Let me first say that we absolutely LOVE this! However, there are two serious design flaws, which made us realize why it was discontinued. One of them is the fact that the part that holds the liquid cannot be detached from the base motor part, connects to the second issue of cleaning. The top part can’t disconnect, which wouldn’t matter except that the base part can’t be immersed in water! This makes the entire thing a pain in the derrière to wash! The base part, which is attached to the cord, can’t be in water, so it makes cleaning difficult and much more time consuming than necessary. If they had just designed this to have the top part that holds water be able to separate from the base (like an electric kettle or coffee maker), the top part could be tossed in a dishwasher or hand washed when convenient. Unless you wash this IMMEDIATELY after using, the milk continues to cook on the heat element, and scorches and is then much more difficult to clean off. However, after just serving up the delicious drinks that this machine makes, you can’t relax and sit and enjoy them, because of the said necessity of washing immediately. This machine is SO easy to use, and makes a perfect drink every time, we’re willing to go through the design flaw annoyance, but these would be so fantastic if they would just change that one feature! This is super easy to use - you literally just pour in the milk and add what goes in it, and push the button, and it cuts off automatically when it’s done, and results are truly really lovely. Perfect temperature, perfect amount of foam, our whole family loves to use it for the results - we just wish they would’ve thought through the practicality of washing it before producing it like this...We got this for our kids, who love hot cocoa all year 'round. It works great, reliably makes good cocoa (assuming you use good cocoa ingredients). It heats it up so you don't have to heat the milk (or water) and mixes it nicely, shuts off automatically. Again, it does a great job. It's easy to use.The "magnetic impeller" is a little disk with a tiny paddle on top that you wouldn't expect to work, and it's magnetically coupled to the motor (no shaft running from the motor into the jar as on most blenders, so no seal to leak, etc.), pretty cool and it does the job well.It's easy to clean, the magnetic impeller comes out and you clean the impeller, the inside of the jar, and the cover.(As an aside: It would be nicer if the jar could come off and be cleaned without having to be careful to not get water into the underside, but it's not all that difficult, just could be a bit better. You can not immerse it, it's one unit: jar, motor, and controls, so you clean by washing and rinsing the inside of the jar without letting water get into the underside of the bottom, which again is do-able and not all that tough but one does have to be aware and careful. I guess they wanted the no-seal-required magnetic impeller and couldn't do that with a removable jar or the heating system needs to be intimately connected? Also, it doesn't alarm when done, it just shuts off, but if you are around you'll obviously know when it's done. Again, not a problem nor a pain, but the designers could make an improvement next time.)At first we were looking at the cartridge coffee makers which generally can also make hot cocoa, but they are much more expensive, typically make only one cup at a time, and you're limited to the small selection and overpriced cartridges available for the unit you have, so we scratched that, and on a whim or from desperation did a search on Amazon for "hot cocoa maker" and this unit came up, highly rated and reasonably priced.Recommended. It works well and a good value.I recently purchased the Mr. Coffee Cocomotion Hot Chocolate Maker in November, 2011. Since that purchase we have used it several times and are extremely pleased with its build quality, easy cleaning, and the quality of the hot chocolate it makes. The hot chocolate it makes is dependent on the mix you use and whether or not you use milk or water. However, the machine mixes and makes the hot chocolate well and quickly. We used the Ghirardelli Premium Hot Cocoa Double Chocolate mix with 1% white organic milk and found this combination mixed well and the temperature was hot enough. We have made anywhere from 8 to 32 ounces of hot chocolate with this machine and have not had any surprises or messes. It mixed all the amounts well and thoroughly and the longest it took was 3-4 minutes for the 32 ounces. We have not tried making hot chocolate only with water or some other mix since we are very pleased with the taste and consistency with what we are using. With milk it does give a slight frothing which is like what you would get at places like Starbucks or other high end coffee shops. All of my family, including our 2 children enjoy this machine and the hot chocolate it makes. The instructions are easy to follow and the cleaning is easy also. Just clean it immediately after you are done drinking your hot chocolate and it cleans easily and it stores easily since it is not very tall and it is one complete unit. I just hope it lasts for a long time since we are liking it that much. Once you make hot chocolate with this machine, making it any other way will be disappointing. To us, making hot chocolate with this machine took the taste and the experience of drinking hot chocolate up a notch.