcorn/dp/B000UZLQG2/ref=sr_1_2? s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1328857695&sr=1-2

you could make real theater popping corn in your home. Now, I advise anyone trying to make good popcorn to look elsewhere for a popcorn machine that is the next tier up. The better machines actually can do nut coatings too, so that is fun at least. This machine used to be awesome. Now it is made so cheaply, it cannot get the basic operation of making popcorn correctly done right.