Opal 2.0 with 3/4 Gallon Side Tank

Okay, I’ve had the GE Opal 2.0 since July 2025, and I think I can share some valuable insights before you make a purchase. First and foremost, the machine is top-notch and meets the high standards of their Profile line. It’s well-crafted and performs exceptionally well, although it does have a few quirks that I can tolerate given its quality and the consistently great ice it produces. If you’re considering buying an Opal 2.0, you’ll need to commit to either a strict descaling schedule, which can be inconvenient, or invest in a water delivery service to have large bottles of distilled water delivered to your door. Personally, I prefer the latter option. I live in Virginia, where our water is not hard at all, especially compared to the Southwest. Even with regular monthly descaling, the machine would occasionally lock up after limping for weeks. The GE representative advised me that for optimal ice quality and performance, it’s crucial to use distilled water and descale the machine once a month. GE sent me a replacement under warranty, but unfortunately, the warranty period doesn’t reset. The new machine is a 2026 model (my old one was a 2024), and it’s even more impressive than the one I had. Some great improvements include a metal scoop with a magnetized holder that snaps onto the side of the tank. It also comes with descaling powder as an alternative to vinegar, a descaling filter, and an air filter. Now, let’s address the quirks: (1) When you clean the machine, the cleaning light never turns off, as per the manual. Mine hasn’t turned on on two separate machines. (2) You need to prime the pump inside the water reservoir. It can take a few attempts, and I’m not an engineer, but you have to force water into the pump to start it pumping. Some people recommend using a turkey baster or holding your finger over the intake to create suction. I’ve found both methods effective. You only need to do this once.

UPDATE: I got the third unit and IT'S ALSO DEFECTIVE. I'm convinced there is ZERO quality control going on at GE, and I am extremely dissatisfied with the service. It takes AGES to get anything done, and their support phone line closes before I get off work most days, so it's near impossible to reach them on top of that. I can't use the actual word here, but enborkification is very real, and I will not be purchasing from GE anytime soon. TL;DR: Great machine if you can get a good one. I got three defective units in a row, one of which appears to have been used before. Currently waiting for a FOURTH replacement unit. Customer service has inconvenient hours and seemingly can't play most video files (.mov with h.264 seems to work best for them). 2/3 of the reps I spoke to were great, the other one being frankly pretty rude. For now, I'd recommend getting a 'dumb' nugget ice maker, a cheap outlet timer (like the ones for fish tank lights) if you need the scheduling feature, and set calendar alerts for cleaning and descaling. I want to start off by saying I love this ice maker. Nugget ice is great, I love the smart features, I love the design, and I love how easy it is to use. The instructions, especially in the app, are clear and thorough. The machine tells you exactly what it needs on both its display and through push notifications to your phone. The scheduling feature is great, and allows me to have ice in the morning and when I get home without wasting energy when I'm away. It's decently quiet for the amount of ice it pumps out with the occasional fit of light noise, mostly quiet squeaking every now and then. That is if you get one that works properly. Now, for how expensive this thing is, I would expect some good QC. My first unit developed a rapid tapping noise whenever it was running within the first couple of months. Since this was near a major living area in my home, this was unacceptable. I do not have hard water where I live, and I only ever put filtered water through it. I cleaned it whenever the cleaning light came on, and I took very good care of it. After some fruitless troubleshooting, I decided to contact customer support only to find out you can only CALL them since Opal apparently has its own support separate from GE. This would have been fine, except I had to take time off work to contact them, as their business hours lined up perfectly with my own work schedule, not that I could have known that going in since Opal Support doesn't have its hours posted anywhere at time of writing. Having done that, they actually took my call quite quickly and were pretty friendly and attentive despite connection issues from a storm at their office at the time. They sent me an email so I could reply with the information they needed. Their computers seem to have trouble with certain video files, so if you need to send them videos, make sure you sufficiently compress them and do NOT use HVEC encoding or the MP4 video format. After working through the technical difficulties in communication, they sent me an advance replacement, which was great and more than I was expecting. I thought that'd be the end of it, but I had issues with the replacement immediately. The replacement I got looked used (not refurbished), and since I initially paid for a NEW unit, I was pretty disappointed. There was a large scratch across the top panel, a scuff on one of the sides, and a chip in the front control panel that could be seen from across the room. Even after bringing this up with support in a follow-up email, they said I still had to send the first one back since the RMA was tied to its serial number and I would need to initiate another exchange, so I set up the second ice maker and cleaned it thoroughly. After turning the second one on, it was noticeably louder than the initial one. It buzzed loudly like a power transformer, but that wasn't even the worst thing about this one. On top of making ice more slowly than the first one, it shuts off and refuses to make ice seemingly at random. Every time this happens, it needs to be unplugged for 20-ish seconds, then plugged back in and have the power button pressed, which is tough on my knees since it's plugged in under my counter. Consequently, the scheduling feature, one of my favorite things about this machine, is no longer reliable since no one knows when it will decide to go on strike. I tried to contact support via email again, but even after a few attempts over the course of just over a week, I didn't get a response, so I had to take more time off work to call their support line again to talk to a rep. This time, I was on hold for about 15 minutes with an estimated wait time of 0 before being connected to a rep. This rep, unlike the first, made me feel like I was inconveniencing her by seeking support, and like I was an idiot for asking clarifying questions to make sure we were on the same page. She also seemed like she wanted to pass me off to Opal WiFi support (which is bafflingly ALSO its own separate service) to troubleshoot the "connection issues" I wasn't having with this device. I was told to send more info to our existing email chain and the rep hung up to "let me do that" rather than just hanging on the line while I did. After sending the info, I was connected to a different rep and had a better experience similar to my first contact (no wait time, friendly rep), which was a relief. A second exchange is now arranged, but this time I'm not getting an advance replacement and I will be without ice for about two weeks. For something this expensive, this level of QC is frankly embarrassing. I bought it in May of 2024 and still don't have an acceptable unit. I'm starting to think they're taking this long on purpose to dodge honoring their 1-year warranty. With service and QC like this, I cannot in good faith recommend this product, as much as I liked it the first month I had it.

