Customer Reviews

Blendtec Home HP3A 4-Side Blender, White

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am very happy with this HP3A blender . I am not a vegetable eater but this blender allow me to have my daily intake of greens. I make carrot juice, cucumber juice, apple juice, strawberry ice cream and a lot more. Important thing to remember is to read instruction and put the ingredients in recommended order. The blender and the new jar which is BPA free now has a 3 year warranty. I have no problem with liquids spilling out while using this product. Cleanup is a breeze.

This product is pricey but it is worth it in my opinion.

This machine is amazing. I'm convinced it will turn anything into a smooth liquid or paste. Just read the manual first for the best results. I love having a blender that I don't have to baby. I just put on the proper program setting and it speeds up and slows down to ensure the food is properly blended.

If I'm making a thick frozen fruit smoothie, sometimes I'll have to shake the container and blend again, but when that happens, it's my error since I'm making the smoothie too thick. I've never had to scrape down the sides making a smoothie, like every other cheap blender I've owned.

The container shape makes for very easy pouring, and even easier cleaning. I love that I can see under the blade to make sure the container is clean. I usually just rinse the container once or twice and run the lid under some water. Sometimes I'll blend a cup of water with a drop of dishsoap for a few seconds to clean it. It's so low-maintenance.

This will get me eating my vegetables. My favorite way to have carrot now is blended with an apple (I add water to get it more juice-like; it's very thick without). You can throw vegetables in with fruits to disguise them. If I had kids, this is how I'd trick them into eat healthily. :)

I did a lot of researching on the VitaMix and BlendTec blenders, and decided on the BlendTec because of its superior design and functionality (and it was even less expensive). Its design is much more pleasing than the VitaMix models, which look to be permanently stuck in the 70's.

This is an American-made product and the quality reflects that.

This is an amazing blender!! Easy to use with the pulse on-off button, grinds ice/nuts in a second, not that loud, absolutley fantastic!! Well worth the price if you make smoothies, soups or nut pate's a lot.

Awesome product!

After ordering this item I read some of the reviews on it and frankly, was worried that I had made a mistake. But upon arrival and actually reading the instructions I found that it works brilliantly and am very glad that I made the purchase. Maybe those other unhappy owners didn't take the time to "read the instructions"....you know, it usually helps!

We've had our blender for nearly 5 years, but won't be patronizing K-TEC, the makers of BlendTec, anymore. The pitcher has a gear fitting on the bottom that tends to wear out every 2 years. They blamed us the first time because we had put the pitcher in the dish washer a couple of times. Thinking they were an honest business, we coughed up the $100 to have them ship a new pitcher. Around 2 years later, the exact same problem started happening. This time they admitted that their pitchers only last about 2 years with regular use.

Here are the symptoms:
* Grey powder between the pitcher and the base. That's powder from the metal shaft in the pitcher grinding up.
* Sharp grinding noise at the beginning right before the blades really spin.

Eventually the shaft fitting wears down completely and won't work anymore, requiring you to spend another $100 or more (as prices rise) every other year for a new pitcher.

Personally, I find this to be a total rip-off when old blenders that cost a fraction of the price and made in the late 70's are still able to work (albeit without the same amount of torque) for 30 years and this one can't even last 3!

Stay away from K-Tec and BlendTec and tell your friends to look for alternatives.

Absolutely awesome blender. I was using a juicer but even though the juice was excellent, the amount of wasted produce was unacceptable. So after careful review of many blenders in the same price range as the Blendtec, I bought the Blendtec HP3A. And I could not be more satisfied. Indeed it pays to read all accompanying literature before using it. I also always star my whole juices with about 1/2 cup of liquid. I like my juice quite thick. The liquid does help get the blending started. In less than a minute I have well blended fresh whole fruit/veggies juice that is just excellent. If I have one slightly negative coment to make it is that this blender should come with hearing protection such as a few pairs of ear plugs. This machine will help keep you healthy but if not careful will also make you deaf. In spite of that I give this produce 5 stars!

It's ludicrous that this vendor is charging $150 over retail for the HPA3 (NOT HP3A, no such thing) that can be had at any other online store for $399. The difference between the HPA3 and the Total Blender is the inclusion of 4 programmable buttons on the left side. For all other items, you must scroll through a menu on the HPA whereas the TB has pre-programmed buttons. Both blenders are mechanically the same so it comes down to preference.

Aside from this vendor's shady listing, the Blendtec joins Vita-mix as one of the top two blenders made.

BLENDTEC BLENDERS have intrigued me for years. Ever since I saw that first commercial, "A Man And His Blender", and saw the brick pulverized before my very eyes, I figured....THIS MUST be a POWERFUL blender! I had wanted one for years and years....and finally decided to put my money where my dreams have been, and buy one.........

AS i NOTICED THAT BLENDTEC was being demomstrated at a local warehouse store, I decided to see the demonstration first, before I bought it. Online buying is fun and convenient....but sometimes, (especially when spending SO much money for anything), one really does want to take advantage of seeing a LIVE demonstration. Since the timing of the demonstation DID fit into my schedule, I decided...why not go and have a peek?

