Ice Ball Molds, BPA Free 2.5 Inch Ice Spheres, 6-Pack

Admittedly, I just got these yesterday, so I can't speak for their longevity yet, but I am happy with them so far, and will update this review down the road if my impressions change, or if there is something significant to update. First, they arrive in a box inside a bubbly envelope. They seem to have fared well in shipping. My set did not have the issue with the misshaped lip on the silicon top. I gave them a quick wash and went to work. As you can see from my pictures, I had some mixed results, but this is due to user error, and not the product itself. I got a few egg-shaped balls and some nice round ones. This was due to various levels of filling them. Others have written that they are hard to fill. I took someone else's advice and filled them to the line inside via the faucet, and then put the tops on them and filled them the rest of the way with a condiment squeeze bottle that fit perfectly into the little hole in the top. The ones I filled all the way to the top expanded and gave me egg-shaped "balls." The ones I left down a little from the top gave me nice round balls. If you over fill them, simply flip them upside down and give the center of the lid a little press, and the water will squirt out. Keep squirting a little at a time until you reach the fill level you desire. Yes, as some have complained, they do have an equator once frozen. This is due to the design, but for a <$25 set of 6, the slight equator doesn't bother me at all. It's a small sacrifice to not pay upwards of $200+ for something that makes one or two "perfect" balls at a time. A few things I learned in my first round of ice balls: when you take them out of the freezer, run them under tepid-warm water for a few seconds BEFORE opening. This will loosen them in the mold without the water coming into contact with the ice ball. Then, twist the top and it will dislodge from the plastic base. Once dislodged, squeeze the sides of the top of the silicon lid (kind of hard), while holding it over the base, and the ball will pop out of the silicon and into the base, ready to be transported to your ice bin or favorite beverage. On my first one, I got excited and opened it up quickly without running it under water. When I did this, the silicon top came off, and the ball was frozen in the base. I tried to run it under water with the top off and the shock of the water hitting the ball caused it to fracture. It stayed in one piece, but it was all cracked and wet. When you run the sealed container under water, it seems like it was less of a shock to the ice inside, so it didn't crack, and the ball wasn't all wet when I took it out. Finally, I like that they are stackable. It takes a little fiddling to get them seated, but once they are seated and stacked, they are stable and stand well in the freezer. On that note, due to all the stuff in mt freezer, I wasn't able to stand them perfectly upright in the freezer. They were slightly off kilter, but didn't leak. I am enjoying an adult beverage with a nice ice ball floating in it, and round 2 is in the freezer as I write this review. All in all, I am very happy with my purchase. If anything goes wrong, I will post an update. ***UPDATE*** Been using theme for over a year and still love them, especially for the price point. Things i've learned: fill them to the top with the lid off. The gently put the lid on and flip upside down. You can squish the center of the cover a little and bleed out some of the water until the air bubble is between the size of a nickle and a quarter. Then turn right side up and into the freezer they go. To egt them out, I sit them upside down in the sink and run warm water on them for about 30 seconds. Then the pup out of the container easily. A good solid squeeze on the silicon top and out the pop!. I would buy again, but I don't see the need anytime soon, as they are holding up quite well.