Monday, November 9, 2009

Mr. Coffee TM3-2 3-Quart Ice Tea Maker



Product Description

3 quart ice tea pot. Ready to serve in 10 minutes. Steeping basket keeps tea immersed in water just short of boiling. Light indicator when brewing is done. Warranty: 1 year UL approved. Estimated Unit Shipping Length ( ): 16. Estimated Unit Shipping Width ( ): 13. Estimated Unit Shipping Height ( ): 11. Estimated Unit Shipping Weight or Dim Weight (lbs): 7.
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #2880 in Kitchen & Housewares
* Brand: Mr. Coffee
* Dimensions: 800.00" h x 1660.00" w x 1600.00" l, 1.00 pounds

Features

* Makes great tasting iced tea or iced coffee
* 3 Qt. easy-to-pour pitcher
* On/off indicator light
* Auto shut-off
Customer Reviews

Can't Live Without It5
EDIT (11/18/2006): I just wanted to add that Mr. Coffee sent me a free replacement pitcher after I emailed them about this problem. If this pitcher also cracks, I'll update this review.

EDIT (11/01/2006): It's now been exactly seven months from my original review and now I'm sad to say that I was wrong. Even though there didn't seem to be any difference between the materials and workmanship of our new TM3 and our old TM3, the new pitcher has just cracked. I've uploaded a picture to Amazon so you can see what I'm talking about. At first, I thought it was just a seam in the pitcher that I hadn't noticed before. But, after making a batch of iced tea, I had a small puddle on the countertop (which is a new thing). Since the crack is right in the pour spout (which is how the hot tea enters the pitcher from the brewing area), some of the freshly brewed tea seeps through the crack instead of falling into the pitcher. A sad day. I'll be contacting Mr. Coffee to see what they have to say.

Original Review (04/01/2006): We've use a Mr. Coffee TM3 (TM3.5 from what I can make out on the bottom of the unit) Iced Tea Maker for YEARS (at least 5, but more like 7) without trouble. Finally, after all that time of constant, daily use, the pitcher started developing some minor cracks. So, we replaced the whole thing. Outside of some minor differences in the plug, this version is identical to our old version (the bottom plate still says TM3.5). It's interesting that the recurring motif in all these reviews is that the pitcher cracks. When we first got our old unit, we too had that problem. After looking at how we were using the thing, we figured out that the cracking was because of how we added ice to the pitcher: while holding the pitcher's handle, we just shoved the other end of the pitcher under the ice maker. The problem was that we were using the pitcher itself to apply the pressure needed to trigger the ice maker. We bought a new pitcher and used our hand to trigger the ice maker, not the pitcher. That pitcher lasted us all those years.

Because of the prevalance of the "cracking pitcher" reviews, I'll keep an eye on this and see if anything is different. But, since everything looks identical to our old unit (down to the feel and heft of the materials), I don't anticipate problems. Based on all those years of happy use of the identical model, I rate this at an Excellent 5 stars out of 5: I couldn't live without it.

If it ain't broke don't fix it!2
I owned a Mr Coffee TM1 model tea maker for several years and was pleased as punch for the most part. I was excited when I got a new one along with a new home, except the TM3 model pitchers in less than 7 months started leaking at the seams, and of course you need the pitcher to make the tea. The replacements are only around $8, but at 2 or 3 a year, that can get costly. I have contacted the company in hopes to get some type resolution. Happy New Year. Tina

Pretty Cheap Merchandise!1
I've owned a Mr Coffee Iced Tea Pot for probably 10 years now. We bought one of the original models in a walmart years ago, and they looked pretty much the same -- White and teal with a clear pitcher. We took good care of that one (used a wooden spoon to stir it to avoid scratches, ran cleaner through the machine every few months to remove buildup, etc. The original package had 2 pitchers, and one of them was always in use it seems :)

Last fall the last pitcher finally gave up and started leaking from a seam, and they no longer sold that same pitcher as a replacement, so I bought a TM-3 and a 2nd pitcher, they looked to just be the "new" version of a well made product.


Sadly this is NOT the case. Where the old one had the filter-holder sitting on top of the pitcher, this one has you insert the spout into a slot, and line up a notch on the bottom. The filter cover and the lids don't fit together well, and its harder to wash the filter-holder.

The WORST part is the new pitcher. It has a "flip top" spout cover with a strainer on it, but its impossible to poor evenly! The tea "stream" is almost always wider than a common kitchen glass, so you're going to drip or dribble at some point.

Even worse, the plastic is VERY low quality; both pitchers, only a few months old now leak - oddly from the exact same point, in the lower front near the "square" notch in the base (There's a place where the seams meet)

It leaks slowly during brewing, but when done, i add the rest of the water to fill the pitcher, and the added "weight" begins to make the drip worse.

I'm going to order a replacement to see if it was a fluke, but I was saddened to see an old favorite get worse instead of better

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