Set up is easy. Ice maker should be near a sink. I can not imagine having it without the extra tank. We fill the tank at least once a day for a family of 4. (Get the tank!) I had to try about 10 times to get WIFi App to sink up. We shut the ice maker off at 9pm and it still has ice in when we turn it at 6am. We have an open floor plan so it is a little louder than I had hoped but I feel like you just get used to it. A few days after use it said I need to descale it even though we have a water softener. GE said to unplug it let it rest. The Error went a way. I did purchase the extended warranty. Lots of good ytube videos on how to open it up and clean the inside. Will update this review in a few month. The ice is perfect and makes drink cold fast with little foam. Not hard to chew and is helping me get more daily water intake. The drip tray is my only complaint so far. When you open the ice drawer it drips so you need a paper towel. 12/12/22- had to set it to cycle off every few hours otherwise it starts squealing. The internal defrost cycle does not seem to work that great. So I would not advise trying to run it for 16 hours straight. 12/26/22- so still dealing with squealing. I have been playing around with the schedule to give it more chances to defrost. I think the squealing comes from it not being about to push the frozen ice out. Still love the ice so not giving up yet. 12/28/22- did several cleaning cycles with bleach. Set up running time for hour on then and hour off. Moved it so it has good ventilation on both sides. No squealing so far after changes. 1/14/23- to sync up to phone app pull up a chair and sit right next to it with your phone. Any further away does not seem to work. My machine has been working fine as long as it has several off cycles between run times. If I try to leave it on for more than a few hours it always start making unpleasant noises. It has lost WiFi twice and each when it keeps running without programming it starts making all kinds of bad noises. Just my personal experiences. Keep with a on/off hourly schedule.

