Customer Reviews

Oster 6812-001 Core 16-Speed Blender with Glass Jar, Black

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

BOTTOM LINE SUMMARY: This blender performs at least as well as blenders that cost 2-3 times as much, and it has more specific speed options than the more expensive blenders.

Before I begin my review, I should start out by saying that I am a bit of a blender snob, and I collect them for fun. My sole purpose in getting this blender was to see how it compared to a KitchenAid (KSB5ER4) and a Cuisinart (BFP-10CH). Also, this is an initial, first-time usage review - I will keep the review updated over time so I can attest for its longevity, consistency, etc.

That being said, I am very impressed with this blender. It is consistent with the quality that I expect from Oster. It blended the same Strawberry Banana Smoothie that I always make MUCH better than the 7-year old KitchenAid blender that I often use - no chunks whatsoever. I tested the ice crush feature, and it made mince meat out of ice in 2-3 seconds. In fact, I would dare say that it crushes ice perfectly, and faster than any of my other blenders. I also appreciate the Easy Clean feature - a definite bonus. I like the metal drive shaft MUCH better than the plastic teeth on the KitchenAid and Cuisinart - there is no guesswork as far as where/when to place the jar on top of the base; no teeth that could potentially break/wear (note: the teeth have never broken on my KitchenAid or Cuisinart, so I am just speaking about potentialities). The jar is designed for MUCH easier pouring than any other blender I have used. If you are at all concerned with the presentation/appearance of your blending results, this blender certainly delivers.

Why a 4-star instead of a 5? The plastic collar is much more fragile than other blenders I have used (also, more fragile than other Oster's that I have seen) - in fact, I haven't yet figured out how to get the collar off without breaking it. (Revision: I took a closer look at the bottom of the collar, and it has instructions for removing the collar - so, no problem there). :-)

The rest of my cons are very nit-picky and may not bother most people. There is no perfect manual, but I found the manual to be overly brief - in fact, I will probably find myself referring to my vintage '70s Osterizer pamphlets for hints - the manual and blender are largely for people who are already very familiar with blenders.

If anyone is familiar with the smell of a new blender motor, this blender (along with Cuisinart and Waring blenders) has that new motor smell if you let it run for more than 15 seconds. Personally, this does not bother me, but I have noticed that it makes some people nervous. My initial ice-crush experiment actually produced ice that was infused with the smell, but a few good cleanings should solve that problem.

The lid is not the best I have ever seen - It does have a removable cap in the center, but it is black and does not have measured lines like the Cuisinart.

Louder than the KitchenAid, but quieter than the Cuisinart.

Despite these minor things, I would highly, highly recommend this blender!

I bought this blender to mainly make Smoothies from frozen fruits. In that it does an excellent job, the smoothies come out nice and consistent without lumps (like my old blender used to do).

Aesthetics: The blender looks much better than what I expected. It looks well built and the glass Jar looks STURDY! It stays on the counter top because it looks very good.

Cleaning: Very easy to clean, bottom assembly comes apart easily and its easy to reassemble.

Now the issue: After two days of use I noticed something that I didn't expect in a blender. Rust! I was quite surprised to find rust in the blade. Not in the edges, but what looks like a rivet that holds the blades together. I also notices some (not much) burning smell during the first two uses. I am not much worried about the smell, this I expect to go away. But the rust isn't something to ignore.

I was going to return it to Amazon, but decided to call Oster first. Their rep indicated that rusting could indicate a defect and they will replace the blade (sending one via mail in 7 to 10 days). I am keeping the blender and will update once i get the new blade and give it a spin.

I love, love, love this blender! I bought a Kitchenaid blender about 10 years ago and hated it everyday that I owned it, it finally broke so I got to buy a new one. My mom owns this Oster blender and I tested hers out before I bought it. I can not tell you how much better this blender is compared to the Kitchenaid! I can make a blended Margarita in less than 30 seconds and the ice is so smooth! After 2 minutes on the Kitchenaid the ice would be uneven and still have very big chuncks in it. This is an awesome blender and it's a third of the price of the Kitchenaid.

