Great Northern Popcorn GNP 11 Roller Hot Dog Grill Machine - Commercial Grade Hot Dog Roller for Movie Theaters, Carnivals & Concession Stands

Reading prior reviews it was clear that 20% of the people who bought them were unhappy because they broke, The first one would not even turn on. The second has been working fine for a couple months now. I cannot give five stars to a product that has a 20% failure rate. This was a replacement for an older unit by another manufacturer. This unit heats up quickly and cut our cooking time in half. So it is working well for us.Just make sure you are prepared to be one of the 1 in 5 folks that gets a dud and make sure you replace it while you can on the free returns.When the machine arrived, it had a big dent in the top. I didn't think it was a big deal, who cares what it looks like, right? We turned it on, thought we saw it working (didn't put any dogs on it), then put it away for the party. Three weeks later, we fired it up to cook some dogs and only the first and last rollers were turning.We contacted Great Northern who said return the item, but we didn't have a box to put it in. It's pretty big and heavy. So, I decided to take a look at the rollers since they have to be greased anyway. I saw that the design of the machine was pretty strange, letting the chain slip across the top of the middle rollers so that they wouldn't turn. There are 11 rollers with a sprocket on each end and a chain passes over each, then down around the gear on an electric motor, back to the first sprocket in line. Even if the drive is tightened, there is nothing to keep the chain from slipping over the middle rollers. After adding a chute to the inside of the machine to guide the chain and keep it from popping off of the roller sprockets, the cooker worked perfectly.It heats up the dogs really fast, so we're able to pump them out. It lasted three whole days! Now the motor that turns the rollers just makes a noisy clicking sound and nothing happens. Sadly, this was during a pretty important event and it left us without a way to make hot dogs. Pretty embarassing for us and a let down for the folks we were helping out.I think I've had enough. I'll contact Great Northern again to see if they will take it back, but it's been 6 months (we only use it for parties or special events), and I doubt they'll want to refund my money.Bottom line? Buyer beware! If you follow the positive reviews and get one of these, check it out thoroughly and save your packaging. For my money, I can't see how the design works so well for everyone else but me, but that's not for me to decide.This thing is awesome, It worked great for my kid's birthday party. I didn't have to do anything but plug it in and then they helped themselves. It was pretty hard to clean though, took me about a half hour of scrubbing. I wish it had non-stick rollers like at the gas station.A few quick points:- It can cook 30 regular sized hot dogs (5.5 inches or 14cm long) at a time.- A well cooked hotdog, slightly crispy outside was about 15 min on medium heat. You could probably cook one on higher heat in about 5-10 min.- The rollers on my machine did not turn out of the box. Opening the panel on the left side of the unit, we saw the gear attaching the rollers to the motor was loose. 2 min fix to get it rolling again.- My first time clean of the machine took 5 min. Drip pan is very easy to remove.- Hot dogs cooked on this machine seem far more tasty than boiled hot dogs.I was so happy with the purchase of this hot dog griller. We have an art center and have occasional events where we have to feed a lot of people. We used this for a recent event and it worked great! It cooks 30 hot dogs in about 15 minutes! You can keep them warm on lower temps for hours without burning! The hot dogs were delicious and the griller worked great! It cleaned up very easily, only needing to use wet paper towels while the rollers are turning and still warm. The grease and "brown" from the dogs came right off. No need to scrub or use any soaps. The tray underneath removes easily and there was next to nothing even on the tray to clean. The unit is easily transported to other locations and stores easily in it's own box. This was well worth the price and will get much use ..... art center, yard sales, parties, etc. Very happy I purchased this griller!This hot dog roller was perfect for a large outdoor party we were having and at such a fantastic price. There is really no set up, just plug it in, let it heat and put on your dogs. So much better than someone standing over a hot grill all day! We had 2 kinds of hot dogs, Sabrett and Nathans. Since the Sabrett are thinner, they did not spin as efficiently as the regular sized Nathans, though both tasted great when they came off the grill. Cleaning was not bad and I recommend keeping it warm as it does make it easier to clean. Everyone wants to borrow it now for their parties!Also, the e-site we were dealing with could not have been more helpful. They get an A+We have SO many pool parties in the summer just for our family and friends plus, our son's sports teams, etc. This is absolutely perfect! People go crazy when they see it in a home setting and it cooks the franks perfectly! My 15 year old had a sleepover with 12 of his buddies the other day and it was awesome to keep hot dogs ready to go for a bunch of hungry boys throughout the evening. I also boiled some Brats and placed them on the grill and it worked perfectly! The wheels are a little hard to clean, but the drip tray underneath comes out easily and that is a breeze to clean.Purchased Great Northern Commercial Quality Hot Dog Roller (Model # 4094) as a more convenient alternative to propane gas grilling, I'm most pleased with quality, price, and ease of ordering. The only negatives relate to Operators Manual. Under How to Use, item 2, Note is inaccurate for this model; FRONT dial does not control all rollers, it controls only the front 6, while BACK controls the rear 5. Also, disappointed manual does not include a parts list. Otherwise, looking forward to using the machine for the first time in mid-January .