The 2.0 model is a great improvement over the 1.0 model. It makes ice extremely faster than the older unit and the cleaning process is a little easier. You still need to play with both drain tubs in the back but the overall process is easier. The recommendation of cleaning every 3 weeks seems like an overkill, but the unit monitors when the cleaning is required. I had difficulty installing the filter, like the water was not being sucked through the unit. I am wondering if the large filter is more to treat just the water's taste. I only place distilled water into the unit and the taste is not bad. My 1.0 model just quit so I needed another ice maker. The old unit lasted about four+ years which is good for the 1.0 ice maker. The 1.0 unit only lasts about two to five years. A major cleaning and minor overall might have kept the 1.0 still going. I don't regret buying the 2.0 model.

========== Final update: 7/25/2023: OnPoint responded to the BBB complaint. I was offered to continue waiting an undetermined amount of time for a 3rd new unit, I opted to get completely out of this mess. The 2nd unit is being shipped back right now and upon receipt, GE is providing a full refund. Meanwhile I already have an Opal 1 in its place and quite happy, and it was about 1/2 the price. So what would you gain by going the Opal 2 route (other than a giant headache)? A front panel that lights up letting you know, by words, what is going on with the ice maker. The Opal 1 has an LED ring that pulses or changes color and you kinda have to decipher it but it isn't any big deal. The 2 also has the app and you can schedule the ice maker to turn on and off at certain times or even tap a button on your phone to turn it on or off. I kinda liked that so what I've already done is programmed a smart plug to work on a schedule and it can be controlled via app as well so nothing lost there. 'Sonic' ice is absolutely spectacular. There are now lots of these ice makers on the market. My biggest advice is to make sure to get one that includes a side tank or is directly plumbed to your R/O system otherwise you'll forever be jumping up and refilling small amounts of water. =========== Another update: 7/17/2023: I submitted a complaint with the BBB over the weekend regarding OnPoint Warranty Solutions LLC which is the official support group for GE Opal. I also offered to provide 33 emails I've had with support (sent/received). I have still not had any communication returned from support. Buyer beware if you need any product support, which you most likely will. Working on figuring out a contact directly with GE to discuss the product and experience with support. I had actually requested this information from Onpoint but have not had a response. =========== Update 7/13/2023: nothing to report. GE Opal "advanced" support has gone completely dark. No tracking info on a replacement unit (which by the way would be Unit #3 since March). I've requested tracking info multiple times on the 3rd unit and they are non-responsive. I think these Opal units are like playing craps, sometimes you run hot and have a great time, but most of the time you end up heading back to your hotel room early with nothing in your pocket because the casino drained you. Not sure what else to say. Tomorrow I will be contacting the BBB. Shoddy engineering on product, worse on support. To recent purchasers, enjoy the ice, it is indeed fantastic. Just be ready to have your experience take a 180 on you. Then I wish you the best of luck with your giant paperweight. I'm still holding onto hope that I'll be able to provide a much better update on this. ========== Review written by my husband. DO NOT BUY. Absolutely terrible product and terrible support. Yes when it works the ice is spectacular, but go buy the Opal 1 version. I know multiple people who have the Opal 1, never use distilled water and never descale and never have problems. The GE developers got this product wrong. Purchased March 11, 2023. Plain and simple, this product has issues and support is terrible. Within a couple of weeks of purchasing we noticed some strange noises coming from the unit. Not much longer the noise became overwhelming and we simply had to just turn the unit completely off (see video that support requested from me). Too late to return so we worked with Opal support. The experience overall has been terrible. The number one thing that support says is to always use distilled water. Yet nowhere on the product does it state this and I don't know anyone who would buy an expensive ice maker to also have to always purchase special water to use in it. We have an R/O system in place and always use that. The other thing that support will say is that every two weeks you have to descale the unit. This means removing all ice and draining all water, adding in a mixture of water and vinegar and running that through the cleaning cycle several times, then flush that all out, wiping everything down good, make several batches of ice and throw that away to make sure you are not mixing all that vinegar in with your icewater or drink. The descaling process basically take overnight as you have to stuff a rag or sponge up into the unit and let it sit during this downtime process. We also purchased the official GE Opal filter. This makes no difference in operation of this unit and is a waste of money. After working with support for weeks and weeks, they finally said they would send a replacement unit. Their standard process for replacement is to send a refurbished unit. So now you pay lots of money for a product that doesn't work right only to get a unit that someone else had a problem with and was returned? Upon receipt of this 'new' replacement unit, the instructions state that there could be some leftover crud from their cleaning process. Yeah, okay, see the next picture. I spent two hours trying to clean that crap out of the unit, flushed several cycles through, tossed ice, that stuff is still everywhere. I decided to keep trying to clean it anyway. BUT, when I then proceeded to connect the unit to my home network, the password printed on the label on the back of the unit didn't work. I struggled for some time before reaching out to support and providing that information plus the picture of the disgusting unit. The manager seemed a bit shocked and personally called me, the unit should never have been shipped that way and it was obvious and acknowledged that they completely messed up repairing someone else's returned unit that had wifi problems and wasn't cleaned right and then sent to me. The outcome of this: I was told I would be receiving a brand new replacement unit. Flash forward 2 1/2 weeks later, I still have not received any shipping/tracking information and unit #2 that I have at the house now sits dark on the counter. When I asked repeatedly for tracking information I was asked to have patience as the supply chain was having issues. At this point I specifically requested a full refund as it has been several months with nothing but a crappy experience and very little ice to enjoy along the way. We'll see how this all pans out but my advice based on my personal experience with this product and their support is to avoid it completely. I was going to suggest to purchase the extra coverage but I can't in good conscience advise anyone to pay for this product period. Go out and google opal ice maker noise, or why does my opal ice maker scream like a banshee, something along those lines. You'll see lots of people sharing. For many this occurs after the warranty period (you know, that time where they'll gladly send you a used replacement) and they tear the thing apart and try to experiment with different ideas to solve the problem. One post I read even said the buyer eventually just tossed it in his garage because it is unusable. I'll update this review once I hear something back from support. But this purchase has been nothing but pure frustration and a huge time waster. The simple fact that they say you have to use distilled water and a full descaling/cleaning with downtime every two weeks should create a class action suit as nowhere does the product state this when considering a purchase. I'm mad as hell about this purchase but it sure looks like GE doesn't care, or stand by it's products.