Oster 6812-001 Core 16-Speed Blender with Glass Jar, Black

My husband is a runner and makes a protein shake every morning. So when I dropped blender last night while cleaning it I knew I had to have a replacement quick!:-) I read reviews last night and decided to hit the stores to "feel" some of the competitors. Fully intending to buy a Kitchen Aid blender, I finally decided on this one because of price and its features. We wanted a glass jar and something that wasn't too ugly since it sits out on the counter. The metal gear is so easy to use. NO wiggling the jar to get it to "sit right".

After bringing this home and testing it with the ice I am in love. I didn't expect much and was fully ready to return to the store if I wasn't happy. Just as the other reviews say this thing really crushes the ice QUICKLY and so evenly. It looked like a snow cone in there. I then quickly made myself a frappuccino and sat down to write this review. LOL

I highly recommend this blender. Great quality for the money.

I had an old Gold color Oster blender from the late 60's or 70's. It still worked great, but it was ugly. It was used everyday.

I bought this one about 5 years ago for my new house, but might have used it 3 times. Was not making protien drinks anymore.
Then when I was at Costco 3 months ago , I bought the Vitamix machine. Started making Green drinks ,and Fruit drinks..
For the heck of it, I took out this Oster to see the differents, since the Vitamix was $450.00.
This Oster made the same tasty drinks as the Vitamix. No lumps etc.
I love this machine.

I Put in a cup of water, big Tbs plain organic greek yogart,1 tesp whole flax seed, some wheat grass, little bit parsley, orange- peeled cut in 4s , small apple with seeds cut do not peel, 3/4 cup frozen blue berries, 5 big frozen strawberries, 1 banana, sometimes alittle more water.
This makes a litte more then two big glass .
There is no problem with the Oster bogging down. As with the vitamix I had to mix it with there mixer tube, and with this, I use a short spoon to make sure its all mixed together also.
If your using frozen fruit etc, you do not need to add ice.

To clean, put a couple drops of liquid soap inside with water, and blend on high for less then a minute. Make sure your lid is on before turning on..I use a long handle bush for a sec.rinse out. Wipe the machine up. It will look like new.

I have heard people say that the Vitamix chops up the food different, where the enzines are healthier!!
There are diffent jars with the vitamix to grind flour, make bread, but that is also allot more
money. I was not interested in making that.
I just wanted to make smoothies.
I also like that the Oster has a Glass Jar, and not the plastic, although its heavier then the vitamix, but I think a healther jar.

This is so easy to work, it's a no brainer. The Jar is Not a hassle to get it off or on.Its not heavy.
The top fits on easy, it pours with out dripping. The cap in the middle comes off easy, and I can add more liqued or foods though the middle..

If I use the Oster as often as I have been, I don't think it will last as long as the vitamix would have, but for the price, that is fine with me.Also replacement parts are very inexpensive.

I do not think I paid as much for the Oster as it is selling here. I think I bought mine at Lowes for about $30.00 , but that was 5 yrs ago. Exact same machine.

I cannot find anything I do not like about this Oster..
Needless to say, I took the vitamix back to Costco..

If anyone wants recipes, just go to the vitamix website. [...]

I've had this for about 6 months. I make frozen fruit smoothies every day for breakfast. In the last week, the motor is failing and the noises and the power are diminishing. I'm shopping now ofr a replacement. I would say that if you're going to be using it every day, don't buy it.

I have been making smoothies for over ten years and this is the best blender at this price point. After my $50 smoothie maker died after two years of moderate use I wanted a new one. My roommste had this one and so I tried it out a bit first and instantly loved it.

The unit comes with an extremely sturdy glass pitcher. Despite what a previous reviewer said it easily unscrews from the blade. The unit is very very easy to clean (much easier than the other blenders I have used) Also it is extremely powerful and has no problems with frozen fruits, ice, etc. Also, the contact for the motor to the blade is metal so it will not wear down with use like my last crappy blender.

