Features:

  • Pops faster than a microwave- up to 18 cups of gourmet corn in less than 2 1/2 minutes
  • In test after test, the Presto PopLite hot air popper out popped other leading brands, popping up to 30-percent faster with virtually no unpopped kernals
  • Uses regular or gourmet popcorn for a savings of up to 70-percent over microwave bags
  • Pops without oil for up to 42-percent fewer calories than microwave bag popcron, no artificial flavors, saturated fats, preservatives, or added salt
  • Product Built to North American Electrical Standards
Never used one of these; now find that this works well; is easy; is clean; pops like crazy

I'm actually "loving it" for a friend who has MS and some health issues and asked me to get her an air popper. Did a little research and it seemed like this was the best one. So I took it to her house and decided to make popcorn this way. (I always use the small bags in the microwave so I'm not familiar with air popping.) Well, this did fine; no oil needed; just puffy popcorn shooting out of the chute. No mess except you have to empty out the few kernels that didn't pop. I might consider buying one of these and not using the microwave ones; someone said that the microwave ones have chemicals added to preserve them and are not healthy. Who knows. Everything has something that someone thinks is unhealthy or unsafe. BUT, given that this is just the kernels and hot air, I do think that this is a healthy way to eat popcorn and my friend is very happy.

Very nice air popper from Presto. Simple machine, and very durable. Easy to clean, and makes wonderful popcorn.

The Presto 04820 PopLite Hot Air Popper was a very nice purchase. It makes a healthy snack making popcorn with only hot air. The air popper works very well. It has a solid construction, and it is lightweight and easy to clean. It weighs about 3 1/2 pounds, and the footprint is fairly small. The unit comes apart easily for storage. Cleaning is a breeze. You do not have to clean it after each use other than the butter tray if you use it. It leaves less un-popped kernels using hot air to pop the kernels. Pops regular or gourmet popcorn with hot air and no oil, for a healthy, low calorie snack. There is a butter tray on top that is removable. Butter melts from heat as you use the machine, and you have melted butter to pour over your freshly popped popcorn if you desire. For a healthier alternative, you can spray some olive oil or coconut oil to your popcorn instead of using butter or margarine. You can use salt and other seasonings like cayenne pepper, paprika, curry, cumin, turmeric, onion powder, garlic powder or garlic salt or other seasons to flavor your popcorn. You can even use cocoa powder if you want a chocolate flavor popcorn. You can be as creative as you would like to be. You can use instant pudding mix or pie-filling mix with some corn syrup, some butter and a little vanilla, warm it in a microwave and mix to make a nice sweet coating to pour on your popcorn to toss and coat. You can bake it a little to harden and crisp if you'd like.. This is a very fun machine. It is fast and easy to operate, and you can have freshly popped popcorn with no mess in a minute or two. This machine can last a long time with care, and it is a definite must for movie nights. I recommend his simple to use machine. Popping popcorn with an air popper is a money saver. Amazon has it at a good price. If you have Amazon Prime, the 2-day Free shipping is very nice. I recommend this air popper for sure.

One of the best hot air poppers

I had a Presto hot air popper for years, and I mean, for years, that my grandmother gave me. The cord sparked and that was the end of it. So, I thought I'd order the Aicok hot air popper from Amazon because it was BP free. So, It arrived and right away I tried it out. Even though the Aicok popper cost a little more than the Presto, there were more unpopped kernels than one could count and had less popped corn. So, I gave it away to a relative and purchased the Presto. I just received it today and didn't waste any time trying it out. Well, well, well. It did me proud. Of course there were some unpopped kernels, but I had more than enough popcorn to feed my popcorn addiction.

It simply WORKS

It really does pop almost every kernel you put in it, even at less than 1/4th cup. (The recommended amount - too much for me - is half a cup.) 1/4th cup is about 55 g, or 206 Kcal, for all you (us) calorie-counters. I have been doing microwave-in-paper-bags for a few years now. Even with the *freshest* popcorn I haven't been getting less than 15-20% unpopped kernels, whereas this device managed 98% popped kernels from 2-year-old (i.e. ancient old dried-up) popcorn. "Eye-popping," heh heh. If you want to quibble, you could get me to knock it down down to 4.5 stars for the fact that this machine has no on-off switch, and requires you to use the plug to start and stop it. But meh, whatever. If it came out with an easy-to-access switch that wouldn't require pressing so hard that you'd half knock the machine over, I'd give it six stars. I don't care about butter melting abilities, so this review takes none of that into account.

Love It!

