VIVO 1030W Electric Cotton Candy Machine

This is a replacement for first one ordered. First one didn't work. Was not putting candy out correctly causing burn. When second machine was being ordered I was standing right inside my opened door. How I knew I was getting delivery was I heard the box hit the concrete hard and loud. Couldn't believe it was dropped like that. Box clearly showed what was inside. After that I worried this machine might be broken. And that also maybe that's what was wrong with the first machine. But thankfully it seems to be working well. I've only used it once so far. Everything seems to be good. It's a good machine. Makes great cotton candy. Fast and easy to use. Definitely a good purchase. And the children love it. As well as the adults.

This machine is absolutely ginormous and gorgeous! I am so proud of this purchase and wanted to share a few tips to help others get the best results. The unit is substantial, so I recommend laying the box on its side; have one person pull the cardboard while another gently slides the styrofoam out. Take a photo of the packaging before you fully unpack it! I used a Sharpie to mark the "front" and "back" of the styrofoam inserts so I could fit everything back into the box perfectly for storage. When placing the bowl onto the machine, be very careful not to hit the spinner. Before your first batch, it is vital to remove manufacturing residue. I wiped the bowl with a paper towel and it came away grey, so don't skip this step! I ran three scoops of distilled water through the machine (distilled is best as it lacks the minerals found in bottled or tap water). After it cooled, I cleaned the bowl with a 100% cotton dishcloth and a few drops of dish soap, then rinsed and dried it thoroughly. For the spinner, I used only a warm, wet cotton cloth to wipe it down. This machine produces large amounts of cotton candy very quickly! You can run it for about 20 minutes before you need to stop and wipe excess sugar out of the bowl. Using a small plastic scoop (like the ones found in sports drink powders) as a measuring tool, I used two scoops of three different Flossugar flavors. In about 40 minutes of total work, I produced and bagged 30 cotton candy balls. To keep the sugar from clumping, I avoid using the machine on rainy or humid days. Keeping the machine immaculate is worth the effort to ensure it's ready for next time. After 40 minutes, the spinner developed some normal "burned" sugar stripes. I cleaned this with a warm cotton cloth, Q-tips, and a little patience. I used a metric Phillips screwdriver to remove the spinner cap for a deeper clean under running water. I marked the plate with a Sharpie first to ensure the orientation was exactly right when I put the screws back into their original holes. While it takes some work to maintain, it isn't "hard" to clean if you follow the manual. It is incredibly fun to have fresh cotton candy at home whenever I want! I’ve already handed out bags to the neighbors and sealed some for later. I am super happy with this VIVO machine! Thank You Amazon! Wed 5/13/26

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was to get this item and write this review. My review is mostly in the video as well as some how to tips but I will give some back story. I had recently ordered a cotton candy machine that was meant for smaller home use from Amazon 2 weeks ago. When I received that machine, a part of the clip on the base of the bowl that helps lock it into the machine was broken into a million pieces causing the machine to spray cotton candy everywhere and the bowl vibrated loudly as a result of not being securely fastened. Needless to say, back it went. I did A LOT of research and decided on the Vivo. I have also ordered the mesh part that goes around the bowl but it has not arrived yet. The Vivo was shipped to me in record time considering most purchases take a week to get here right now. I ordered on Thursday and had it by Saturday afternoon. The bowl and machine were both packed perfectly and secure. The machine comes with the base, bowl, sugar scoop, extra belt replacement and the instruction manual. It tells you very simply how to set up and use the machine. Power it on, wait two minutes and then turn the heat on and wait another 4-5 minutes before beginning. Cleaning is fairly simple also. You keep the machine on, drop some water slowly into the head, it will cause steam so slowly and carefully, until, the head has time to clear out the sugar. Turn it off and allow to cool down before removing the bowl and cleaning the head. I did not order the bubble Cover to put on the machine since I did order the mesh piece that goes around it- that’s supposed to catch the extra cotton candy that hits the side of the bowl and keep it from floating in the air, so I cannot speak on whether the bubble or the mesh is better since I have not received the mesh yet but I have heard that either the mesh or the bubble cover is a good thing to have. I can tell you that without either one, cotton candy will end up flying in the air and if you make more than a few cones at a time, you will notice a cotton candy haze in the room. The only reason I did it inside for the party was because I live in NC, and even though it is October, when I made one cone outside at the party, it was sticky and not fluffy and melted in a matter of minutes due to the moisture/ humidity in the air. So know your area and locale and decide ahead of time whether or not it's a good idea to do outside. Even though it was a cool day by our standards, the humidity was still 90% and someone on another review said don't make it outside if the humidity is 50% or higher. Other than that, we love this machine. It is smooth, quiet and pumps out a couple of cones a minute making for great personal or business use. I am beyond thrilled with this machine!