I have had this for 2 years now and no problems. Extremely satisfied. Very good blender for the price and I expect it to last 10 years.

After lots of research (and a recommendation from a cookbook), I decided on this blender. I had the first one for less than a week when I noticed that there was no longer any air being blown out of the back of the unit along with a rattling noise. I turned the base over to find that the fan had come unbolted somehow with regular use just sitting on the counter. Maybe I could have reattached the fan myself, but to do so I would have had to open the whole base - thus voiding the warranty most likely (and I didn't know if anything else was wrong with it). Hoping it was just a fluke, I sent it back for a replacement which arrived the next day. I only got two uses out of it before it started making a terrible noise and made my whole kitchen smell like burning tires. Also, no matter which button I pushed it remained at the same speed. The first blender was apparently not a fluke, so I promptly returned the second for a refund. I was really hoping that my long search for a decent blender at a decent price was over, but now I'm feeling very pessimistic.

My confidence in consumer products continues its steady decline. How hard is it to make a good blender that lasts? I gather from all the other reviews on Amazon that I've read that it's pretty hard - there isn't a single product in the `inexpensive blender' category that doesn't have lots of really negative reviews. Do I really have to spend $400 on a VitaMix? I'm sick and tired of cheap plastic crap made in the global marketplace by companies that cut corners whenever possible. I guess the only thing I can do is `vote with my dollar' and not support such companies. I hope that enough other people will do the same in order to send a clear message and force companies to change their behavior.

Lastly, I noticed something strange - the day after I sent the second blender back, the price decreased on Amazon by 25%. It might be a coincidence (or a sale for the holidays, it's the week before Christmas), but I can't help wondering if Amazon is just trying to get rid of these.

I primarily used this for frozen fruit-based smoothies. It didn't work for my needs, and it was just a very low-quality product. I ended up returning it and getting a BlendTec blender.
* A few times, when I put the blender down on the base, it started blending automatically (SCARY!)
* The lid didn't fit on the container properly, there were gaps on all edges, as if the lid was just a tad too small.
* A rust spot had formed on the top of the blade by the 10th use.
* The container leaked from under the blade from the first use.
* The command buttons were occasionally unresponsive.
* This thing is LOUD for how underpowered it is. My 3-horse power BlendTec is quieter.
* It gave off an odor from the motor or something. Unpleasant.

As for its actual blending capabilities: equally unimpressive. Had to baby the blender constantly. Pulse for 10 seconds, scrape down the sides, pulse, scrape, add more liquid, pulse, scrape, pulse, drink. Frozen fruit smoothies would take about 5-6 minutes to make, having to constantly help the blender do its job. That said, at the end it did achieve a pretty good consistency. On my old Kitchen Aid blender, I always had strawberry seeds at the bottom of my smoothies. This blender seemed to shred them up, so that's one plus (I had to baby my Kitchenaid much less, however).

If you're planning on making smoothies often, just bite the bullet and get a BlendTec or VitaMix blender. They're both high-powered, quality machines that are made in the USA (BlendTec: Utah, VitaMix: Ohio). You'll never need to buy another blender in your life.

We stayed at a beach house that had this blender. Let me start by saying I forgot to bring my viatmix and I was pretty bummed that I would not be able to make smoothies each morning. Well when I saw this little blender sitting on the counter I thought well it will not stand up to my usualy smoothies. But let me tell you this blender did a GREAT job on my smoothies. It even crushed ice better than my vitamix. I could not belive that a $50 blender would get my green smoothies to be smoothe. There were not any chunks left. I was very impressed with blender and would recommend it to anyone that does not want to shell our big bucks for a high powered blender but wants one that can handle frozen fruit and crushing ice. My only complaint is the continaer is small only holding 5 cups where my vitamix holds 8 cups. I will be glad to be back home where I can make smoothies for my husband and me at one time.