Customer Reviews

Oster 4096-009 Designer Series Beehive Blender, Chrome

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I recently purchased the Oster 4096-009 because my old blender couldn't handle making the frozen fruit smoothies I really enjoy. I chose this product because the brand and style has been around since my mother was young. I was a little turned off by the idea of the glass beaker so I ordered the stainless replacement and put away the glass one. I also ordered the blend-n-go cup because of the smoothie thing. The blender is awesome. It looks great on my countertop and works better than any I have ever owned. Don't be put off by the concept that this blender only has two speeds - that's all you need. Be honest - how many times have you used anything more than pulse or full bore on your blender? I thought about it and realized that was all I ever used. This is one heavy duty unit, capable of reducting ice to snow and frozen fruit and alcohol into some incredible frozen drinks. A must have for anyone who's into shakes, smoothies or other blended products.

My new $37 "beehive" sits next to my soon-to-be-repaired $100+ KitchenAid, and it works great. I make smoothies every morning for breakfast and this baby kicks it. My son is brutal: ignores all procedural instructions, fills it with p.b., bananas, ice, and yogurt and then turns it on! It pauses a second then gets right to work. I'm like, "you have to put the ice in while it's running," and he's, "No you don't." We rarely take it apart to clean it, just rinse right away, sometimes a little suds, eh voila, it's done. I can tell you though the blades they are sharp!
Regarding other reviews, it is loud, but hey, it's a blender! And do not need any other speeds, just the one and pulse. Can't say about frozen drinks/ice slushees, however does fine with ice for smoothies. Great deal!

My old blender was an Oster; we got it when we were married 40 years ago. I loved it and finally wore it out. Naturally my new blender had to be an Oster. I love the Beehive; it does exactly what it promises. With only 2 speeds it does what my older 8 speed did only more quickly and effeciently. It is very classy looking too.

Not a bad blender, speed and power are about average. Looks nice with other stainless and metal finish appliances in our kitchen. On a polished granite countertop, it tends to rotate around on its own when in use, the rubber feet do not keep it in place. This means you need to stand there and hold it while it is running, kind of a nuisance. Overall it seems to be of the same quality of build and materials as other comparable products on the market. Has now worked fine for about 2 years, nothing wrong at all, can't say that about my 2 previous KitchenAid $120 blenders!

The main reason I purchased this blender is to make fruit smoothies. It works great! I worried about the frozen fruit sticking in the bottom and having to use a spoon to help it mix but that is not the case with this blender. I mainly use the pluse and it blends all the ingredients together without assistance.

Bought this Oster to replace my 2 year old Oster(same model)that broke - the drive pin that spins the blade broke off. We make fruit smoothies every morning and this model seems to be the only sub-$100 blender that can handle the job (we tried many others).I supposed we could have fixed the old one, however, we must grudging accept that new appliances don't last long and that replacement parts are as expensive as buying a new one and a hassle to find.

Problem is that Sunbeam continually finds ways to cheap out on the construction.
This new unit is substantially lighter and contains alot more plastic than the 3 year old model. The chrome housing is thinner. And because of all this I think its alot louder.

This Oster still has the power to do the job so that is good, however I wonder if it will last even the 2 years the previous one did, given the cheap construction.
Apparently the only way to get the same power and better quality is to spend $350+ on the next level (vitamix, etc..) But, like the Dyson vacuum, I refuse to play that game. Is it too much to ask that they just make these things as tough as they did 20-30 years ago?
Good Luck!

I've been using a stick blender for several years now, with great success. Recently a friend told me how to make Almond Milk from scratch. Very easy, but I'd need a blender. It arrived, nostalgically familiar like one I had years ago. So I made the almond mikd which was so easy. And then I pureed some soups that I'd been using the stick blender to do. What a difference! I've not yet challenged the blender to it's full capacity, but it seems that it is up to the task of anything I'd want to use it for. It's quality is good with the glass container, although there seems to be some plastic, made to look like chrome, that seems less substantial the the rest of the piece. However I am very pleased to have this blender now.

When considering buying a new blender, all I wanted was a blender--a good, solid, old-school blender without all the bells, whistles, assorted jars and other useless items, and that's exactly what I got with the Oster Designer Beehive. Yes, it's loud, but so what! It's built like a tank, and the shiny chrome finish looks amazing on the counter. The best part is that the center piece is metal and not plastic like the Magic Bullet Platinum Pro Blending System it's replacing, and the main parts are replaceable. After about two weeks of almost daily use, it's done its thing with the ice cubes and frozen fruit I use for smoothies without so much as a hiccup. I look forward to taking it through its paces with lots of other things.

After reading all of the positive reviews,I thought this blender was a pretty safe bet.I bought it just a little over a month ago, and we use it for making protein drinks. At first it worked great. Crushing ice was no problem. Now after using it about 15 times, it does not want to crush the ice. I have to turn it off and stick a spoon in it to move the ice around and get it to start again. Very frustrating. I am learning that truly good blenders are hard to find, and the learning curve is getting expensive. I guess I will have to break down and spend $400.00 on a Vita-Mix.

We purchased this blender for breakfast green smoothies. We had tried using an older Oster blender, but it was struggling with the heavy loads. We were having a hard time stepping up to the higher priced $500 Blendtec or Vita-mix units so we took a chance with this and have no regrets so far. Yes, its a bit noisy, but it has plenty of power to handle our smoothies.