I rate this highly because, for its size, I think it does an excellent job. Yes, if I had unlimited funds and unlimited storage space for frivolous things, I would like a full sized professional cotton candy machine. But, for its size, it makes candy fast and beautifully. Because the bowl is smaller and has lower sides, this works best if you wave your cone or stick over the center to get the most candy with the least flyaway, but it spins floss pretty fast and the children were delighted with how huge I could make the fluff in a short time. To make a huge cone, I use 3 scoops of sugar, one at a time, until the ball of floss is really big. This is how they were when I was a child in the 1950s. I would not get the hood that prevents floss from flying because, then you cannot make the impressively huge balls of fluff or bring them out through the opening. To accommodate great big balls of floss, I made my own sticks of ⅜" dowel rods, cut to 18" long. The kids were so impressed. I wash and reuse the sticks. A tip is to watch the humidity if you plan to make the floss outdoors. With high humidity (like we had when I took it to a Florida beach location, the floss compacted and became thick and chewy. Indoors it was light and fluffly. At home, in the north mideast region, I can use it outdoors if the humidity stays below 50. Above 50 humidity, it is worth cleaning up indoors. Another thing to be aware of is that you will not feel much heat above the center heating unit. The first time I used it, I kept waving my hand above the heating unit, waiting to feel heat. I overheated the unit and the result was candy fluff flying all over my kitchen and burning slightly before it spun threads. Now I only allow it to heat 2.5 to 3 minutes before adding the sugar. This works great. Also, melted sugar will collect on the edges of the bowl. After using the machine, I push these off with a wooden spoon to avoid scratching the bowl. I break the pieces into manageble sizes (about 1" or shorter). Then I can reuse them by turning off the motor while filling the center with pieces. Then turn it back on and spin more candy floss. If the unit seems to be getting too hot, just turn off the heat for a few seconds while arranging the sugar pieces...back on with the motor when it is filled.)

Got our machine tonight (~Aug 2017) and had to give it a test run, worked amazingly with the floss sugar we bought. Quiet and no vibration at all, after heating we made a cotton candy ball in about 20 seconds.. make sure to be ready with your stick when you pour the sugar because it’s super fast - can’t wait to use it Halloween night! Halloween Night 2017 - the machine was the hit of the Halloween party. We made about 180 cotton candy on a cone in about 2.5 hours (letting the machine rest evey 1/2 hour to 45 mins) I don't know if the adults enjoyed it more or the kids! Later we tested out crushed Jolly Ranchers, the result was amazing! Like liquid jolly rancher. Thanks Vivo I hope to use this for many more years to come! Update 6/28/2018 - Fast forward one year and we just did an all day event (9am to about 3pm) we used the cotton candy machine for at least 8 hours with the following intervals = about 45 minutes use, then giving some rest periods in between (when demand was low) the machine did great! We made probably about 200 cotton candy servings, no problem. We have been quite impressed with this little machine. Update 10/27/2018 Another Halloween in the books (I am writing this in 2019 as I forgot for 2018) Campground trick or treating is exactly what we bought this machine for, and once again it did not disappoint. Over 100 cones and the machine kept on trucking like a champ! Update 10/26/2019 Third year Campground trick or treating and the VIVO cotton candy machine is still running strong, we figure almost 200 serving again, and we had no problems. My one piece of advice is to clean the head regularly, if you wait and let the burnt sugar build up its alot of elbow grease to remove it. We have become the "cotton candy people" at the campground, and will be asking for another Cotton Candy Machine for Christmas to keep up with demand. And are looking forward to 2020.

