Breville Smart Scoop Ice Cream Maker vs Whynter ICM-201SB Ice Cream Maker

Buy the Whynter ICM-201SB if you want the most capacity and the best-tested results for the money in effort: it holds 2.1 quarts, churns in about 26 minutes, and won best self-refrigerating pick in America's Test Kitchen testing and praise from CNN for quiet, creamy output. The Breville Smart Scoop is the more polished machine: its 12 settings, pre-cool and keep-cool modes, and audible ready alert make it the easier one to live with, and owners rate its build and controls highly. Both are compressor machines that need no pre-freezing; the Whynter wins on volume and value, the Breville on control and finish.

• Choose the Breville Smart Scoop if you want the most control over texture and hardness and a machine that beeps when the batch is ready.
• Choose the Whynter ICM-201SB if you feed a crowd or want the largest batch from a machine that has won independent tests.