10 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
Looks cute but that's about it. Ended up in the dumpster.
Date of Review: Dec 2, 2006
The Bottom Line: No matter how inexpensive something is, I expect a product to do it's job reasonably well for a reasonable amount of time. This little blender did neither.
I received this blender as a gift. I had planned to use it on a daily basis to replace my old Braun hand blender for mixing protein shakes. I typically throw in a banana or some raspberries with some milk and a couple of ice cubes, nothing too strenuous for even the cheapest of blenders to handle, right? Wrong! On the fourth day of owning this blender, and hence my fourth shake, the blender just quit. Dead. Done. Dumpster.
In light of what happened I think it should suffice to say "don't buy this blender" without going into any more details. However, for the sake of completeness, I will continue with my review:
Appearance- This blender is, in a word, cute. It is available in a variety of colors (mine was red so it actually looked pretty gross in my mint-green kitchen but, like I said, it was a gift). The device takes, or should I say took, up very little space on my counter. It has a very plasticy look and feel, at least it won't get covered in finger prints like those stainless appliances do.
Performance- I don't expect miracles from such an inexpensive blender. Not surprisingly it was noisy for it's size and vibrated substantially, even though I only ever used the low setting. If you want refinement then you'll have to shell out some $$$ for a higher-end machine. Evidently the motor was not especially powerful; there was no significant vortex created in the container and, as a result, un-blended chunks settled to the bottom. Unfortunately, since there is no cap at the top of the container, you have to remove it completely from the base and tilt it right-side-up to mix the debris before resuming.
Ease of Use- This blender was extremely easy to use. Twist the large knob on the front of the machine counter-clockwise for the pulse function. Twist it in the other direction until it clicks for the low setting, and a second click for the high setting. The container fits easily onto the base; simply rotate to lock and un-lock it. Cleanup was a snap because the blades are attached to the lid and thus can be removed for rinsing in the sink.
I considered, for a brief moment, giving this product two stars instead of one because the price is unbeatable and, to give them some credit, the manufacturers put much effort into making this blender as visually appealing and user friendly as a kitchen appliance can be at that price. Then I came to my senses...this blender simply did not do what it was intended to do. Period.