So far a very nice cotton candy machine. The Machine is quite large, please see the pictures, the drum is the size of a car tire. While we have the space where we are, it can be a burden to store for some. Some have complained about the strings shooting up in the air and needing a bubble to use the machine. This is a lack of experience rather than a flaw in the machine. Make sure you start with either a paper cone, or a wet 12" bamboo stick. Pour the sugar into the machine and quickly rotate the stick until the machine has used up all of the sugar. This will catch 99.9% of all of the cotton candy. Quite simple to use, and creates a great deal of cotton candy at a time. If you use standard sugar, you will lose quite a bit as the grind of the sugar is quite fine and allows the grains to escape to the side of the drum before they have been properly melted. I have found that using cracked (not crushed to powder) candy, while its not the cheapest, its one of the best ways to get some tasty treats so far here is what we have used: 1. Braches hard candies a. butter scotch b. cinnamon c. peppermint d. wintergreen e. root beer 2. Sugar Free Costal Bay light mints (look for ISOMALT in the ingredients) 3. Jolly Ranchers (simply the best taste) 4. WarHeads (sour, but not too much so) 5. Root beer barrels 6. Brown Sugar (meh, unless you simply die for the taste) 7. Table Sugar (yep it works and its cheap, but again you lose some to the walls) 8. KoolAid flavor packets with 6 cups of sugar per (cheapest way to flavor the sugar floss) All of the above have worked quite well, while the sugar free does have a slight texture difference, I kind of like it :). As a strong suggestion, a 1/2 cup of water should be dribbled into the machine at the end of use to clear out the remains of the sugar. Clean up is simply washing the drum with a hose, after removing it from the base.

Prompt delivery even here in Alaska, easy setup. I have been using it for the last several days pretty hard to get a feel for it. Planned use is for fundraising events, parties etc. At first I considered a machine with a temperature knob and more expensive devices. Turns out this device has a thermal switch that keeps the head at the same temperature so there doesn't appear to be a need for heat control. The device has a number of safety features I was surprised to see on a machine in at this price point. 1) Grounded 2) Safety switch on one of the bowl hold down catches that prevents machine from powering on at all should the bowl not be installed for any reason 3) Shields around the head and motor to prevent debris from entering motor assembly and parts under the head. Overall very happy, makes floss quickly both from a cold start and just in pure volume. Its designed to toss floss up and in batches. You can use a stick or cone to collect above the head and then transfer to bags if needed. It has about a 2oz spoon with a nice handle that works pretty well, looks like the spot welds on the bowl and spoon will be the first to have issues but that can be addressed. My unit included a spare belt for the motor and appears to be a decent nylon belt. If I had to have something to dislike it would be that the unit is a bit out of balance so it has a little table creap while running. That and the single page manual that I skipped over had the key element about the safety switch. I missed that after my first clean and I went to turn the unit on without the bowl and thought I got a dud. Turns out I should just RTFM. Other reviewers mentioned "sparks" and such from under similar machines. The primary reason this would happen is there are two carbon brushes that supply power to the head's heater and so if the brush contact points were dirty or such then I could see that point would spark like any other brushed motor. This will eventually need some maintenance (brush replacements, contact cleaning) but for my expected use not likely for some years. The floss head is machined aluminum and has 4 screws and it's easy to pop them off and clean the burnt sugar that inevitably builds up. I personally like this design better then a ribbon. The head is a bit on the heavy side so it holds heat well. There is a video showing you can toss a bit of water in the hot head to help clean out some carbon during use. Yes this works just be aware that you get a pretty hot cloud of steam and I frequently get a bit of burnt floss to flow out shortly after so be prepared for a bit of a mess. If you do this it flings water and steam a fair distance around, ended up splashing my kids and coating the workspace with gunk. However it did clear the head pretty well. I paired this unit with a bubble top for another brand and it fits fine. It's harder to work since the bubble limits how high you can work your cone but I like the reduction in mess. One drawback is any debris is pretty much blown out of the bubble onto the operator so if you do this setup prepare to get floss over your arms, in your face and hair etc. In the interest of being fair, I have only used this machine a few days. However we got this after trying one of the Nostalgia units. I wish I had just saved my money and went for this unit first! The Nostalgia unit takes ages to heat, is harder to clean, and only makes one cone every 5-10 minutes. I knew that it would be slower and lower volume but you try having 8 kids around you asking when they can each have their own. @ 10min a cone thats basically asking the last kid to wait nearly an hour and a half. By comparison this unit makes a full cone in about 20 seconds. The first day I let my kids eat as much as they wanted in about 45 minutes they all taped out and said they had enough. I was still tossing cones because it was enjoyable! Cleanup is a snap. I use a bit of water in the head to flush out what I can and to help cool the head for safer handling after turning the unit off. Pop the pan off and wash with hot water. That's pretty much it, occasionally you will want to clean the head more, the manual recommends using vinegar. I haven't gotten that dirty yet.