I love this thing, but you must understand its purpose and function. 1) By the time you plug it in, the kernels should already be loaded and the top on. You should be standing by with a (large) bowl to catch the output. Don't try to preheat or anything silly, the directions expressly tell you this. 2) This thing makes a lot of popcorn. Filling the measuring cup to half gets you four to five cups of popcorn, and full gets you between eight and ten cups (with standard yellow popcorn). Fill it less than half and it starts spitting out far more kernels than usual, and over-filling is, of course, bad. It will pop so much popcorn that they can't eject fast enough and end up scorching. This means if you only want a cup or two, this machine may not be your best bet. 3) It's a home device meant for a batch or two (which is is sixteen to twenty cups). It will need some cooling time in between batches if you're popping more than that. If you're trying to pop fundraiser-quantities of popcorn, you should probably look elsewhere. For our purpose, this thing is absolutely awesome. In two or three months it will pay itself off, and I can eat healthy additive/preservative-free popcorn all day long. My recipe is simple: a second or two of cooking spray (canola=no calories, olive oil=tastier), and a liberal sprinkle of Old Bay Seasoning. Has a lot of sodium, but adds almost no calories to thr popcorn. *I will not update this review unless something negative happens requiring it.

Solid popcorn maker, but needs better shut-off design

This is a good popcorn maker. You simply put the popcorn kernels in the machine, plug it in, and place a large bowl under the output area. You get freshly popped popcorn that you can season however you want. It does throw some hot kernels at first before the popcorn starts popping, so you do have to be careful with your bowl placement and clear them out if you don't want to run into them when eating. Overall, however, we have found that it pops almost all of the kernels each time, and clean up has been a breeze. One small durability note, the butter softener on top seems to have some trouble with the heat generated by the unit. The butter does not completely soften (unless you soften it first in the microwave, which I think kind of defeats the point), but somehow the corner of our butter softener dish has melted. Not sure how or when it happened as we don't use that tray very often, but now we have to maneuver it a bit to get it to fit in its slot. Not a deal breaker by any means, but something to be aware of. The biggest problem I have with the unit is that there is no off switch; you just have to unplug the unit. Other reviews seem to suggest that it has an auto-off feature, but ours has never turned off on its own, which means you are pulling a live plug out of the wall. Not the safest thing in the world, so make sure you are not letting kids do this on their own unless they know how to handle the plug properly to avoid potential sparks. We have made a ton of popcorn since we purchased this unit in February (we went through a bit of a popcorn craze after purchasing it), and it has shown no signs of burning out as other reviewers have found. Overall, we are pleased.

Works well, quick, not messy, butter/oil optional

I like to make popcorn from Orville R Original or White Corn and both work well in this popper. I previously made popcorn in the microwave in a pyrex bowl, and also on my induction cooktop with a large covered pan. The former resulted in too many uncooked kernels and the latter was messy and didn't give me the option of "dry" popcorn (had to use oil to cook). This popper is quick, no cleanup and pops the corn before optional buttering. I've used it a half dozen times already with no issues. I've even tried melting butter in the measuring cup with good results using tub butter that has been out of the fridge for a time to warm up. Yes, a couple unpopped kernels will rocket out before the popping starts, but with a really big bowl in place to catch them it's no problem. I am not a big fan of single-purpose kitchen gadgets but this is an exception.

Awesome! Can't Imagine a Popcorn Maker Being Quicker, Safer, or Healthier.

One of my favorite purchases. Blew away all expectations. Bought it for my parents who like popcorn, but wanted something safe and healther, i.e., something that didn't require hot oil and/or a stove. This was great because it claimed to use hot air rather than hot oil to pop the kernels. This could not be easier or faster. Filled the scoop with popcorn kernels. Poured into cylinder. Turned on. Within about a minute the popping begins. Within 3 minutes almost each kernel is popped! Unplugged it. The hot air not only pops the kernels, but it pushes the popped kernels out of the chute, into the bowl I had waiting. If you like popcorn, you're going to LOVE this!

Nostalgia never tasted so good...

There's nothing like something you find on Amazon taking you back to your childhood. I remember we had one of these when I was a kid. The whirr of the fan and the rattling of the seeds until... POP! And then it was off to the races. The sheer joy of seeing those kernels flying out into the bowl made everything bad melt away, much like the butter in the cup on top, and replaced it with a buttery/salty goodness not found anywhere else. My fiancee and I decided to forego the microwave and found that when you do that popcorn becomes sort of an elusive creature not found easily. This is your answer. Pair it with some gourmet seasoning salt and butter, ever so gently melted in the included measuring cup, and your in store for the heaven that air popped popcorn embodies. Don't hesitate to snag one of these bad boys for your home. It won't disappoint.

I got a high five for making this purchase. THE BEST POPPER ON THE MARKET

My fiance is a popcorn addict. Even bigger than me. and he keeps giving me high fives when we use this popper. he says its the best one he's ever used; stove top, microwave . it uses NO oil. which is healthy. but i like my oil so i usually use the stove top. But i used this machine and it does pop out the kernels in FULL which i love. we use Orville redenbacher. so far its the best corn kernels we used but I'm still searching for better. its incredibly light and airy. We got the yellow one for about $17 so it was a pretty cheap version. its easy to keep clean. we just use a damp cloth all around. it is a little noisy but its blowing hot air so its to be expected. but it works pretty fast. we get popcorn in about 8 minutes. we haven't used the butter dish yet. i would definitely recommend this purchase.

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