EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 Review (2026): 5-Min Ice, Worth $199?

TL;DR: Is the EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 worth $199? If you want the fastest bullet ice you can get on a countertop and you value the no-power insulated bucket for parties, yes. If you just need ice in the glass and do not care about a five-minute first batch, a $70 bullet maker gets you 90% of the way there. Buy the X1 for the speed and the bucket, not because $199 is cheap.

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How we assess: I based this review on manufacturer specs, CES 2026 coverage, and hands-on reporting from other reviewers, cross-checked against comparable machines I have researched. See How We Review for the full method.

Last updated: September 2026.

What the EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 actually is

The EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 is a portable countertop ice maker that makes bullet ice — the hollow, cylindrical cubes you have seen from every plug-in-and-pour machine at every backyard party. You fill its water tank, press a button, and cubes start dropping into an internal bucket. No plumbing, no drain line, nothing to install.

What makes the X1 different from the crowd is speed and a trick with cold storage. EUHOMY built it around what the company calls RapidIce technology, and it says the machine produces its first batch of 9 cubes in about 5 minutes. Most countertop bullet makers I have looked at take 8 to 10 minutes for that first batch, so if the claim holds up in your kitchen, the X1 is genuinely quicker off the line. It also ships with an insulated bucket — EUHOMY calls it Cold-Retention — that the company says keeps ice frozen for up to 4 hours after you unplug it. That is unusual in this category, where most machines start melting the moment the compressor stops.

The X1 debuted at CES 2026, where it picked up a CES Innovation Award honoree nod in the home appliance category, and it started shipping in the first half of 2026. It is a real, current product, not a concept. My take: it is a well-thought-out spin on a boring appliance, and the speed plus the bucket are the two reasons to care.

Check the current EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 price on Amazon →

Who this is for

I will be blunt about who should keep reading. The Ice Leopard X1 is for you if you host people and hate waiting for ice, if you have a small kitchen, apartment, RV, or office break room with no built-in ice maker, or if you have been burned by machines that turn your ice into a puddle an hour after you unplug them. The insulated bucket is aimed squarely at that last group.

It is not for you if you are a nugget-ice devotee. Bullet ice and the soft, chewable pellets from a GE Profile Opal are different animals, and no amount of speed changes that. It is also overkill if all you want is a cheap cube factory — in that case, look at our roundup of the best countertop ice makers under $100 and save your money.

EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 specs at a glance

Specs sourced from EUHOMY’s product listing and CES 2026 coverage. Figures marked “manufacturer claim” are EUHOMY’s own and were measured under ideal lab conditions.

The honest walkthrough: how good is the EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1, point by point

Here is where I stop reciting the box and give you my read on each thing that actually matters when you live with a countertop ice maker.

Ice speed

This is the X1’s headline and the main reason it exists. A first batch of 9 cubes in about 5 minutes is fast for this class. When your typical portable maker needs 8 to 10 minutes for that first drop, cutting it roughly in half is the difference between “the guests are here and there is ice” and “hang on, five more minutes.” I have not measured the X1 myself, so treat the 5-minute number as EUHOMY’s claim from a cold start with cold water. A warm kitchen and lukewarm tap water will stretch it.

Mini-verdict: Genuinely fast on paper and the best reason to pick the X1 over a cheaper unit. Verify it in your own kitchen.

[ADD YOUR EXPERIENCE: measured first-ice time from a cold start with room-temperature tap water]

Ice quality

Bullet ice is bullet ice. It is clear-ish, it chills fast because of the hollow center and high surface area, and it is perfectly good for water bottles, soda, and everyday cocktails. What it is not: the soft, chewable nugget ice people obsess over, and it is not the dense, slow-melting clear cube that fancy machines make. Because bullet cubes are hollow, they melt faster than solid cube or nugget ice, which is exactly why the insulated bucket matters so much on this machine.

Mini-verdict: Good, honest everyday ice. If you crave nugget ice, this is not your machine and never will be.

Noise

EUHOMY has not published a decibel figure for the X1, so I am not going to pretend I have one. What I can tell you from every countertop bullet maker I have researched: there is a compressor hum plus a distinct clatter every time a fresh batch of cubes drops into the bucket. It is background noise you stop noticing in a kitchen and background noise you will absolutely notice in a quiet studio apartment at night.

Mini-verdict: Assume “normal ice maker loud” until EUHOMY or an owner publishes a number.

[ADD YOUR EXPERIENCE: measured decibel level at 3 feet during a full ice-making cycle]

Capacity

Read the 33-lbs-a-day number the right way. The X1 can make a lot of ice over 24 hours, but its internal bucket only holds about 1.8 pounds at once, and the machine stops when the bucket fills. So that daily figure assumes you are around to scoop ice out and keep it running. For a two-person household this is plenty. For a big party, you will be transferring ice into a cooler through the day, which is precisely where the insulated Cold-Retention bucket earns its keep. The water tank holds a little over 3 pounds, so you refill it periodically too.

