14 out of 14 people found this review helpful.
Decent, but not like the TV ad
Date of Review: Dec 20, 2007
The Bottom Line: I'm neutral. Not what it is hyped to be on TV, but not a bad small portion mixer/blender. NOT A CHOPPER! Probably better units available at a lesser price.
Well, the TV does make this product look magical, but in reality it's just a nice mixer. I've owned this for about 2 years now and it does get used, but it doesn't have the utility the infomercial indicates.
On the negative side, I would not by this if you are looking at using this for chopping. It doesn't chop, no matter what blade you use. It turns pretty much everything to mush. You'll find that complaint on virtually all reviews of this product. And that's the rub, really. That completely eliminates a lot of uses.
I've read others complaints about different issues, and these are my comments about those same issues.
1. Some have had motors go out and such in a short period of time. Well, I haven't had that problem. We've used ours consistently for 2 years straight. It may be that people aren't following the instructions and running the motor too long. We did that once, and sure enough it quit. We then READ the instructions more carefully and it said not to use the motor for more than 1 minute straight. We got the unit reset and have never had a problem since.
2. It is true that the gaskets that seal the blade unit can come loose and end up in you're mix. We are now on our last spare gasket. First, whenever you use the blades, you should check the gasket and make sure it's seated well. Just a quick push with the finger all the way around usually works. With the repeated tightening and loosening, the gasket does eventually wear out and gets more loose. I don't think there's much you can do about it. We tended to go through one every 6 months. The only place I can find replacement gaskets is on Ebay, and that will run about $8-12 for a set of 4.
3. I've read some people say it won't crush ice or frozen berries. That's not true in my experience. In fact my family mostly uses it to make smoothies and such. That's probably its best use. We have no problem crushing ice and berries in the same time. I think some of it is not knowing how to "pulse" the blades correctly. Again, read the manual.
Overall, my family uses the Magic Bullet alot, but it's mostly used for smoothies, protein shakes, margarita's frozen daquries, etc. My wife also loves it for making fresh whip cream and even butter. We do believe it does a good job for those things, but it is definitely does not live up to the hype on TV.
We have recommended it to friends and family, and most like it for the purposes I mentioned previously. However, we told them to not pay the TV price, and look for a unit on Ebay or such that you can get a good deal on. It's not worth the TV price for what it does.
