Customer Reviews

Magic Bullet Express 17-Piece High-Speed Blender Mixing System

5 star:		(234)
4 star:		(142)
3 star:		(67)
2 star:		(84)
1 star:		(184)

 

 

For the most part, anything that is advertised on those infomercials over-promises or fails to deliver. I ordered a Magic Bullet anyway because it seemed to be just the sort of kitchen appliance that I needed...small, safe and useful. I crossed my fingers and ordered one. When the package arrived, it was packed nicely in a large case containing all the parts and accessories as advertised; mixing cups, drinking/mixing mugs, small blender attachment, juicer attachment, shaker cups, two receipe books, an instruction manual, blades and motor base. Basically, the Magic Bullet is a small compact blender that is turned on it's head. Instead of putting items from the top and blending/chopping them, you put the contents in a holding cup and twist on the cap/blade. This whole unit is then placed upside down on the base and you turn it on. After the contents are processed, you take the unit off the base and twist off the blade/cap. A great and ingenious idea. But the big question is, does it work as advertised? The surprising answer is yes.

I've had this unit for about a month and a half now and am thoroughly surprised at how nice it works. I have made smoothies that not only rival the local juice bars, but the product tastes better and is a snap to make. I have also made personal servings of soup and vegatable smoothies. Making a tuna-egg-mayo spread was blended very nicely and the whole family ate it up in a couple of days. To get this unit to work as it was intended has to do with reading the manual. It states very clearly that there are certain ways to load your mixing cup. In cases where things do not get blended or are stuck at the top of the cup, the instructions tell you to take the blending cup off and to tap it a few times to get all the contents to the bottom. There is no problem in overheating *if you read the manual*. About 90% of the jobs can be done in about 10 seconds or less by using the pulse method. If you continuously blend/chop and leave it on like a regular blender, it will overheat and possibly break the unit. Nothing needs to be processed for more than 30 seconds so this is a moot point. Clean-up is one of the best features of this appliance. Just run the mixing cups and blades under water with a little soap, and you are done. This unit is so easy to use that our family uses it on a daily basis.

As far as the cost is concerned, it may seem a little on the steep end, but the Magic Bullet pays for itself in no time at all. It has many useful features which allow you to use it as a coffee grinder, a chopper, a blender, a smoothie maker, a sandwich spread maker, soup mixer, etc. I have never used a small kitchen appliance as much as I have used the Magic Bullet. The big blender made by -------, which has been sitting on the shelf for many years is now officially retired.

A few minutes of your time in reading the manual will help you dodge any bullets in using the Magic Bullet.

I have the Magic Bullet and I read some less than good reviews on the unit. I would like to put those to rest if I may.
1. After using the magic bullet, could smell the motor burning up.
Having worked with motors in the past, I can put that bad rap to rest. There are two types of electrical motors commonly used in the market today. One is an induction motor. and the other is the brush and commentator motor. Although the induction motor is most commonly used, there are some brush types out there. The burning electrical smell you sensed is common, especially when first using the motor. When first used, the brushes are not worn slightly to perfectly fit against the commentator. Until that happens, the brushes will slightly arc and you will sense an electrical smell but it doesn't take long till they are perfectly fitted to the commentator. After that, the smell will no longer be there. This is normal and is not a problem. It is not a sign of overheating or any damage to the motor.

