First, don't try this with uncured garlic. The peels have to be dry. I suspect poor reviews are a result of people not knowing better. It makes a mess. Do this outdoors or loosely tape a bag on the outlet for the peels. As shipped, the thicker 'paddles' were installed. First test peeled half the cloves of a full head in under 10 seconds. The other half were loosened enough to easily peel. Some of the cloves that were fully peeled began to get minced, so I'll be installing the softer paddles before I get to work on my bulk garlic. Experiment with a head or two before settling on a duration or number of heads per batch. This machine will save us quite a bit of time and effort even at a 50% full peel rate. The unpeeled cloves can be left in for another run.