It is a pretty nice machine with easy clean up. You will need to purchase a dome with this cotton candy maker or be prepared to clean up surface and cotton candy everywhere. This machine is great for for the serious hobbies that, but for commercial production, look elsewhere

BUEN EQUIPO Y EL PROVEEDOR A CUMPLIO EN TIEMPO Y FORMA

I bought this machine before the summer and my kids really enjoyed it. They made night activity with friends and had a lot of fun using it. needs adult to clean it. and enough place for storage.

My son decided to start a Cotton Candy business and after some research we chose this machine. It's performed well all summer and he's probably served up about 500 by now. Giving it appropriate down-time, the machine can do a 6 hour day at the local market. It's served at school events and birthdays. The past weekend it ran pretty well 2 hours solid - the only real 'problem' was needing to clean it occasionally. With isn't a problem, just dump some water in the floss head. At one point it felt out of the back of the car - kept on ticking (although there's a dent in the paint now). The 'downside' was the drive belt, it snapped after about 50 hrs of use. Replacing it wasn't easy, but was something we managed to do. We now have spares for the next time. Then again, if you're not running it as a business, you might never come across this problem. Overall a great machine which has more than paid for itself in a few months.

Sooo...I've never left a review about a product good or bad ,but I feel I have to with regards to this purchase. We have a tobban party at our house when conditions are good for the hill . Between 150-200 family friends and coworkers. I usually rent a large flos machine for the day. I have another event now at a club that I'm a member of that merits and machine also. So after reading reviews about the Vivo machine I took the plunge and bought one. It arrived 4 days earlier than expected. I fired it up for a trial run. I'm gobsmacked with the results. To say it exceeded my expectations would be a monumental understatement ! This little unit out performs what I rented flat out hands down ! With the rental unit even after being used for say 30 mins when I put sugar in I have to wait 30 seconds or more for flos to start to appear. Not with this one ! When you dump sugar in you better be ready.....it's coming...like now. ! I'm very impressed ! And let's face it who wins the grandpa with a candy flos machine or the grandpa without one ? Vivo...thank you !

The machine is perfect It’s exactly what I wanted. What I don’t get is why doesn’t it come with the dome I mean.. You clearly need the dome because if you don’t have it cotton candy May and will go everywhere. So now I have to spend another $99 at Costco.ca to buy the dome because Amazon doesn’t have it and well it’s just really annoying at this point as the machine itself cost over $300 already. But like I said earlier the machine works great and it makes a lot of cotton candy if you buy the right floss. But I would suggest or consider including A dome in the future. Oh and for anyone else who is considering buying this and thinks that you need to buy the stupid mashed that they sell for this thing don’t buy it it doesn’t work you need to actually stand in front of the machine and twirl the cotton candy onto the stick there’s no other way around it.