2. I found an excellent quick way to clean the Bullet. I first spray the blade and inside of the cup to remove larger particles, then I fill the cup about 1/3 full with water and just a drop of soap detergent. Screw the blade lid on firmly and pulse it a few times. Unscrew and rinse and you will have a sparkling clean unit. This will get into areas that otherwise you couldn't possibly reach especially in and around the blade area.
3. I have also found that removing the processed food from the cup is best done with a small rubber spatula as use of a metal object like a knife or fork etc will eventually scratch and mar the plastic.
4. My Magic Bullet came with several replacement rubber gaskets that are used inside the black blade screw on caps. When you have cleaned your unit and you are going to store with blade cap screwed onto the food cup, do not screw the blade cap tightly with the food cup as when it is stored even overnite, the rubber gasket will tend to flatten out and then need replacement.
I always leave mine about a turn loose and you will get a lot more use out the gaskets.
5. When I am making a sandwich spread or anything requiring mayo I wait until I have finished processing the food and then I mix the processed food and mayo in a separate bowl. If you add the mayo before processing, the mayo and the fool is going to stick to the sides and even tapping is not going to loosen it.
6. The instruction book says that you need to occasionally tap the blade/cup unit to free up food to get to the blade. I have personally found that a back and forth shaking motion does a much better job as all the food in usually at the bottom anyway and a few shakes will move it into the blades and wa-la, it works mucho bettro.
7. If you read the instructions and use accordingly, you will find the magic bullet works, (Maybe not excatly like on TV) but I am very pleased with mine. I have also fould that the shorter pulses seem to work best as they don't tend to sling the food out and away from the blade.
8. I tried processing some pecans, mixed a little soy milk and honey and created some great tasting health food.

If you are considering the Magic Bullet, I can just say that it is like anything else, when directions are followed, it will work fine. When I picked up the Base unit, the weight tells me that the motor is plenty big enough to get the job done. A light motor, light duty, a heavy motor, heavy duty. Enjoy

Thanks for your time,
Darryl K Springston

I was using the Magic Bullet sparingly until its main drive gear on top of it's base unit shattered into 3 main pieces. It's made of plastic and I have not been able to find any source of replacement parts. When I contacted the distributor they only offered to sell me a new unit. They advertise it like it can handle anything but the gear broke while I was mixing a regular protein shake.I can't recommend this product.

i used the bullet maybe 30 times until the wheel on the motor base broke into pieces while blending a smoothy. Tried to contact customer service many times and received no response.

I bought the bullet in January, 2005, and used it regularly, but not every day. I took very good care of it, and used it expecially for grinding coffee, which it did very well. Unfortunately, I was recently pureeing some very well-done caulifleur into soup, carefully as instructed, and after about 10 seconds of grinding (during which time it had done the job very well, it developed a high piched squeal and stopped. Inside, the small plastic disk at the bottom of the well in which the grinding mechinism sits cracked into two pieces, and the machine is unusable. I checked for a warrenty, hoping for a year's warranty, and found it had NONE AT All

Whatever the good point of the Magic Bullet (it makes smoothies and grinds coffee beans ALMOST as well as a Cuisinart Food Processor/Blender and costs the same amount of money), they are completely overshadowed by the facts that:

1.) The simplest replacement parts are a HUGE hassle to get.
2.) Homeland Housewares level of customer service is way lower than average.

After less than a year's gentle, intermittent use, my Bullet chewed up both of 2 the gaskets it came with. Should be a simple and cheap replacement, right? Wrong! When I frirst contacted Homeland Housewares, the manufacturer, I was told flat out, that because my Bullet wasn't purchased directly from them (it had been a house warming present, purchased at Macy's), I could not buy replacement parts from the manufacturer. AND they could not recommend another source for them. My machine was effectively dead after only 7.5 months of use.

Searching the web 5 months later, I saw that the manufacturer was now offering to sell parts to everyone stuck with a non-functional Magic Bullet. But not without a huge hassle. Homeland Housewares demands that its customers, who have already been inconvenienced by the premature break down of its product, now invest the time & effort to send them 4 different photos of the machine AND a photo of the free recipe booklet included with the machine--yes, you heard right--the recipe booklet, BEFORE they will be granted the privilege of spending MORE money with the company to buy replacement gaskets.

I explained to Homeland Housewares' phone rep that photos taken with your average digital camera would not reproduce copy from the back of the machine which would be readable. The rep said, "Don't worry about it. Send them anyway." Two days later, I get an email reply from Homeland Housewares saying my photos are inadequate; before they'll allow me to purchase gaskets, they want me to submit a new set of photos. Photos showing WHAT, they neglected to say.

