Figure skaters avoid sideslip, and try to only slide along the length of the blade, except during stops, and perhaps jumps, creating deep narrow grooves. Aggressive hockey players often slide sideways, sheering off a shallow layer of ice. (That's oversimplified and overgeneralized.) Curlers use grippy shoes that aren't supposed to slide, but push a large curling stone that should slide as far as possible. Figure skaters tend to prefer a little warmer and softer ice than hockey players and I think also speed skaters, but colder and harder than curlers.
Likewise, for Snowmax, there are many types of snow, and many styles of skiing, snowboarding, and sledding. Could there be disagreement there too?
Would water slush - ice cubes ground up into little ice seed crystals, like in a slushy, be as effective, or more so, as Icemax? An interesting experiment. But perhaps not patentable, so not advertised. And could it harm the Zamboni or create other problems?
What about the claim that the claim that you can fill the Zamboni with Icemax seeded cold water instead of hot water? Why wouldn't that be needed with Icemax? It would potentially be a significant savings in time and money, both by reducing the time to freeze, and reducing the need for refrigeration and dehumidification. I assume the hot water is to melt the top surface, to get rid of roughness.
And again, I don't know if hockey, speed, figure, and curling users would feel the same about that change.
Icemax's website claims the ice itself can be kept a little warmer, and still provide a good skating surface. Why and how? Once again, I don't know if hockey, speed, figure, and curling users would feel the same about that change.
Can someone with more knowledge correct and augment what I just said, or at least speculate more intelligently?
What about the unverified 3rd party claim that the bacteria and bacterial protean in Icemax and Snowmax might be a health hazard? The manufacturers says the bacteria are natural, and are already involved in natural snow formation. But perhaps the introduced concentration is higher? Without hard evidence, should we just ignore it? Some bacteria already grow in indoor ice rinks. A known health hazard that most of us ignore, unless the rink has no dehumidification.