The lady demonstrator was friendly and efficient. She was dressed similarly to women I have seen in chicken-processing plants: hair all but unvisible under a large, shower-cap-like affair, topped by a baseball cap, and wearing a portable microphone, lab-like coat. and rubber gloves. But she was very attentive to my questions, and though at times it seemed I was talking to a half-robot, it was the human half that came through.

She put the machine through its paces, and made some ice-cream and some soup, (both quite delicious), served in 2 ounce paper cups. It SEEMED a credible machine...and since the warehouse club (which I joined on the spot, just to get in to see the demonstration), offered a 90-day, no- hassle return policy, I decided to buy it, then and there.........

Well, when I came home, the "jittery" movement inside the machine seemed to increase about 10-fold from what I had seen at the store. Probably I was concentrating on the demonstator, the ingredients, and the quite wonderful-looking included cookbook, to watch what was going on INSIDE the Blendtec as much as I could, (and should), have. At home, however, there was no demonstator to stare at, the ingredients I put in were my own choice, and the cookbook could be looked at later. So, all my attention was on what was going on inside the machine. And I was VERY disappointed. ) :

About the best way to describe the motion inside this model Blendtec (I'm pretty sure other Blendtecs have similar motion going on inside), is to remember science fiction films and TV shows, where a genie, a spirit, an imp, or a lightning bolt, is caught inside a container. Not just the usual blender-circular motion is had. Nope! Food, or liquid, jumps "over, under, around and through" itself, spiralling off to all corners of the blender, in every conceivable direction...at top speed!
Hang on to your hat...and keep that cover on the Blendtec blender...or you will soon have a mess on your kitchen floor!

Then the unit shuts itself off automatically. You can stop it before hand, or make the speed lower, or (oops!), even higher if you choose.
But a simple "on-off" control, as is seen on most kitchen appliances, is nowhere to be seen.

Well, I like to see "trapped lightning bolts" in science-fiction movies...not in my blender. So, I took it back within the 90-day period. The returns department was very kind, and took back the machine easily, after ascertaining the cause of my return, ("did not perform as expected"), and noting that everything, including packaging and receipe book were returned. As I had originally paid by check, I got a choice of store script or cash as a refund. I chose cash. (I wish the Blendtec was at good as the store return policy is!)

However, I had somehow fallen in love with the receipe book. So, I got a refund for $367 plus tax for the Blendtec, (it was on sale) -- but, the week before, had spent $25 + $10 shipping for a copy of the cookbook. (I looked for the cookbook, "Blendtec Lifestyles", to no avail on Amazon), and am very happy with the receipes inside!

When I can, I believe I'll look next at a VITA MIX, which -- unlike the Blendtec -- advertises itself as powerful enough to grind meat. I hope I can fit the February 2009 demonstration-in-my-area date in my schedule...and that I can restrain myself from buying VITA MIX until the. If either is not the case, I'll buy one on Amazon and see.

In the meantime, I give the Blendtec Total Blender 1 star. And I give the Lifestyles Cookbook that comes with the Blendtec Total Blender 4 stars. It gives detailed nutritional info at the bottom of every receipe, has a stay-put spiral-binding, and has useful measurement tables (and ingredient substitutions!), in the front. I wish however, that the print used were a bit larger ane a bit darker. Otherwise....teriffic!

Hopefully, BLENDTEC can come up with a new blender: one that seemingly is NOT training to win at gymnastics in the Olympics!

This blender is the worst blender I have ever tried, and I'm stuck with it because the seller doesn't take them back.

I will post videos of the miserable failure of this blender to mix anything but pampered preparations of ingredients, and by pampered I mean cut and manipulated so that this blender will grab them and mix them.

It is just horrible at blending fruits and vegetables, as the blade design leaves things just sitting there. Put an apple in one and just turn it on. It won't blend it a bit. Put apple quarters and a banana in and it won't blend it a bit. $100 blenders will, but this one won't most of the time.

Add to this three other problems, and you have a horrible product for the price. I'm not kidding. I wanted this to work, having paid so much.

Lid design is very poor. You can't take it off without disturbing the blender so much that it comes off the axle.

Startup is an out-of-control, gushing pulse that will send liquids out the top every time. So, if you blend some ingredients and want to then put other ingredients in while it is stirring, you will have to put the top on to get the thing going before you remove it again and add ingredients.

The shape of the blender vessel creates vortices which spill liquids out the top at even the lowest speeds. Adding ingredients to a mix will most of the time lead to spillage on your shirt, arms and countertop.

The 50-second timed shutoff is a nuisance. You might be adding ingredients to a blended mix and have to RESTART to finish, and restarting means dealing with the horrible startup pulse.

In general, this blender will not blend raw fruits and vegetables without you adding liquids that you might not want and stopping to push and minipulate the contents so that they blend.

This blender seems to be missing all the elements that a well-thought-out $400 product should offer. I use a $100 blender to do all the work I hoped this one would do.