My girlfriend spent $83 for this glorified coffee grinder! It worked adequately for 7.5 months, before it chewed its own gaskets to pulp and became a dead weight. Now, I will not be "permitted" to give the manufacturer money for 4 new gaskets, unless my photos meet approval standards I was not informed of before I submitted the first set.

After 5.5 years, my Cuisinart Food Processor/Blender continues to make superior smoothies, among myriad other functions it performs beautifully, and Cuisinart has been beautifully responsive to my every question and need. Next time you consider a Magic Bullet as a house warming gift, I recommend the Cuisinart Food Processor/Blender, instead.

I am addicted to the that little powerhouse called the Magic Bullet. The problem is the company doesn't have a real customer service department and they don't stand behind their cheap product. We are on our 4th Bullet now!! They are great out of the starting gate...best "blender, chopper, etc" I have ever experienced. But it wasn't built to last!! We follow directions, love everything it makes, love the way it looks on the counter even. But it dies quickly and the company S**Ks at replacing or helping out. We only ordered the first one just over a year ago. Each one seems to last only a few months (about 3) then...Whammo..no warning, just dead!

Just like many of you have or are considering doing....I bought the magic bullet...I'm not one to buy things off the TV but figured why not, it's got a warranty, if I hate it I will return it.

So I get it home...and find that it works very well for some things. What many people described as a fault (it chopping foods too finely) I found to be a plus. I have another small food processor/chopper that I used for chopping, and I used this when I wanted to blend things finely or make smoothies. Like many of the reviewers I LOVED my machine, thought I couldn't live without it...wanted to sing it's praises to the world...................UNTIL............

Like the rest of the reviews...the black disc on the base broke. I spent a year arguing with Homeland Housewares. Didn't seem to matter that I had the warranty in black and white...they insisted I wasn't in their system and MUST have bought it elsewhere. I could buy a new base for $30 plus $10 shipping and handling........what a RIP OFF...so much for the warranty. Out of principle I refused and continued to try and get somewhere with them...I never did. And as much as I had liked my magic bullet....it broke after 6 months. Why spend another $40 for another 6 months. If I thought it was a "freak accident" that this broke I might consider it.....I mean I have all these other parts, the mugs, the juicer, the blender. What am I supposed to use those for now??????? But why bother when I can see that it is the same problem everyone else has had...the thing is made from junk, it would break again in no time.....it comes down to basic science. Spinning disc=friction=heat........it is made of PLASTIC....heat+plastic=matter of time until it will break again. And for you people who think, "you didn't operate it correctly, you didn't pulse, blah blah blah"....that's just plain ignorance. Doesn't matter if you pulse or not...eventually it will break...you'll see. The stop and start of the pulsing isn't going to make that little plastic disk last any longer and it still produces heat. Don't waste your money because even if you LOVE this machine...it WILL NOT LAST...and the WARRANTY is a joke...they WILL NOT HONOR IT..........

It works alright, as long as you make just drinks...which makes it about as good as any other blender on the market...and more expensive than most.
Anything else it just tends to liquify, even using the "pulse" method they suggest.

P.S. NEVER in the commercial to you see the host either scooping out chunks, disloging the blade, and not once did he have to stop and tap the ingredients(as you have to do every 5 seconds in reality)

I waited a looong time to order one of these things and finally the 2 for 1 deal talked me into it(only to pushed by a salesman trying to sell additional merch) and to top it off I was hit w/ a 40 dollar shipping fee for 2 blenders. I KNOW it doesnt cost 40 bucks to ship to Jersey....

Two of these Magic Bullets have gone through our household. One as a gift, the other for our use. Ours broke quickly. For starters, the seals pulled out of the blender base. I called the company when the plastic gear in the base shattered, only to be told that "you'll have to buy another base", and "you should have bought the extended warranty" when in fact the little gear in the bottom could be pressed back into service in less than 30 seconds, and couldn't cost more than a couple of dollars.

Save youself some grief, and stay away from this piece of mass-marketed junk. Happy to share pictures of my broken junk with anyone interested, because I hate being scammed. Buy a real blender, they cost less and don't break as easily.