The setup is relatively easy, but there is a cleaning process that takes a while. Once you set it up and get it running, it does a good job producing ice and it does so relatively quickly. We have 3 people in our home and we're not extremely heavy ice users, but we all use ice. We have not gotten low yet. For a party, we would probably need to save a batch or two of ice and put it in the freezer. The small nuggets produced by the Opal make my wife happy. She's an ice cruncher. The ice taste is good. I will say that we fill the reservoir tank from the filtered water from our refrigerator. Also, we have had the Opal running every day for around 3 weeks now and the cleaning indicator came on for the first time yesterday. I believe that means it has run for 100 hours and they recommend doing a descaling. I started the process yesterday around noon. It takes a while and requires almost a half gallon of vinegar. I finished the descaling process this morning. It takes around 18 hours because they want the vinegar to break down any calcium build up. Our water is not super hard, but I could definitely see a bit of crust starting to form in the water reservoir inside the unit, so I will continue to do the descaling process when I can. If you have very hard water, you might find that you have to do this every other week or more. That's not the unit's fault. I have a friend who also has the Opal. I think he has had his for almost a year and he says he has never descaled his. I worry that it would become so crusted up at some point that it could do damage to the unit, so I will continue to do the cleaning process. As far as the app, it works okay, but I don't find it particularly useful. I have set a schedule so the unit doesn't run all night long when no one is using it. It goes off around 8pm and turns on around 3am so there is fresh ice for us to use in the morning. You can also turn it on or off remotely, but ...why would I need to? It's another thing to have on my phone that takes up memory and requires updates and logins. Just make all the same functions available in the unit. I guess the app is easier for them to update than the unit.

