Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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57 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good bargain for light use blender., August 8, 2007
I bought this blender on the recommendation of Cook's Illustrated - I wanted a blender that could power through ice for mixed drinks! And... at first, I thought it was about worthless... I would put ice and mixers in and blend and it seemed like it took forever and ever and still had chunks of ice. I tried a few different times and it was always "just okay." So, it sat in the cupboard and I gave up on it.
Then I decided I wanted to make fruit smoothies (couldn't afford the $5 a pop at the local joint) so I drug out the blender, but I didn't have high hopes. And, unsurprisingly, it didn't do well on that, either. I couldn't understand - I had liquid and frozen fruit - and it kept getting bogged down - I had to stick a wooden spoon it and try to break it up to get it to blend. Then it would only blend for 5 seconds, and you could hear the blades just spinning, but nothing was happening. I was ready to chuck the blender and get the KitchenAid a friend has and raves about...but I didn't want to spend $100. So I gave it one more shot - and finally figured out the secret.
[In my experience] YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT PUT ALL YOUR INGREDIENTS IN AT THE SAME TIME. Meaning, to make my smoothie, I put in all the liquid and a small handful of frozen blueberries - then blend. When that is smooth, then I add a frozen strawberry or two - then blend. Then another strawberry or two - then blend... until I have the desired smoothie thickness.
I have yet to try this method with pure ice for frozen margaritas, but I imagine it would work the same way. But even if it didn't work, I drink smoothies way more than I drink frozen margaritas, so for the time being, this is the perfect blender for me, as it has paid for itself just in the month I have been making smoothies!
NOVEMBER 2007 UPDATE: I would change my rating to 3 stars if I could (I changed the title to "light use"). Why? This blender has died. It could not handle making a frozen fruit smoothie every day, and broke down after less than two months of steady use. I am not sure what the technical name of the piece is, but it's the hard plastic "teeth" that join to make the blades spin. It completely broke in half and was irreparable. To replace it would involve buying an entirely new jug, which costs more than buying a brand new blender! Since I was going to be making smoothies every day, I opted for a professional VitaMix blender. But, if you only use this blender for light duty a few times a month, then I would still recommend it. But if you are using it every day, this is probably not the blender for you.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
a basically good design has been cheapened, February 19, 2008
The order was handled by Amazon with their usual excellent speed and efficiency, but my mistake was believing the reviews saying that this is a relatively quiet, high efficiency blender. When it came, I left the blender in the box for a couple of weeks while the kitchen wiring was being finished. We don't drink, so we don't make crushed ice drinks, and we never crush ice in a blender. We do make milk & fresh-fruit smoothies, without ice, several times a week. It quickly became clear that this blender is not up to the job. Despite the quality name, the basic moving parts are flimsy. It vibrates because the gears are made of plastic/nylon and don't mesh properly. The size and thickness of the plastic gasket has been cheapened to the point that it doesn't always stay in place as the bottom of the jar is tightened, and sometimes twists in a way that leaves half of the area at the bottom of the blender jar open and dripping milk all over the counter. Maybe all of this is just Braun's way of telling us that you don't get a high quality blender for $48. When I tried to return it, I discovered that Amazon won't accept a return after 30 days. It is true we'd owned it for more than 30 days, but we'd used it for a little over a week at that time. And after a lot of annoyance, it's time to look for another blender. I have been using our ultra-noisy but dependable old Oster in the meantime.
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Overrated, December 1, 2007
When I finally decided I needed a blender instead of just using my food processor for pureeing, I chose this one because of the top ratings given it by America's Test Kitchen. Obviously, they never tried mixing waffle batter in it and I find it hard to believe they managed to blend frozen fruit. There isn't enough suction to the bottom of the container to blend anything thick at any speed -- the food just sits there and you constantly have to scrape it down. It does a fine job on raw berries, for instance, but frozen or partially frozen ones just sit there. It can't handle batter at all. Decidedly unimpressive. On the plus side, it is a really attractive unit and is very easy to disassemble, clean and put back together. This is probably a fine unit for someone who just wants to blend juices or puree cooked soups, but I find it hard to believe this is supposed to be one of the best on the market.
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by Joanna White
