Review on Lekue Red Microwave Popcorn Popper/ Maker by Sarah Salinas

I've had this popper for a little over a week. I bought it the day after it went on sale on Prime Day for about $14. So I paid full price (19.95) and a week later it dropped to 15.50. Anyway, I've tried to get Amazon to tell the difference but apparently they only do it for TVs. But you are not interested in my order history for this product, you want to know what I really think about the product. So far I've used it probably half a dozen times. I use Black Jewel popcorn (about 1/8 cup) with some oil (canola is what I have now), maybe about 1/2 teaspoon. I toss them together in a container and add popcorn salt (I'm still experimenting with how much to add to get just the right amount of salt in the popcorn). Microwave it and set it to popcorn (which on my Whirlpool unit takes about 90 seconds. I've tried longer too. About half the time some of the popped beans think about burning. I've got it not igniting the popcorn to the point where it's inedible, but I'm still experimenting with the exact length of time.Sometimes I eat it out of a container, and sometimes I pour it into a small stainless steel bowl, often made out of Black Jewel kernels, which tend to be smaller than regular popcorn so I end up with a popper that is about half full - not even enough to get to the top IMHO there should be holes in the top to allow the steam to escape so the popcorn can pop doesn't get wet (a problem I haven't experienced yet) I popped about twice as much - in movies I would normally eat half packs of popcorn so that's twice as much e few right I use a sponge with warm water and dish soap to clean the popper and let it air dry. It's easy to do it this way. CONCLUSION: I would buy it again (even at full price). I expect to eventually find enough popcorn and time to make very good popcorn. I now prefer it to my hot air popper because I don't have to add oil to salt my corn. However, I sometimes like to add oil after cooking. In hot air, corn oil is always a must if you like salting your popcorn. Using this popper oil is optional. EDIT: I've had it for almost a month now and am still experimenting with the settings. I currently have the auto popcorn setting on our Whirlpool microwave set up. This takes about 1.5 minutes. Interestingly, Orville Redenbacker popcorn burns less than gourmet products, but basically adjusting the amount of corn I make and the amount of oil seems to work. I increased the amount of popcorn slightly (anywhere between 1/8 cup and 1/4 cup) and decreased the amount of oil (I pour the oil at the top of the oil bottle and pour it into the popcorn there - I'm about 1/2 teaspoon). Then I stir the butter into the popcorn with my finger, add the right amount of popcorn salt and stir again. SECOND EDIT: We're back from our extended vacation and now I'm using our Dakor home microwave with the popcorn setting. "Feels" the popcorn cooking and works to the max. I made three batches in three days, some Redenbacker and two Black Jewels. Two batches exploded perfectly, with about a teaspoon of beans intact and no sign of combustion. On the third installment, I opened the microwave door, thinking it might catch fire from the smoke. It smelled very faintly of burnt grain, but this did not cause any complaints. There were about two teaspoons of unpopped kernels. Right now I would rate this device 4.5 stars and would definitely buy it again. HOWEVER, based on all the bad reviews, there can be a strong correlation between satisfaction and the type of microwave/user skill level when it comes to getting that unit to work. I still haven't popped corn without oil.