UPDATE 10/4/2025 Week 61 Just to update you all about the cleaning maintenance requirements for this thing... I use this ice machine several hours 1-2 time a week for the most of the year and refill it from a gallon bottle of DISTILLED WATER. I have forgotten to clean (flush the system) since I did it on the first day. I have not de-scaled it or whatever that means. I have only wiped it down and twice washed the nozzle of the reservoir container. I leave the scooper out of the bin and nothing dirty or used ever touches the ice in the machine (no cups, no dusty scooper, NO HANDS). Over 1 year later there is no sign anywhere of dirt buildup, mildew, no odor or taste changes, it's basically perfect still. Maybe I am gross and you would do a much better job of routine maintenance and if you use tap water you'll likely need to, but this is just one person's experience and I wanted to let you know. If you have the money I still highly recommend this fancy, expensive and indulgent countertop ice machine. UPDATE 12/17/2024 Week 18 We use it every couple days and even let it sit for a week or so sometimes and so far after 4months it's still perfect. I have yet to clean or descale or whatever. I also pour the ice into gallon zip locks and leave them in the freezer so there's always extra. The bubble that gets into the line causing the Add Water light to kick on is still an issue but it makes a noise now about 2 minutes before that happens (as it "runs out of water") and I just run over and do the lift-the-tank thing for about a minute and it's all good. 8/8/2024 Week 1: I'll start off by mentioning the things I learned after actually using it. The water in the Tank (if you got the tank) drains into the space under the ice bucket, from there it goes through the strainer and up to make ice. If you don't have the tank, you must pull out the ice bucket and pour water in there instead. If at first it's not draining into that space or you get the "REFILL WATER" light when the tank is clearly full of water: remove the ice bucket so you can see inside the machine, grab the whole side Tank assembly and lift it up as high as you can for a few seconds with the hose connected to clear any air bubbles. You will see the water slowly starting to fill. Secondly, since I despise maintenance and was worried about descaling this thing each month I buy 5 gallon distilled jugs and got a cheap battery powered pump and refill the ice maker with that. We leave ours in the laundry room and just carry the side tank over there to fill it periodically. Third, IF YOU TURN IT ON and there is still ice in it, it will be gone because the machine circulates a lot of water through the ice bucket and back into the reservoir underneath each time it is turned on. Grab that ice you need before you turn it back on so you don't need to wait. The ice melt kinda fast, it's pretty well insulated but the ice is soft so it melts quick. I turn it on a 4pm and off at 7 or so and it keeps 2-3 people in ice drinks. The rest of the stuff it covered in other reviews, the sound is about dishwasher level and I only have it on when I need so I never even notice it.

I had read multiple places that these countertop nugget ice makers have overall design difficulties that make them very prone to failure. This machine is supposed to be the best of that bunch. And when it works it really works well! Pushes out ice fast, easy to clean, quiet machine. BUT. I have owned this less than a year and the pump has failed this week. It is juuuust under warranty so I am hopeful that I will get a replacement/refund from GE. I have been diligent about descaling, sanitizing, changing filters etc. But this seems to have proved the point of the reviews I have read. It's very fragile. I would probably just stop here if we didn't love it so much. I might get another one but with an extended warranty that would make it a safer bet, because these machines are not designed to be long for this world, despite the high price. Just letting you know that there is no doubting reviews that say this is a great machine. I don't think there is any doubting that these are not going to be 5-10 year machines. Switching to a cheaper machine from another manufacturer is an option but it's the same cycle just with shorter timeframes and less investment.

Looks amazing but looks aren't everything. The machine keeps saying needs water even though water is full.