Mini-verdict: Fine for daily use and small gatherings; plan to babysit and transfer ice for a crowd.

Cleaning

The removable bucket and water tank are listed as dishwasher-safe, which is a real quality-of-life win — most machines make you hand-wash everything. For the parts you cannot pull out, you still need to run a descaling cycle with water and vinegar or citric acid every week or two, because mineral scale is the number-one killer of these machines. EUHOMY has not confirmed a dedicated one-touch self-clean mode on the X1, so budget for a little manual maintenance.

Mini-verdict: Easier than most thanks to dishwasher-safe parts, but you still owe it a regular descale.

Design and footprint

At roughly 7 inches wide and 20.5 pounds, the X1 is narrow and tall rather than wide, which is smart for cramped counters — it eats less of your prep space than a squat, wide unit. EUHOMY leaned into a sleek, modern look, and the digital timer display on the front is a nice touch for at-a-glance status. Twenty pounds is portable but not featherweight, so it is a “pick it up and move it to the party table” machine, not a “carry it in one hand” machine.

Mini-verdict: A genuinely good footprint for small kitchens; looks the part on a counter.

Value

Here is the uncomfortable part. At $199 list, the X1 costs roughly three times a basic bullet maker that produces similar ice. You are paying for two things: the 5-minute speed and the no-power insulated bucket. If those solve a real problem for you, the money is defensible, especially at the $139.99 to $169.99 prices EUHOMY has quoted. If they do not, you are overpaying for ice that a $70 machine also makes.

Mini-verdict: Fair value only if speed and cold retention matter to you. Otherwise, save the cash.

What no one tells you about countertop ice makers

Time for the stuff the spec sheets bury. I have read enough of these reviews and enough furious owner complaints to spot the patterns nobody markets to you.

Countertop ice makers do not keep ice frozen — they make it on demand. Almost every portable unit has an uninsulated bucket, so the ice you made an hour ago is already half water. People buy these thinking they are tiny freezers. They are not. The X1’s insulated bucket is a direct answer to this, and it is honestly the most useful thing about the machine, more than the speed. But even 4 hours is a ceiling, not a promise — open the lid in a warm room and that clock speeds up.

Bullet ice melts fast, and that is physics, not a defect. Those hollow cylinders have huge surface area, which is why they chill your drink quickly and then vanish. If you fill a cooler with bullet ice for a day at the lake, you will be disappointed. For that you want solid cube or nugget ice. Speed of making ice and speed of melting are two different problems, and most buyers only think about the first one until it is too late.

Water quality decides whether your machine lives or dies. The single biggest reason these units fail early is scale from hard water. Use filtered water, descale on schedule, and a countertop maker lasts for years; feed it hard tap water and skip cleaning, and you will be shopping for a new one within a year or two. No brand puts that on the box.

The “lbs per day” number is a fantasy for most homes. That figure assumes the bucket is emptied constantly and conditions are ideal. In real life the machine fills its small bucket, pauses, and waits for you. Judge these machines by batch size and speed, not by the big daily number on the listing.

EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 vs the alternatives

The X1 does not exist in a vacuum. Here is how it stacks up against three machines people cross-shop, using real current specs and prices as of September 2026.

The honest read: the GE Profile Opal 2.0 plays a different game with nugget ice and a much higher price. The Newair countertop bullet maker is a sensible middle option. And the standard EUHOMY countertop maker at about $70 is my budget pick under $100 if you want bullet ice without the X1’s premium — you give up the 5-minute speed and the insulated bucket, but you keep the core function. For a wider bench of cheap options, our guide to the best countertop ice makers under $100 is the place to start, and the older EUHOMY unit gets the full treatment in our standalone EUHOMY countertop ice maker review.

Who should buy the EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1, and who should skip it

Let me map this to actual people.

• Best for the impatient party host: if “we are out of ice” is your recurring nightmare, the 5-minute batches and the 4-hour insulated bucket are built for you. Buy it.
• Best for small-space living: apartments, RVs, boats, dorm-adjacent setups, and office break rooms with no built-in ice. The narrow footprint fits where a wide machine will not. If you are kitting out a tiny kitchen from scratch, pair it with ideas from our list of dorm kitchen gear under $50.
• Best for the “I unplug it and my ice survives” crowd: the Cold-Retention bucket is the standout feature, so if that solves a real annoyance, this is the machine.
• Skip it if you want nugget ice: go straight to the GE Profile Opal 2.0 and pay the premium for chewable pellets.
• Skip it if you just need cheap ice: the $70 EUHOMY countertop maker makes the same style of ice for a third of the price.
• Skip it if quiet is non-negotiable: no published noise number, and bullet makers are not quiet.

