Customer Reviews

Hamilton Beach Eclectrics 65111 All-Metal Drink Mixer

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I'm glad that Hamilton Beach revived this classic. All other models I found (including HB's less expensive take on their classic jadite green drink mixer) are flimsy plastic. This one is heavy, sturdy, and well-made ... the drink-mixing equivalent of a Kitchen Aid mixer. We are thrilled with the quality and performance. You'll be proud to have it in your kitchen or bar. The styling is gorgeous!

I'm hooked on low fat milkshakes, and they require a really good drink mixer to get just right. Blenders, and many hand mixers with the wrong attachment, add too much foam.

I have a collection of mixing cups to remind me of all the drink mixers that failed in a year of regular use (maybe 5 shakes a week). This Hamilton Beach mixer is excellent. It's sturdier and more stable than the cheaper models. It's quieter than the expensive Waring Professional (loud enough to wake the neighbors) and fits on the counter. It's easy to clean.

Worth the money and the counter space.

This Mixer works great! It works fast, not too loud, and doesn't seem to have a problem with hard frozen ice cream. The shakes come out thick and perfect every time, not to mention how great the mixer looks, it has a permanent place on the counter top! We love it!

I bought this product back in July 2005 and have been using it to make my morning protein shakes. It does a good job of it. I cannot comment on its ability to make icecream as I try to stay away from that stuff. The unit has a very solid construction. The stainless steel glass is great. I just drink my shake from it. So it saves me from having to wash another glass. I just have one small issue with it. You cannot remove the spindle to clean it. You have to use the stainless steel glass with warm, soapy water, put it under the spindle and then rotate it around to clean it. Well, the problem is this - while I am drinking my shake, the spindle is dripping liquid on the part of the unit that flares out on the bottom. Okay, okay, it's no big deal, I suppose. All in all, I like this product, and I would recommend it.

I had a cheaper Hamilton Beach drinkmaster that I bought in 1991 and was still using in 2007. It still worked, but the removeable shaft was starting to fall out all the time. I finally got tired of that.

This unit has an attached shaft, which solves that problem. But it leads to a different one. It drips. Milkshake sticks to the blade and then drips off.

However, some trial and error has provided a workable solution. Since I still had the metal cup from the first drinkmaster, I have learned to fill it up with hot water before I make a milkshake. Then I make my milkshake using the cup provided with this unit. As soon as I pull the milkshake cup out, I put the hot water cup in its place. No more drips.

If you use cold, hard ice cream like I do, this is not a hands-free device. You need to carefully move the cup around to keep the blades chopping ice cream instead of just milk. Also, you have to be ready to shut it off at any moment. If it starts spinning the ice cream instead of mixing it, the ice cream will almost immediately start to splatter all over.

There is a learning curve to using this machine, but once you pass through that curve it does work very well. It would be nice if the cup was just a little bigger. For some reason the older machine handled a pint of ice cream (barely) without spilling, but this one has a practical maximum of just less than a pint. I think it may be because the shaft is thicker and takes up just enough more volume to cause an issue. (I'm using very dense homemade ice cream.)

The Hamilton Beack Drink Mixer looks cute setting on the counter, but the quality of mixed drinks has been disappointing. It may be I haven't gotten the hang of how to use it. The metal mixing shaft and red color sold me on this product.

The Eclectrics mixer is a nice, all-metal machine. BUT - if you took the deal offered on Amazon as of 1/09 and ordered the extra stainless malt cup for it (currently from overstocked kitchen) - you are in for a surprise.

99% of the mixers out there use a cheap, readily available, standard 7" tall cup - but not this little puppy! ...and when the recommended second cup I ordered arrived - you bet - it didn't fit! Arrrrrghhhh!!!!

It gets better - try and find a 6" tall cup for it - after trolling amazon and running ebay and some others, turns out the only folks who have one are hamilton beach them$elve$.

If you want a second cup and this still doesn't deter you, call them directly to order it, the phone number's at hamiltonbeach.com

When I was 11 years old (or so), Mom and Dad gave me a Hamilton Beach Drinkmaster (or as we called it, the "frappe machine"). We had frappes and cake that year for my party. Last year we had french toast and cake. How things have changed!

Through the years, that machine served up the most delicious black-and-white and mocha frappes, the best mixed pancake batter, and for the past 5 or 6 years, has made me a relatively healthy breakfast of a soy milk and protein smoothie made with lowfat sugar free ice cream (my waist has gotten bigger since I was a teenager). I was ecstatic when someone gave me a new cup for it that held 28 oz rather than a measly 16 oz.

After 23 years, this thing, my daily staple, the most used device in my kitchen, decided to mix its last frappe. When the motor stopped a profound sadness came over me. It was the first time my kitchen was silent in the morning and it seemed just so empty. I'm so grateful for this present I received so many years ago. And for the memories it has mixed since then.

Because I could not survive without this seemingly useless mixer, I decided to do some research and found the upgraded version in the Eclectrics line.

Pros:
- Mixes evenly with the double spindle
- Very quiet (comparatively)
- Looks fantastic (black and chrome)
- Heavy, solid construction

Cons:
- Spindle cannot be removed

Because the only drawback to the machine is the lack of a removable spindle, I gave the product four stars (would have been five if this design feature was incorporated). I did find a use for my old cup by filling it up with water whenever I mix a shake, and then switching out the cups to clean the spindle.

Great product, very happy with its performance.

On December 3, 2007, my wife was diagnosed with having Stage 4 lung cancer that had spread into her lypmh nodes as well as into her brain. The tumors in her lungs are pushing on her windpipe and swallowing is very difficult for her. I bought this for her to make her milkshakes, mix up some soups, and most of all to mix up some of the terrible tasting medicines that she is on now with ice cream so she can get it down.
Without this product, it would have been much tougher to get her fed. We use this mixer at least 4 times a day. We love it and it is the perfect kithchen appliance for us.

I never write reviews, but this product definitely deserves it.

I've been searching for a milkshake machine for a while and finally settled down and bought this one after reading the reviews. It definitely lives up to what everyone says.

I've been in heaven the past 2+ weeks making milkshakes every day (vanilla ice cream, milk, mashed banana and oreos, and chocolate syrup). These shakes are to die for. They're thick and frothy and VERY delicious.

I recommend this machine to anyone who is looking for what I was as it definitely delivers.