I know many here love the MMF, but it is a pain for me to make. I can never get pure white, end up with shortening and powdered sugar everywhere. I am not the neatest baker.
So today I broke down and ordered a 5lb tub of the Pettinice from my local bake supply shop. I chose the Pettinice over the Satinice soley on price. There was a $6 differance between the two.
So a little after the fact 
I'm wondering what peoples opinions of the different fondants are. Has anyone used them so they can compare and contrast? I have till Monday to change my order.
I've used Pettinice and Satin Ice. I prefer the smell, taste, texture, color, and workability of the Satin Ice.
Rae
I almost always use pettinice. My kids actually like the marshmallow-y taste, so I've never had to step up in price to Satin Ice. Has anybody used fondex ? I have heard it is the best.
I have used FondX--and I HATE it for only one reason--it is the most stretchy fondant I've ever encountered 
It tastes great, it's very white, and it smells good, but boy, this stuff is impossible to handle for large applications--and forget ropes or band borders. It stretches and tears if you look at it the wrong way. I've tried to adapt by using cornstarch instead of PS or crisco--no significant change in workability.
Another drawback for me is that I need to order it and from the sites I've found carrying it, the shipping is awful. I order Satin Ice, too, but I've found much more reasonable shipping from those vendors.
Rae
I love Pettinice. It is one of two brands that I use, and my customers love it. I have never used Satin Ice, so I can't compare the two, but I think Pettinice is a very good product.
I didn't like SatinIce.... it was very dry and hard to work with. I had to add water before I could get it to even roll out instead of just tearing.
So far, I like the MMF and the Wilton was nice to work with, but tasted nasty, so I won't use that again.
Jorre--you had a bad bucket of Satin Ice. That's not at all the way it should come out. It was either old, exposed to air, or stored improperly (frozen or too hot).
Somtimes, you can revive the product by kneading in some crisco, but water would be the death of it.
I can see after that experience why you wouldn't like it, but again, it was a fluke. I would have returned it to the store (if I'd bought it locally), contacted the manufacturer (I understand that they're very good about customer relations), or contacted the mail order company and asked for a replacement.
Sorry you got a lemon!
Rae
I wonder if it was caused by the fact the local store I bought it at buys huge buckets of it and re-packages it into smaller sizes that they then sell.
I wanted to buy an unopened bucket of it but they were out of them and suggested I call 2 weeks before I want some next time. They were quite unhelpful and kept giving my kids dirty looks although for the very first time in their entire lives, both kids were actually behaving and not touching anything.
I liked the taste of the Satin Ice, was rather close to MMF and it is certainly much easier than having to make MMF. I think I'll mail-order or buy an unopened bucket and see how it is that way.
Jorre--sounds like you hit the nail on the head. I'll bet the re-packaging was the culprit.
When you get fresh, factory sealed Satin Ice, the bucket will be sealed so tight it's like getting into Fort Knox! Inside, the fondant is kept in a heavy gauge blue plastic bag that has had all of the air removed from it. When I'm sealing it back up, I try to get all of the air out of the blue bag again, twist it really tight, put a twist tie on it, fold down the excess bag, and then twist tie the excess to itself (hope that makes sense).
The fondant will be hard, but when you cut a piece off, it will knead easily once your hands warm it up. I roll it on crisco and I also keep my hands lightly coated with crisco.
You can order 2lb. buckets, if you just want to experiment with it. That's about enough to comfortably cover an 8 inch round.
Good Luck!
Rae
I've tried both Pettinice and Satin Ice. I like the taste of Satin Ice better than Pettinice but it's easier for me to get Pettinice so that's the one I usually get. I haven't tried Fondx but have heard great things about it, one of them being that you can refrigerate it. There is someone on this board, her name is Nati, she is from Uruguay but lives in Australia and she makes some amazing cakes. Well, she uses Fondx and she says she loves it and she mentions how she refrigerates it with no problem. Have any of you tried that? I know that if you read in the tub of Satin Ice it says you can store it frozen.. does that mean you can refrigerate it too? I would love to find a brand of fondant that would refrigerate well. I love using fillings that need refrigeration (custards, mousses...) and when I make a fondant covered cake I can't use any of those, not to talk about covering using IMBC. You can't leave that out of the refrigerator either! MMF, the taste is fine, a little too sweet for me and also I have the hardest time getting it to the right consistency.
Inma
How do y'all pronounce "Pettinice?"
Like, Petty-niss, Petty-nee-chee, or, am I making a non-fondant fool out of myself?
Also--Is the pre-packed fondant something I could just fool around with, and actually make something with? Or do I REALLY need lessons to get it half-way right?
All help is appreciated here.
--Knox--
I'm not sure if I pronounce it correctly, but I say "pet-tin-ice", with the emphasis on the first syllable. 
I think you can definitely make something with the premade fondant, without taking lessons. I know you can do it!
Like cakesbyjess I pronounce it Pet-in-ice. Here we buy it in 750g lots and I usually order a box (6 packs) so it keeps fresh. I have not heard of any other brands here except a smaller pack from the supermarkets which is really for Xmas cakes. Most of my Wedding Cakes are covered in this as we are not into a big way with BC here and with Birthday cakes I use the same as well and also a Chocolate Pettinice which has that chocolately devine smell.
OK, I just need to ask... how do you ladies (using fondx, pettinice, satinice) do to keep your prices with such and expensive product? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but $25-$30 per 4-5lbs of fondant is expensive, if you are doing cakes as a business. Or am I being too cheap?? So far I've had great luck with MMF, would love to hear your opinions. Thanks!
I buy my Satin Ice in 2-20lb buckets at a bakery supply for $45 so its not as expensive as it is in your area.
My prices start at $4.25 a slice, but I work in a rather expensive restaurant. My price for a fully fondant covered cake is $5.25 per slice with a 50 person minimum.
You can order Satin Ice directly from Satinfinefoods.com if you want the 20 lb buckets. Their customer service is great! My first wedding cakes using SI only took 1/2 as much as they would have if I had used Wilton so I ended up with an extra 20 lb bucket. They say SI has a shelf life of 1 yr but I used mine for just over a year before I ran out and it still tasted great and worked up just fine! Just squeeze the air out of the plastic bag and twist it shut then make sure the bucket is tightly sealed.
Debbie
I get Satin Ice from this place - and am very happy with them:
www.cakedeco.com
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