The honest limits

I would not be doing my job if I only sold you the good parts. Here is what I would want to know before spending $199:

• Key claims are manufacturer figures. The 5-minute speed, 33 lbs/day, and 4-hour retention all come from EUHOMY, measured under ideal conditions. Your kitchen is not a lab.
• No published warranty or decibel rating at the time of writing. That is a real gap for a $199 appliance, so confirm the warranty terms before you check out.
• Conflicting cold-retention numbers. Some launch coverage said 8 hours; EUHOMY’s own page says 4. I am trusting the 4-hour figure, and you should too.
• It is a newer model. Long-term reliability data does not exist yet. Early adopters are, by definition, the test group.
• Bullet ice still melts fast. The insulated bucket slows it; it does not turn bullet ice into cooler ice.

The EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 is the countertop ice maker to buy when speed and no-power ice storage are worth paying for — and the one to skip when all you actually want is ice in a glass.

EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 FAQ

Is the EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 worth $199?

At its $199 list price, the Ice Leopard X1 is worth it only if you specifically want fast bullet ice and the insulated bucket that holds ice without power. If you catch it near its $139.99 early-bird or $169.99 regular price (both quoted by EUHOMY as of September 2026), it makes a lot more sense. If you just need cheap ice and do not care about speed, a $70 bullet maker does the same core job.

How fast does the EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 make ice?

EUHOMY says the Ice Leopard X1 drops its first batch of 9 bullet cubes in about 5 minutes per cycle, which is roughly half the 8-to-10 minutes most countertop bullet makers take for a first batch. That figure is a manufacturer claim from a fresh, cold start, so real times in a warm kitchen with room-temperature water will run a little longer.

What kind of ice does the Ice Leopard X1 make?

The Ice Leopard X1 makes bullet ice, which is the hollow, cylindrical cube you get from most portable countertop machines. It is not soft, chewable nugget ice like a GE Profile Opal, and it is not slow-melting clear cube ice. Bullet ice chills drinks fast and is fine for everyday use, but it melts faster than nugget or clear cube ice.

How much ice does the EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 make per day?

EUHOMY rates the Ice Leopard X1 at about 33 pounds of bullet ice per 24 hours. That is a manufacturer figure measured under ideal conditions. The internal bucket only holds about 1.8 pounds at a time, so daily output depends on you emptying it, because the machine pauses once the bucket is full.

Does the Ice Leopard X1 keep ice frozen without power?

Yes, within limits. The Ice Leopard X1 ships with an insulated bucket that EUHOMY says keeps ice cold for up to 4 hours without electricity using its Cold-Retention technology. Some early press coverage cited up to 8 hours, but EUHOMY's own product page lists 4 hours, so treat 4 as the honest number. It slows melting, it does not stop it.

Does the EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 have an app?

Yes. The Ice Leopard X1 has smart app control that lets you schedule ice production and check progress from your phone, plus a digital timer display on the unit itself. The app is a convenience for planning ahead, not something you need to run the machine day to day.

Is the Ice Leopard X1 loud?

EUHOMY has not published a decibel rating for the Ice Leopard X1, so I cannot give you a verified number. Every countertop bullet maker I have researched runs a compressor and a pump, so expect a steady hum plus a clatter when cubes drop into the bucket. It is not silent, and I would not run it next to a sleeping baby.

Does the Ice Leopard X1 need a plumbing hookup?

No. Like other portable countertop ice makers, the Ice Leopard X1 is fill-and-go. You pour water into its tank, which holds a little over 3 pounds, and it recycles unused water back into the reservoir. There is no water line to install, which is the whole point of a countertop unit.

How do you clean the EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1?

The Ice Leopard X1 has a detachable bucket and water tank that EUHOMY lists as dishwasher-safe, which makes routine cleaning easy. For the internals, plan to run a water-and-vinegar or citric-acid cycle every couple of weeks to prevent scale, the same as any countertop ice maker. EUHOMY has not confirmed a one-button self-clean mode for this model.

Ice Leopard X1 vs GE Profile Opal: which should I buy?

Buy the Ice Leopard X1 if you want fast bullet ice and portability for well under half the price. Buy the GE Profile Opal 2.0 if you specifically want soft, chewable nugget ice and do not mind spending around $520 to $550 as of September 2026. They make different ice for different people, so the ice type matters more than the spec sheet here.

Where can I buy the EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1?

The Ice Leopard X1 launched through EUHOMY in the first half of 2026 and is sold through EUHOMY's own channels and major online retailers including Amazon. Because it is a newer model, listings and stock can move around, so check the current Amazon price before you buy rather than trusting an old number.

If a countertop ice maker is only one piece of a small-kitchen upgrade, it is worth planning the rest at the same time. A compact countertop dishwasher for small apartments pairs well with an ice maker on a tight counter, and if you are stocking the whole space, a dependable air fryer under $150 rounds out the setup without blowing the budget.

See the latest EUHOMY Ice Leopard X1 price on Amazon →